| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANIMALIA | CHORDATA | AMPHIBIA | ANURA | MYOBATRACHIDAE |
| Scientific Name: | Pseudophryne australis | |||
| Species Authority: | (Gray, 1835) | |||
Common Name/s:
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| Red List Category & Criteria: | Vulnerable B1ab(ii,iii,iv) ver 3.1 | |||||||||
| Year Published: | 2004 | |||||||||
| Assessor/s: | Jean-Marc Hero, Frank Lemckert, Peter Robertson, Harold Cogger, Murray Littlejohn | |||||||||
| Reviewer/s: | Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson and Neil Cox) | |||||||||
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Justification: Listed as Vulnerable because its Extent of Occurrence is less than 20,000km2, its distribution is severely fragmented, and there is continuing decline in its Area of Occupancy, in the extent and quality of its habitat, and in the number of subpopulations. |
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| History: |
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| Range Description: | This Australian endemic occurs in Hawkesbury Sandstone region from the Royal National Park in the south, to Gosford and Newcastle in the north. It occurs between 10 and 1,000m asl. |
| Countries: |
Native:
Australia
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| Range Map: | Click here to open the map viewer and explore range. |
| Population: | It is often found in colonies of 20-30 individuals. Populations at the edge of the range are known to be decreasing and are being adversely affected by urbanization and human-mediated disturbances. Historically, it was found at 471 sites, but in 1998 there were only 56 extant breeding sites. |
| Population Trend: |
Decreasing
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| Habitat and Ecology: | This species is a Sydney sandstone specialist, around the Hawkesbury region. It prefers heath woodland and hides in sandstone rock crevices where water seepages have eroded a labyrinth of caverns and tunnels. It is a spring and summer breeder, and a terrestrial egg layer with decreased clutch size (about 20) and increased egg size. Males have been observed tending the nest. Rainfall releases the tadpoles from the nests into ephemeral pools and tadpoles take 1-3 months to develop. Females can lay multiple clutches in a year. |
| Systems: | Terrestrial; Freshwater |
| Major Threat(s): | The entire population is centred around an area of intense human development. Intensified fire regimes, hydrological changes, and increased pollution levels (at edges and wherever human development encroaches into more core areas) are major threats, while the collection of rocks from its habitat, the spread of invasive weeds, and low recruitment rate (about 1% of each clutch survives to metamorphosis) pose additional threats. |
| Conservation Actions: | Most of the range of the species occurs in conservation reserves, but these are under human pressure. |
| Citation: | Jean-Marc Hero, Frank Lemckert, Peter Robertson, Harold Cogger, Murray Littlejohn 2004. Pseudophryne australis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 25 May 2012. |
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