The Maud Island frog (Leiopelma pakeka ) is a primitive frog native to New Zealand, one of only four extant species belonging to the family Leiopelmatidae.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Jumping (saltation) can be distinguished from running, galloping, and other gaits where the entire body is temporarily airborne by the relatively l...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withLeiopelma pakeka is a small terrestrial frog, growing to 5 cm in length, and is medium to dark brown with unwebbed toes and a distinctive extended ridge behind its eyes. It is slightly larger than and differs slightly in colour from Hamilton's frog (Leiopelma hamiltoni ).
Like other members of the genus Leiopelma, Maud Island frogs lay their eggs on moist ground. One to 19 eggs are laid in December, and are guarded by the male for 14–21 weeks. The eggs hatch into froglets, which the male carries on his back until they become independent.
Long-term studies beginning in 1983 have revealed this species is extremely long-lived: some monitored frogs reach 35–40 years old, making them the longest-lived wild frog in the world. Individuals are well-camouflaged and sedentary, spending their whole lives within a 30-m2 area and moving the centre of their home range only 1.3 m every 10 years – one of the smallest home ranges known for any vertebrate.
L. pakeka is classed as taxonomically indistinct in the 2017 version of the New Zealand Threat Classification System, due to three independent genetic analyses finding it to be minimally differentiated from Hamilton's frog. In the prior edition of the New Zealand Threat Classification, L. pakeka was classified as both taxonomically indeterminate and Nationally Vulnerable.
The entire species was initially confined to a 16-ha forest remnant on 309-ha Maud Island. Although its population on Maud Island is estimated to be 27,500–39,500, conservation has focused on establishing new populations on different islands, because the species is still vulnerable to fungal disease, natural disaster, climate change, or the arrival of mammalian predators. Maud Island suffered an incursion of mice in 2013, but these were eradicated and the island was declared predator-free in November 2016.
In 1984–85 100 frogs were transferred by the Department of Conservation to a different part of Maud Island, successfully starting a new colony. Three hundred were translocated 25 km to Motuara Island in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1997 – the first time New Zealand frogs had been translocated between islands. This was more successful than a 2006 translocation of 100 to nearby Long Island; Motuara contained better habitat and frogs there were protected by a kiwi-proof fence.
In 2006, 60 Maud Island frogs were released into the predator-proof Karori Wildlife Sanctuary near Wellington, and 100 more in 2012. Most of the frogs were released in a kiwi- and mouse-proof enclosure, but 29 were placed outside the enclosure so that a comparative study could be done. In February 2008, 13 froglets were discovered clinging to adult males inside the enclosure. Those outside the enclosure mostly disappeared.
