Ranoidea vagitus, the wailing frog, is a tree frog occupying the arid and monsoonal Kimberley (Western Australia) region. It is a ground dweller, which evades dry periods by burrowing and hibernating - emerging to breed during floods.
It was first described as Cyclorana vagitus in 1981 by Tyler, Davies and Martin. It was transferred to the genus, Ranoidea, in 2016 by Dubois and Frétey.
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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...
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy charac...
Aestivation is a state of animal dormancy, similar to hibernation, although taking place in the summer rather than the winter. Aestivation is chara...
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starts withThe back of the frog is brown or grey with darker brown or green markings, underside is white with a granular appearance. The toes are slightly webbed and a dark line extends from the leg to snout. A lighter stripe runs down the back. The call is a repeated wailing or cry. It has a shorter cry and is larger than Cyclorana cultripes.
R. vagitus is a terrestrial frog and lacks the arboreal appendages of the similar genus Litoria. Like many Australian frogs, it can burrow and enter a state of aestivation. By hibernating it can avoid the arid conditions of the Kimberley region and emerge to take advantage of the intermittent flooding of its open grassland habitat.
The range of the species is in the far north of Western Australia, overlapping the Northern Territory, in a tropical monsoon climate. It has a description based on the two known locations, which occur in open grassland, in a range of intermittent water sources. It lives from sea level to an altitude of 900 m. Based on the identified groups, population is estimated at 10 000 to 50 000. The males commence breeding by crying at floodways - this is frequently heard - with females responding by releasing up to 1000 eggs during a wet season. The tadpoles develop rapidly before evaporation of the floodwaters.
