Species :  Litoria sp.
Family : HYLIDAE

The very large and spectacular White-lipped Tree Frog grows to 135mm -- it is the world's largest tree frog. Its dorsal surface is uniform green, the ventral surface is white or off-white. There is a conspicuous white stripe around the lower jaw continuing back to te shoulder, as well as white stripes (salmon pink in breeding males) on the trailing edges of the lower leg. Its fingers and toes have large discs and are webbed.

L. infrafrenata is confined in Australia to Cape York Peninsula and the wet tropics of north-east Queensland, the Gulf of Carpenteria, to the whole of New Guinea and parts of eastern Indonesia.

It has a loud, harsh double-noted call resembling the barking of a large dog.

In their natural habitat, they help control the insect population, as their main prey consists of a wide variety of insects. These include crickets, mealworms, fruit flies, beetles, caterpillars, spiders, and worms. They usually hunt on humid evenings.

This frog has little suction cups on its toes to allow it to climb or stick to walls. Also, these frogs shouldn't be handled. They breathe partially through their skin, so the oil on human hands can damage their skin and hurt them.

It's preferred habitat is the flooded pandanus and melaleuca swamp but this habitat is threatened and there is little remaining in Cairns. This species is also the most common 'patient' at the Cairns Frog Hospital due to injuries incurred around homes. Diseases, parasites and cancer also affect this species to a serious extent. It can live to over ten years in the wild and reach 12 to 15 cm in length but this frog has to avoid a lot of threats for a lot of years to reach those milestones.

In the late seventies and early eighties, scientists around the world noticed a sudden decline in the populations of frogs and other amphibians. At first, they thought these reductions were local variations and of little significance. It was only after the information was pooled that concern became widespread. In some cases the cause of the decline was obvious: things like drained breeding sites, changes in land use, acid rain, drought, salination and pesticides. Each of these elements has either killed frogs or tadpoles, or made it harder for frogs to breed.

Frogs need our help if they are going to survive. It is extremely important for us to know more about the health of our frog populations. Frogs are a very interesting group of animals in their own right -- they have been around for at least 180 million years -- and they breed in a variety of fascinating and bizarre ways. They also make a major contribution to our own well-being.

Not only are they important elements in many food chains valued by humans (for example, those of wetlands), but they are also good indicators of the health of the environment -- especially of walter quality and the levels of pesticides and other toxins present in various ecosystems.

There are more than 4,000 species of frogs worldwide, occurring on every continent except Antarctica, and on many many islands. About 200 are found in Australia.

References:

Barker, J., Grigg, G.C., Tyler, M.J., A Field Guide to Australian Frogs, Surrey Beatty & Sons, 1995

Focus on Wildlife, http://www.ecologyasia.com/Vertebrates/white-lipped_tree_frog.htm

Gone Troppo (Or Up a Tree), http://www.fdrproject.org/pages/localsps.htm

Community Biodiversity Network, http://www.nccnsw.org.au/member/cbn/projects/EducationCentre/SSAFS.html