Wildlife
Little Terns: Little Tern Recovery Plan
FROGS
You may expect to find the following frogs on the La Perouse headland:
Litoria peronii Peron’s Tree Frog Frog Call
The eggs are pigmented in jelly. The tadpoles are pale golden-yellow to iridescent green. Adults have bright yellow with black mottling on armpits, groin, and backs of thighs. They have a cross-shaped pupil and small (sometimes indistinct) emerald green flecks on the back. Notable because they change colour in a short time. Ranges from Queensland, NSW, Victoria to South Australia.
Males call from near water either on the ground or in vegetation. The call is very long and drawn out, slowly pulsed and increasing in loudness - “cra-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhk”. Peron’s Tree Frog is named after Francois Peron, one of 5 zoolologists on the Baudin expedition (1801-1803). Baudin referred to him as “Citizen Péron, the most thoughtless and most wanting in foresight of anyone on board”. Further details on the voyage at http://www.abc.net.au/navigators/naturalists 
Death and desertion claimed the majority of the scientific personnel on the expedition. Of the 23 scientists who embarked, only three returned to France. Francois Peron was the only one of the original five zoologists to complete the trip. His work was illustrated by Charles Lesueur, who had joined the expedition originally as a gunner. Lesueur also lent his name to another local tree frog, Litoria lesueurii.
Peron died in Paris before completing his records on the expedition and it was finished by his ship-board colleague Louis Freycinet, who later commanded the Astrolabe on a second scientific expedition in the region. Peron did however describe his frog in 1807: Hyla nebulosa which was later described by Ambystoma Tschudi in 1838.
Crinia parinsignifera EASTERN FROGLET
Litoria fallax EASTERN DWARF TREE FROG

Entries (RSS)