Sloane's Froglet  |  

Crinia sloanei (Sloane’s Froglet) is a small ground-dwelling frog belonging to the family Myobatrachidae. Males average about 15.6 mm snout-to-vent length (SVL) in size, with females being slightly bigger at 17.6 mm SVL. The froglet has a brown or browny-grey back often with darker brown or olive markings and males may also have orange or ochre coloured spots. The belly is white and peppered with small black spots. The throat of females is white, while breeding males have a greyish-green lower jaw and a pale grey throat. There is no webbing on the feet and toe-pads are absent. Eggs are pigmented and laid individually attached to blades of grass or other submerged vegetation. Tadpoles grow to 25 mm and are light grey or brown all over with scattered dark flecks. Sloane’s Froglet tadpoles are difficult to distinguish from those of C. signfera (Common Eastern Froglet) and C. parinsignifera (Plains Froglet). Adult froglets are hard to see so they are best identified by their call. The male call is a distinctive sharp ‘eahh’, and the males usually call from shallow areas of wetland with thin stemmed vegetation. The appearance and call of Sloane’s Froglet is similar to two other Crinia species (C. parinsignifera and C. deserticola), and it is likely that there have been considerable misidentifications and incorrect records for Sloane’s Froglet in NSW, particularly with C. deserticola, in the north of its range.