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Giant Burrowing Frog
Conservation status
Vulnerable
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Anura Suborder: Neobatrachia Family: Myobatrachidae Subfamily: Limnodynastinae Genus: Heleioporus Species: H. australiacus
Binomial name
Heleioporus australiacus (Shaw & Nodder, 1795)
Range of the Giant Burrowing Frog

The Giant Burrowing Frog (Heleioporus australiacus) is a large frog species that occurs in coastal south east New South Wales and Victoria.

This is a large species of frog, up to 10cm in length. It is normally grey, dark brown or black on the back. It is white on the belly. There are yellow spots on the side and a yellow stripe on the upper lip, from the back of the eye to the back of the typanum. In metamorph frogs, this stripe is pink-orange in colour. The skin is rough and bumpy, males often have black spines on their fingers during the breeding season. This iris is silver and the pupil is vertical.

A Giant Burrowing Frog tadpole.

This species inhabits sanstone heathland, dry, and also wet sclerophyll forest from north of Sydney to eastern Victoria. They are called burrowing frogs because of their burrowing ability. They are also known as the Eastern Owl Frog because of their mating call, which resembles the hooting of an owl. Males call from burrows on the edges of streams during autumn and spring after heavy rainfall. Eggs are laid in burrows on the shores of creeks and streams, to be washed into the water during heavy rainfall. The tadpoles develop in the creek and take 3-11 months. The tadpoles are very large in size, up to 80mm.

This is quite a large species of frog and the largest frog in Victoria. It is often mistaken for Cane Toads because of its large size of 9 to 10 cm and bumpy skin. However cane toads do not have vertical iris and the range of the cane toad currenty does not overlap into Giant Burrowing Frog habitat.

These frogs can be seen sitting out on the edges of roads and walking tracks at night, after rain in areas of favourable habitat. This species has decline due to urbanisation and is mostly restricted to National Parks and State Forests.

• Lemckert et al (2004). Heleioporus australiacus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of why this species is vulnerable, and the criteria used
• Department of the Environment and Heritage. Heleioporus australiacus
• The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Giant burrowing frog
• Frogs Australia Network-frog call available here
• Frogs of Australia
• Anstis, M. 2002. Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia. Reed New Holland: Sydney.
• Robinson, M. 2002. A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia. Australian Museum/Reed New Holland: Sydney.