One frog becomes three says expert
A north Queensland scientist has discovered that one species of frog is actually three different species.
Dr Conrad Hoskin from James Cook University has been researching the ornate nursery frog found in the wet tropics between Townsville and Port Douglas.
Dr Hoskin says he suspected for some time that the native north Queensland frogs were similar but not the same.
"We knew the populations were there and I suspected there might be more than one species in there that we had been confusing all along," he said.
Dr Hoskin says there are genetic and morphological differences between the frogs found in the northern wet tropics, the southern wet tropics and the population on Hinchinbrook Island.
"So it was quite clear by the end of it that there were three species," he said.
He says the frogs all look very similar but their mating calls set them apart.
"When it's raining either up in the rainforest or the mountain tops on Hinchinbrook Island you'll hear them calling and we'll record the calls of them in the wild there," he said.