Black mountain boulder frog

Description

The vulnerable Black Mountain boulderfrog or rock haunting frog (Cophixalus saxatilis) is one of the largest (about the size of a walnut) of Australia’s microhylids — a group of frogs normally confined to the leaf litter of tropical rainforests.This large-eyed frog lays its eggs on land rather than in water.An adult tends to the eggs and young,which hatch as fully formed froglets.They have no tadpole stage.They have acquired an almost crab-like ability to scuttle on the granite boulders,although they can still disappear in a series of leaps when alarmed.At night these frogs emerge to forage on the boulders of the mountain and in and about the scattered figs and fringing monsoon forest.