Pregnant creature — with gold eyes — found on Australia island. It’s a new species
On an island off the coast of Australia, a pregnant creature with golden eyes went about its day — or tried to, but scientists had other ideas. They captured the “cryptic” animal and identified it as a brown tree frog.
But they were wrong.
Brown tree frogs are a widespread and “commonly encountered” species of frog in southern Australia, according to a study published Feb. 2 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. These frogs have a “characteristic whistling call” but vary in coloring.
Because of this variety, a group of researchers started to suspect brown tree frogs weren’t just one species but several “cryptic” species grouped together, the study said.
Researchers gathered DNA, audio recordings and other data from dozens of tree frogs across southern Australia. As they analyzed the data, they noticed that frogs from a specific island had several subtle but consistently different features.
They’d discovered a new species: Litoria sibilus, or the Kangaroo Island tree frog.
Kangaroo Island tree frogs are considered “medium”-sized, reaching about 1.7 inches in length, researchers said. They have “squat” bodies with “smooth” skin and gold eyes. Their “long and slender” legs are “coppery pink.”
A photo shared by Frog ID in a Feb. 1 Facebook post shows a Kangaroo Island tree frog. It appears mostly “silvery” with a large brown blotchy stripe down its back, researchers said.
Kangaroo Island tree frogs live in “forest, heathland and disturbed agricultural land” but are heard more often in rural areas, the study said. One frog was found pregnant.
Like the brown tree frog, the new species has a “whistle-like” call. Researchers said they named the new species “sibilus,” the Latin word for “whistle or hiss,” because of its call.
The new species has only been found on Kangaroo Island, the study said. This island is the country’s third largest and located off the southern coast, about miles 800 miles southwest of Sydney.
The new species was identified by its size, body shape, coloring and island habitat, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least 6% genetic divergence from other tree frogs.
The research team included Tom Parkin, Jodi Rowley, Jessica Elliott-Tate, Michael Mahony, Joanna Sumner, Jane Melville and Stephen Donnellan.
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 5:54 AM with the headline "Pregnant creature — with gold eyes — found on Australia island. It’s a new species."
