Platyplectrum ornatum

Conservation Status

Calling Period

Description

A medium-sized species of frog reaching up to nearly 4.5 cm in body length. It has a dull yellow, grey, brown or reddish-brown back, with darker brown patches and sometimes a wide, dull yellow longitudinal stripe along the middle. There is often a brown stripe from the tip of the snout to the side, and brown vertical bars along the upper lip. The belly is white. The pupil is nearly round, and the iris is gold. The legs have brown horizontal bars. Fingers are unwebbed and toes are slightly webbed, both without discs.

Breeding Biology

Eggs are laid as a foamy mass that floats on the surface of temporary pools, ditches, and flooded grassland. Tadpoles can reach a total length of up to nearly 5 cm, and are brown or grey-brown in colour. They often remain on the bottom of water bodies, and take around two weeks to three months to develop into frogs. Breeds during summer after heavy rain.

Similar Species

Looks similar to Platyplectrum spenceri and Neobatrachus sudellae in its distribution, but has less toe webbing than Platyplectrum spenceri and lacks dark metatarsal tubercles as present in Neobatrachus sudellae.