The kunupalari frog often emerges at night, to avoid the heat of the day, and predators. It feeds mainly on ground dwelling insects such as centipedes, beetles and ants. Prey is captured by remaining motionless and pouncing quickly on any insects which wander past. A long, sticky tongue is used to draw the unlucky insect into the frog's mouth.
Breeding occurs in milky pools in which tadpoles are hidden from view. Breeding is in autumn and early winter or after summer rains. Eggs are laid in a continuous string that settles to the bottom of a pool or creek. Up to 500 eggs may be laid at one time (Tyler et al., 1994). Neobatrachus kunapalari can grow to be up to 59 mm in length, and can weigh up to 11 grams (personal observation). Females are generally bigger than males.
Thousands of kunapalari frogs can be seen on warm summer nights after a shower. The rain brings them up out of their burrows, and large choruses of these frogs can often be heard calling in some areas of the wheatbelt. The call is a distinctive high pitched trilling call, which can be heard from some distance away. The kunapalari frog is very similar in appearance to another burrowing species Neobatrachus sutor (shoemaker frog), and was only recently classified as a new species on the basis of its call and genetic makeup.
Return
to Frogs of Western Australia
Return
to main page