page_title: Green and golden bell frog
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Green and golden bell frog / Taxonomy
caption_attribution_description: English: Rana kl. esculenta image from Wikimedia Commons, Photograph by: Leo Bogert, Lisenced under&#160;:GDFL Litoria aurea image from English Wikipedia, Photograph by: Froggydarb, Lisenced under&#160;:GDFL Shows why en:Litoria aurea was first classed as en:rana. There are many physical similarities including; pointy snout, long legs, and almost complete toe webbing, the tympanum is large and distinct and the overall body shape is similar to many Rana species.
context_page_description: The green and golden bell frog, also named the green bell frog, green and golden swamp frog and green frog, is a ground-dwelling tree frog native to eastern Australia. Despite its classification and climbing abilities, it does not live in trees and spends almost all of its time close to ground level. It can reach up to 11 cm in length, making it one of Australia's largest frogs.
  Coloured gold and green, the frogs are voracious eaters of insects, but will also eat larger prey, such as worms and mice. They are mainly diurnal, although this is mostly to warm in the sun. They tend to be less active in winter except in warmer or wetter periods, and breed in the warmer months. Males reach maturity after around 9 months, while for the larger females, this does not occur until they are two years old. The frogs can engage in cannibalism, and males frequently attack and injure one another if they infringe on one another's space.
  Many populations, particularly in the Sydney region, inhabit areas of infrequent disturbance, such as golf courses, disused industrial land, brick pits, and landfill areas.
context_section_description: The common name, "green and golden bell frog", was first adopted by Harold Cogger in his 1975 book Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Before this, its common names were "golden frog" and "golden tree frog". The green and golden bell frog has many physical and behavioural characteristics representative of ranids, hence its original classification as Rana. It has a pointy snout, long legs, and almost complete toe webbing; the tympanum is large and distinct; and the overall body shape is similar to many Rana species. Like many frogs in the genus Rana, green and golden bell frogs are mostly aquatic, and only travel over land during periods of rainfall. It was removed from the genus because of anatomical differences with the family Ranidae. The bone and cartilage structural formations of the green and golden bell frog are closest to those of species in the family Hylidae; it was therefore reclassified.
  The green and golden bell frog was first described as Rana aurea by Lesson in 1827 and has changed classification many times. The specific epithet aurea derived from the Latin aureus for 'golden'. The species is now classified within the Ranoidea aurea complex, a closely related group of frogs in the genus Ranoidea. This complex is scattered throughout Australia: three species occur in south-east Australia, one in northern Australia, and two in Southwest Australia. The complex consists of the green and golden bell frog (R. aurea), growling grass frog (R. raniformis), yellow-spotted bell frog (R. castanea), Dahl's aquatic frog (R. dahlii), spotted-thighed frog (R. cyclorhyncha) and the motorbike frog (R. moorei). The ranges of R. raniformis and R. castanea overlap with the green and golden bell frog; this, as well as physical similarities, may make it difficult to distinguish between the species, and until 1972, R. raniformis and the green and golden bell frog were regarded as the same, when electrophoretic studies proved them to be distinct. The tablelands bell frog has not been seen since 1980 and may now be extinct, although the large yellow spots present on its thighs help distinguish it from the green and golden bell frog. The growling grass frog, which is very similar to the green and golden bell frog, can only be readily distinguished by raised bumps on the dorsal surface. It has also been proposed that some populations of R. aurea located near Ulong, New South Wales, be a separate subspecies, R. a. ulongae, but this was not accepted.
  Ranoidea aurea is equally and most closely related to R. castanes and R. ranaformis. A microcomplement fixation technique using serum albumins has indicated the species closest to R. aurea is R. ranifomis. Albumin immunological distance data suggest no differentiation between the two, and the green and golden bell frog evolutionally separated from the other two species about 1.1 million years ago. A 1995 study of protein variations showed four of 19 protein systems had variation and only two had differentiation. Scientists believe the different species can still hybridise, as their distribution areas still overlap, and both R. raniformis and R. aurea have been seen sharing ponds in the Gippsland area of Victoria. However, little evidence of hybridisation actually occurring has been found. Although there have been reports of frogs of mixed appearance in Gippsland, analysis of proteins and sera of the frogs showed two distinct species. Samples in other area of distribution have shown no evidence of hybridisation in spite of cohabitation.
caption: Ranoidea aurea (left) was first classed as a species of the genus Rana (right). There are many physical similarities, including a pointy snout, long legs, and almost complete toe webbing. The overall body shape is similar to many Rana species.
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