Mountain mist frog

The mountain mist frog, Henrietta Creek tree frog or Nyakala frog (Ranoidea nyakalensis) is a frog from Australia.  It lives in Queensland between 380 and 1020 metres above sea level.

This frog lives in and near streams where the water flowed so fast that it turned white.  Scientists saw the adult frogs sitting on rocks or leaves near the streams.

The tadpoles live in the fast water.  Scientists wrote that they had strong tails for swimming and bodies meant for the water to flow over them. Sometimes they would dig into the sand to hold on during floods.  The tadpoles would spend the winter in mountain streams and grow into frogs in the spring.

This frog is in danger of dying out. Scientists last saw the adult frog and tadpoles in 1990.  They saw them in the Carbine Tableland.

Scientists think pigs that escaped from humans might be one reason why the frog is endangered.  The pigs rip up the streams where the frog would live.  They also think the fungal disease chytridiomycosis might be killing these frogs.  Scientists also thought habitat loss, human beings building roads and farms where the frog would live, was killing the frogs, but the Australian government protected the frogs' home in 1988.

References

Category:Pelodryadidae