Discovered in 1994, the spectacular-looking Sunset Frog, Spicospina flammocaerulea, inhabits permanently moist peat swamps and is known from only approximately 27 sites in two catchments in southwest Western Australia. About half of the sites are found on private land and the others are in the Mount Franklin National Park. It is a beautifully-coloured frog and quite small, growing only to about 35mm (1.4 inches)
The Sunset Frog listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, and is listed as Endangered under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, due to its very limited geographic range.
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In 2007, the Perth Zoo in Western Australia began a husbandry research program for this species (eggs collected from the wild were taken to the Zoo to be raised to adulthood and adult frogs were also collected from the wild and maintained at the Zoo to develop husbandry and breeding techniques). The purpose of this program was to develop appropriate skills for breeding and rearing Sunset Frogs in case the wild population numbers decline drastically and a rescue program becomes necessary. Adults that were head-started from wild-collected eggs bred successfully at Perth Zoo in 2011, and the program was subsequently stopped as the objectives had been met and the wild populations were (and remain) stable. Thirty adult frogs and 251 tadpoles were released to the wild in late 2011 to establish a new population in a third catchment (i.e., a conservation introduction to mitigate the effects of catchment-wide disasters). This was carried out in conjunction with the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Submit your observations of this species to iNaturalist and they will appear on this map. Learn more about this species on Amphibiaweb.
More Amazing Amphibians here.
Produced in partnership with:
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How to become an Amazing Amphibians partner:
Outlined below are the roles and responsibilities for the 4 different levels of involvement for potential partners. If your organization would like to be a part of the Amazing Amphibians program in either of these capacities please email amazing@amphibians.org.
Senior Partner – These partners will help with multiple aspects of the program, help facilitate the completion of several species profiles, publicize each Amazing Amphibian and will likely have a landing page for the program on their website. This level of partner will be leading in using their communication channels to gather additional information for the program such as images and data points for iNaturalist.
Strategic Partner – These partners will play an active role in creating species profiles, submitting at least three species profiles per year and actively use their social network to publicize each Amazing Amphibian. This level of partner will be active in using their communication channels to gather additional information for the program such as images and data points for iNaturalist.
Focal Partner – Partners tend to be active in a limited geographic area. This partner will submit at least one regional species profile per year and use their social network to publicize each Amazing Amphibian. This level of partner will be involved in using their communication channels to gather additional information at a regional level for the program such as images and data points for iNaturalist.
Affiliate – These partners are interested in promoting the program but might not be in a position to provide profiles. These partners will publicize each Amazing Amphibian through the social media outlets.
