Southern Corroboree Frog

Pseudophryne corroboree

Southern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne corroboree): Kept Alive by Zoo Breeding

The southern corroboree frog is a tiny black-and-yellow frog that lives only in the sphagnum bogs of Kosciuszko National Park in Australia's Snowy Mountains. Chytrid fungus wiped out almost all wild frogs, and fewer than 50 adults were left in the wild by 2017. Zoo breeding at Taronga Zoo, Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary, and releases into disease-free enclosures, are keeping it alive.

Habitat

Subalpine and montane sphagnum bogs, fens, wet heath and wet tussock grassland

Size

Adults 2.5-3 cm long

Diet

Mainly small black ants and other small invertebrates

Range

Only Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, about 1,300-1,760 m above sea level

Conservation

Critically Endangered (IUCN; EPBC Act; NSW). Fewer than 50 wild adults in 2017

Breeding

Females lay 16-38 eggs in a moss nest on land; tadpoles hatch when rain floods it

Habitat & range

The southern corroboree frog lives only in the northern Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in a strip from the Maragle Range through Mt Jagungal to Smiggin Holes. Its whole range is inside Kosciuszko National Park (NSW BioNet). It prefers gently sloping montane and subalpine country between about 1,300 and 1,760 metres (DCCEEW). In summer it breeds in pools and seepages in sphagnum bogs, wet heath, fens and wet tussock grassland. The rest of the year adults shelter under leaf litter, logs, rocks and dense ground cover in the nearby heath and snow gum woodland (NSW BioNet; Conservation Advice 2023).

How to recognise it

Adults are only 2.5 to 3 cm long. The back has bright yellow stripes running lengthwise, alternating with black stripes, and the belly is blotched with black, white and yellow (NSW BioNet; Conservation Advice 2023). Its call is a short "squelch". It is easy to confuse with the northern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne pengilleyi) of the Brindabella and Fiery ranges. The northern species has stripes that can be yellow, yellowish-green or lime green, while the southern species is bright yellow (Conservation Advice 2023). The name is thought to come from the bold stripes, which look like the body paint worn at Aboriginal corroboree ceremonies (Australian Geographic).

Nests, toxins and a slow life

Males move into the bogs in summer and call from small nests in moss or soft soil at the edge of pools, which are usually dry at the time. Each female lays only 16 to 38 large eggs in a male's nest, and one male can collect the eggs of several females. The embryos grow to an advanced stage and then pause until autumn or winter rain floods the nest. The tadpoles then swim into the pool, grow slowly under winter snow and ice, and turn into frogs in early summer (Corroboree Frog Recovery Program; Conservation Advice 2023). Most southern corroboree frogs take four years to become adults. Its bright colours warn predators that its skin is toxic. Pseudophryne frogs were the first frogs shown to make some of their own skin alkaloids, called pseudophrynamines, instead of only taking them from the ants they eat (Smith et al. 2002).

Chytrid fungus and the zoo rescue

The frog has been declining since the late 1980s. It was listed as Endangered in NSW in 1996 and Critically Endangered in 2009 (ABC 2024; NSW Scientific Committee). The main cause is chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus. The common eastern froglet carries the fungus without dying from it, which keeps the disease in the bogs (NSW Saving our Species). By January 2017 fewer than 50 adults were estimated in the wild, a fall of more than 99% in its range over 21 years (Conservation Advice 2023). Since 1997, eggs have been taken from the wild each year to build an insurance colony (Corroboree Frog Recovery Program). Today it is bred at Taronga Zoo, Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and the Amphibian Research Centre, working with the NSW Saving our Species program and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW Saving our Species).

Going home to Kosciuszko

Frog-proof field enclosures in Kosciuszko keep the froglets and the fungus out, so released frogs can breed in disease-free pools (NSW Saving our Species; DCCEEW). The 2019-20 bushfires damaged three of the five enclosure sites and killed many frogs (Conservation Advice 2023). New enclosures with sprinklers for fire protection were built, and in 2022 another 100 zoo-bred frogs were released (ABC 2022). In 2024 the zoos released a record 3,407 eggs, about 70% more than the usual 2,000 a year, into enclosures and former breeding sites (ABC 2024). Researchers mapped its genome in 2025 to help breed frogs that can resist chytrid (University of Melbourne 2025).

Fun facts about Southern Corroboree Frog

• The southern corroboree frog is only 2.5 to 3 cm long, about the size of a 20-cent coin.
• Its eggs are laid on land in a moss nest and wait for rain to flood the nest before they hatch.
• Its tadpoles spend the winter in pools that can be covered by snow and ice.
• Pseudophryne frogs were the first frogs shown to make some of their own skin toxins.
• In 2024 a record 3,407 zoo-bred eggs were released in Kosciuszko National Park.

Southern Corroboree Frog vs Tomato Frog (warning colours)

The much bigger tomato frog would win a shoving match, but neither would want to bite the other.

A just-for-fun pairing of two brightly coloured frogs that never meet: the southern corroboree frog lives in Australia's Snowy Mountains and the tomato frog in Madagascar. Both use bright colours to warn that they taste bad. The corroboree frog is only 2.5-3 cm long but makes some of its own skin toxins (Smith et al. 2002). The tomato frog is many times heavier and oozes a sticky secretion when attacked (AmphibiaWeb).

Read more about Tomato Frog.

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• Tomato Frog
• Amazon Várzea Frog
• American Bullfrog
• Axolotl
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