Gastric-brooding Frog - Southern Gastric-brooding Frog (R. Silus) - Physical Description

Physical Description

The Southern Gastric-brooding Frog was a medium sized species of dull colouration, with large protruding eyes positioned close together and a short, blunt snout. Its skin was moist and coated with mucus. The fingers were long, slender, pointed and unwebbed and the toes were fully webbed. The arms and legs were large in comparison to the body. In both species the females were larger than the males.

The Southern Gastric-brooding Frog was a dull grey to slate coloured frog that had small patches, both darker and lighter than the background colouration, scattered over dorsal surface (back). The ventral surface was white or cream, occasionally with yellow blotches. The arms and legs had darker brown barring above and were yellow underneath. There was a dark stripe that ran from the eye to the base of the forelimb. The ventral surface (belly) was white with large patches of cream or pale yellow. The toes and fingers were light brown with pale brown flecking. The end of each digit had a small disc and the iris was dark brown. The skin was finely granular and the tympanum was hidden. The male Southern Gastric Brooding Frog was 33 millimetres (1.3 in) to 41 millimetres (1.6 in) in length and the female 44 millimetres (1.7 in) to 54 millimetres (2.1 in) in length.