The southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) is a species of Australian ground frog native to southeastern Australia.[1]
The species was described in 1953 by Fulbright research scholar John A. Moore from a specimen collected at Towong Hill Station at Corryong, Victoria, and sent to the Australian Museum. The curator, Roy Kinghorn, recognised it as a new species and allowed Moore to describe it.[2]
Adult female southern corroboree frogs are long, while males measure ;[3] both bear vivid yellow and black stripes across the head, back, and limbs. The body and head are short and wide, the snout has a slight point, and the fingers and toes lack webbing. The iris is black. The northern corroboree frog has narrower and more greenish-yellow striping.[3]
The southern corroboree frog is native to Kosciuszko National Park in the northern Snowy Mountains, where it found at locales between the Maragle Range and Smiggin Holes.[4] Reported as abundant during the 1970s,[5] it declined drastically during the 1980s from chytridiomycosis.[6] The species are critically endangered, with the wild population thought to number around 30 individuals.[7] The natural habitat is sphagnum bog at elevations greater than .[5]
Efforts to conserve the species have included establishing captive breeding programs across four institutions: the Amphibian Research Centre in 1997, Melbourne Zoo in 2001, Taronga Zoo in 2006, and Healesville Sanctuary in 2007.[6] By 2018, there were over 400 southern corroboree frogs in zoos.[8]
Five breeding enclosures have established in Kosciuszko National Park. Two-thirds of the frogs in these perished in the 2019–20 Australian bushfires. In 2022, a further 100 frogs were released from captive breeding programs.[7]