Sunset frog  (Spicospina flammocaerulea)

Range

When this species was first discovered, it was only known from three sites in south-west Western Australia. Since then, surveys have brought the total number of likely populations to 27, all of which are located near the southern coast of Western Australia. The range of this frog is highly fragmented and it occupies a very restricted area. There is at present a lack of data on the absolute size of known populations (5).

Habitat

The sunset frog occupies a very specialised habitat. It is found in permanently moist peat swamps which may be relics of an earlier wet landscape with summer rainfall patterns that changed to a seasonally dry summer climate around 10-12 million years ago. The remaining peat bogs in which this frog lives are kept moist throughout the year, often as a result of seepages of water. Within the bogs, sunset frogs are typically found in the water seepages, in pools and along drainage lines. Modern peat swamps may represent the closest approximation available to Miocene summer wet climates (6).

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