Southern Downs FrogsBleating Tree Frog Green Tree Frog Ornate Burrowing Frog Peron’s Tree Frog

Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata), Southern Downs QLD © Marc Newman
Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata), Southern Downs QLD © Marc Newman

The “original” species of Bleating Tree Frog, now coined the Robust Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata) only occurs from northeastern NSW to around the NSW/Queensland border. The newly described Slender Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria balatus) is present in Queensland, including Brisbane, while the Screaming Tree Frog (Litoria quiritatus) occurs from around Taree in NSW to just over the border in Victoria, including Sydney.

Source: Australian Museum, https://australian.museum/blog/amri-news/bleating-or-screaming/

The Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata), also known as the Robust Bleating Tree Frog is a medium-sized frog species, up to 4.5 cm in body length. It has a colour range of light brown to cream-coloured back, with a wide, brown longitudinal stripe along the middle. The belly is cream-coloured, and the male has a blackish brown vocal sac when deflated and a dirty yellow or brown vocal sac when inflated. The pupil is horizontal, and the iris is red in the top half and brown in the lower half. Fingers are one-third webbed and toes are three-quarters webbed, both with large, sometimes yellow discs.3

Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata), Southern Downs QLD © Marc Newman
Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata), Southern Downs QLD © Marc Newman

Check out our section on Fauna | Frogs


  • Scientific Classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Subphylum: Vertebrata
  • Class: Amphibia
  • Order: Anura
  • Family: Pelodryadidae
  • Subfamily: Litoriinae
  • Genus: Litoria
  • Complex: Litoria dentata
  • Species: Litoria dentata

Footnote & References

  1. Photographs © Marc Newman, Flickr
  2. Bleating or screaming? Two new, very loud, frog species described in eastern Australia, Australian Museum, https://australian.museum/blog/amri-news/bleating-or-screaming/
  3. Litoria dentata, Robust Bleating Tree Frog, FrogID, https://www.frogid.net.au/frogs/litoria-dentata
  4. Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/1312793-Litoria-dentata
  5. Bleating Tree Frog Complex (Complex Litoria dentata), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/23604-Litoria-dentata
  6. Australia’s frogs need your help, FrogID, https://www.frogid.net.au/

Southern Downs FrogsBleating Tree Frog Green Tree Frog Ornate Burrowing Frog Peron’s Tree Frog

Southern Downs QLDSouthern Downs Fauna Southern Downs Bees Southern Downs Birds Southern Downs Crustacean Southern Downs Frogs Southern Downs Insects Southern Downs Marsupials Southern Downs Reptiles Southern Downs Spiders

QueenslandGold Coast Region Lamington National Park Southern Downs QLD