The Life Cycle of the Western Spotted Frog

The western spotted frog, Heleioporus albopunctatus, inhabits areas of Western Australia, and primarily lives in semiarid regions near flowing bodies of water. With a chocolate or dark brown exterior, the frog's skin is populated with yellow or white dots, which are a little bit less than an inch in diameter. The frogs have a robust and full build with strong hind legs.

  1. Eggs and Early Life

    • An adult female frog lays anywhere from 250 to 700 eggs at one time. These eggs may be laid in water or a moist, terrestrial area. Mating and egg fertilization usually occur between April and June, after rains. Scientists refer to a bundle of frog eggs as a mass, which appears to be a large, foamy white bubble. The eggs take anywhere from 10 days to 4 weeks to hatch.

    Tadpoles

    • When the eggs are laid in water, tadpoles can immediately start swimming when they hatch. However, in the case of eggs laid on land, the tadpoles generally wait for a strong rain to wash them into a body of water. In the water, they look for calm areas with a lot of vegetation, so that they may develop in an undisturbed environment. The tadpoles are generally dark or pale brown, and they take two or three months to develop into mature adults.

    Adults

    • Adult frogs can grow up to 3 inches long, and they have strong hind legs for jumping. They usually are active in summer and autumn nights and burrow in sandy banks or shallow waters. Also occupying some swamps and marshes, they have a distinctive "coo" vocalization. Although males and females are very similar in appearance, the males have a sharp piece of bone on the first finger, but the females do not.

    Breeding

    • Males begin the breeding process by digging small pits in watery and terrestrial areas, at which point they begin cooing. This attracts females, which lay eggs in the area that the male frogs fertilize. This generally takes place in the summer and winter months because these months have the most rainfall, which helps the tadpoles find water once the eggs hatch.