Pleistocene frogs from Near Cooma, New South Wales

Abstract

Several frog limb fragments and six excellently preserved ilia were collected by one of us (A.C.D.) from the Jilliby Formation at the Bunyan Siding fossil locality, 8 km NNE of Cooma, New South Wales. The material forms part of the Bunyan Siding Fauna and has been dated by thermoluminescence dating and palaeomagnetic studies as Middle Pleistocene. The frogs represent two extant species: the hylid Litoria citropa (Duméril and Bibron) and the leptodactylid (myobatrachid) Limnodynastes peronii (Duméril and Bibron). Litoria citropa is known from eastern Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales, whereas Limnodynastes peronii has a more extensive geographic range extending from eastern Queensland in a continuous arc to the south-east of South Australia and includes Tasmania. This is the first fossil record of L. citropa, whereas L. peronii is known from the Holocene of Hunter Island in Bass Strait. Fossil frogs have been reported only once previously from New South Wales.