Tanami Toadlet calls recorded for first time since species discovery in 1980’s

Since its discovery in the ‘80s, no human has recorded the calls of a tiny desert ‘toadlet’ – until now.

An elusive tiny frog – which was only discovered more than 40 years ago – has had its call recorded for the first time at a remote wildlife sanctuary in Central Australia.

The Tanami toadlet was first discovered by scientists in 1981, but it was only in March this year that ecologists at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary finally recorded the frog’s call.

Growing to just four centimetres and living across the Tanami and Great Sandy Desert, the Tanami Toadlet is one of 28 tiny frog species in area.

They’re dubbed ‘toadlets’ due to their bumpy skin – but actually bear no relations to toads.

The high levels of rainfall in March has led to the little critters being more active, according to Australian Wildlife Conservancy wildlife ecologist Dr Tim Henderson.

Ecologists walk through a water-filled lake after the rain at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary. Credit: Aliesha Dodson/Australian Wildlife Conservancy

“It was our third wettest month on record, and we’ve already received more than the annual average rainfall in 2024,” he said.

“We visited one of the claypan lakes to look for frogs and see if we could track down the Tanami Toadlet.

“The lake is extremely full at the moment, and while we were there we heard lots of frogs calling.

“The calls were really distinctive, and unlike any of the other species that we find out here regularly.

“We were eventually able to pinpoint the calls through the undergrowth to locate these little frogs, which matched the description for Tanami Toadlets.”

Dr Newhaven and his team caught the frogs call using the Frog ID app, which was then confirmed by Australian Museum lead scientist of FrogID and curator of amphibians Dr Jodi Rowley.

“It’s taken 43 years since we first recognised this species for someone to record its call – that’s pretty amazing,” Ms Rowley said.

“There’s still so much to discover about Australian amphibians, and this recording will make it easier for other people detect Tanami Toadlets in the future.”