How big are these frogs?

Frog body size is generally measured as snout to vent length (SVL). SVL is the distance from their snout (tip of their nose) to their vent (bottom). Male Archey’s frogs are the smaller of the two sexes with a SVL <30 mm, females can be slightly larger with SVL<40 mm.

Habitat

Archey’s frogs are a terrestrial species which generally inhabit native forest, away from streams or creeks. They are restricted to three regions in the North Island of New Zealand. Archey’s frog occurs widely in the Coromandel Peninsula and in the Whareorino Conservation Area, west of Te Kuiti. In these areas, Archey’s frog occurs sympatrically (together) with Hochstetter’s frog (Leiopelma hochstetteri). Additionally, a translocated population exists in Pureora Forest Park. Archey’s frogs prefer to live at a relatively high altitude, about 400-1000 m above sea level, in moist native forest. They are nocturnal but may emerge on particularly damp days. Most often their days are spent hidden under stones, tree roots, logs or in ponga trees in the forest.  

Breeding 

Archey’s frog is a terrestrial breeder, a small clutch of eggs is laid in moist sites under stones or logs and occasionally in the crown of Ponga. They exhibit parental care and males brood the eggs until hatching for 8-9 weeks. Tailed froglets hatch directly from the eggs and remain on their father’s back for 5-6 weeks until metamorphosis is complete.

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Disease

Coromandel populations of this species crashed in recent years with monitored populations decreasing by 88% over the 1996-2001 period. Several factors, including the severity and rapidity of the population crash, the geographic spread of the decline (from South to North), and the discovery of frogs with chytridiomycosis (caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), all pointed to disease being the major cause of the decline. Since then no similar declines have been reported and research has suggested that Archey’s frogs potentially have innate or acquired immunity to chytridiomycosis. Chytrid fungus likely poses a low risk to Archey’s frog. 

^{Image by Tobia Dale, Te Papa}

Captive Populations

There is a captive population of Archey’s frogs at Auckland Zoo. These frogs are are held for captive husbandry development and research. They are not conservation insurance/recovery breeding populations. But the team at Auckland Zoo have developed husbandry practices that support breeding and the frogs have now bred successfully a number of times since 2012.

Fossil record

The sub-fossil record for Archey’s frog is poor. The two remaining natural populations and the existence of subfossils from Northland and Hawkes Bay suggest the mainland range of this species was once more widespread.