17th February 2014 – New report released on the distribution of Sloane’s Froglet (Crinia sloanei) in southern NSW and northern Victoria.

A new report has just been produced on Sloane’s Froglet, an endangered species found in the Thurgoona area. The report is authored by Alexandra Knight from the Institute for Land Water and Society (Charles Sturt University). and contains local research funded by the Albury Conservation Company.

Below is the Executive Summary of the report entitled ‘The distribution of Sloane’s Froglet (Crinia sloanei) in southern NSW and northern Victoria: a review of historical distribution records and results undertaken from 2010-2013′. The full document can be read by clicking here.

Sloane’s Froglet, Crinia sloanei, is a small frog with an historical distribution in north central Victoria and central western NSW from the Victorian to the Queensland border. It has been sparsely and infrequently recorded across its range, especially in the last 10 years. It is listed as Vulnerable (Hughes, 2008) under the NSW Threatened Species Act and as data deficient by the IUCN (IUCN, 2013).

Very little is known about the species. It was necessary to develop an understanding of the current distribution in order to gain an insight into the species and underpin the design of future research.
This report has two aims. Firstly, it examines the distribution of Sloane’s Froglet from its time of discovery in 1957 (Littlejohn 1958) to the present time as made available in wildlife databases and in other records provided by herpetologists. Secondly, it presents the recent distribution information developed from surveys undertaken in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by the author as part of her PhD research programme.
Historical distribution records for Sloane’s Froglet were obtained from two main sources. Firstly, records from NSW and Victorian wildlife atlas databases were accessed. Secondly, personal requests were made to herpetologists who have worked within the region where Sloane’s Froglet is known to have occurred.
Historical records showed that Sloane’s Froglet has been recorded from sites in NSW and Victoria, with the majority of records in the Darling Riverine Plains, NSW South Western Slopes, Riverina and Victorian Midlands bioregions. The number of records in the last 20 years has declined.
Recent records from surveys undertaken by other herpetologists showed that Sloane’s Froglet has been located in the Namoi catchment in northern NSW (Phil Sparks, pers. Com.).
For this project distribution surveys were undertaken in the winters of 2010, 2011 and 2012. A brief survey was also undertaken in 2013. Surveys focused on establishing the current presence of Crinia sloanei at sites where it had been previously found in southern NSW and northern Victoria. After its presence was established intensive survey work was undertaken in neighbouring areas to extend the known distribution. In addition, community input into finding the froglet was requested through popular media.
Significant populations of the species were located in the Albury and Corowa regions of NSW and the Wahgunyah/Rutherglen region of Victoria. These surveys were limited by the available resources and the unusually wet conditions. Further survey work would no doubt extend the current known distribution of this species.