Never underestimate the commitment of biologists exploring the secret life of frogs! Recently, researchers spent four months in the field working from 6 pm to 6 am, seven days a week tracking the sexual gymnastics of almost 100 frogs. The subject of their scrutiny was Bibron's toaflet (Pseudophryne bibronii), an unassuming toadlet, found along the Eastern states' forests, heathlands and grasses. It ranges from brown to black in colour and at just 30 mm long, is one of Australia's tiniest frogs. Six years of field trips has generated a lot of information about the petite frog, but the latest expedition produced a gem. Using DNA markers, the biologists discovered the female Pseudophryne bibronii were in the habit of distributing their eggs in the nests of as many as eight males - a new Australian record! While this doesn't say much for female frogs' expectations of their males' domestic skills, it does constitute a new behaviour undetected in frogs until now and represents a record for any vertebrate. http://www.monash.edu.au/news/newsline/story/1346 Image: Male Bibron's toadlet on eggs, Monash University



