Description
Large and long-legged, males grow up to 65 mm, females up to 90 mm in body length. Dorsal is olive or grayish brown, sometimes marbled but usually plain with maybe some scattered warts of a darker color. Darker brown cross bars on limbs; sides of head darker color; basically white ventral surface. From behind the eyes to the groins, a pair of raised glandular folds run down the sides of the body. Throat always has dark brown spots which may extend onto the belly. Young frogs have bright yellow lower surfaces of the belly and below hindlimbs; toes are webbed with only one joint on the longest toe (the third) beyond the webbing (Menzies 1975; Zweifel 1980).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (3 records).

Found in high elevations throughout most of New Guinea (Zweifel 1980). Prefers streams in hill forest at lower altitudes and moss forests at higher altitudes, open grassy valleys of the highlands, swamps and relatively slow-flowing rivers (Menzies 1987).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Reproduction: Breeds in swamps or still backwaters of rivers. Eggs adhere in single layer to rocks in the water. Tadpoles are brownish with three tooth rows above the mouth and three below and up to 20 mm in body size (Menzies 1975).

Call: Males sometimes call in the day during dull weather or at night and like to hide in clumps of sedge, occasionally exposing themselves. They make short series of 3-4 squeaks at long intervals (Menzies 1975). Each note lasts about 0.1 s and has an initial rise in frequency through 500 Hz and a rapid decline through 1 kHz. The frequency range is about 2-3 kHz (Menzies 1987).

References

Menzies, J. I. (1975). Handbook of Common New Guinea Frogs. Wau Ecology Institute, Papua New Guinea.

Menzies, J. I. (1987). ''A taxonomic revision of Papuan Rana (Amphibia: Ranidae).'' Australian Journal of Zoology, 35, 373-418.

Zweifel, R. G. (1980). ''Results of the Archbold Expeditions 103. Frogs and lizards from the Huon Peninsula, Papua New-Guinea.'' Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 165, 390-434.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2003 Papurana grisea <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5045> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Dec 25, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 25 Dec 2024.

AmphibiaWeb's policy on data use.