24-36 eggs in gelatinous clumps under rocks or branches in the water; tadpoles could be found throughout the year. Males and females participated in amplexus mating behavior. Diet The Mount Glorious day frog fed primarily on small invertebrates along the forest floor. These include flat-bodied crustaceans, winged insects, butterfly or moth larvae, and other small insects along streams. Extinction Taudactylus diurnus was first described by Australian zoologists Straughan and Lee in 1966. The frog was abundant in the south eastern Queensland in the early 1970s but then rapidly began to decline. In a period of about 3 to 4 years, the frog was considered to be endangered, having disappeared from D’Aguilar Range around 1975 and Blackall Range around 1978. The species has not been spotted since approximately 1979. In 1994, the Groombridge Scientific Journal declared the species to be endangered, which was followed up in 1996 with the IUCN Redlist declaring the species to be critically endangered. Efforts to relocate the species continued up until 2004, when the IUCN Redlist officially declared the species extinct due to a lack of evidence of their existence in the wild for roughly 25 years. Causes of extinction One of the threats to the Mount Glorious day frog was the contamination of water with mud by feral pigs. Feral pigs made the water muddy making it difficult for the frogs to reproduce and develop. In addition, feral pigs also preyed on the frogs. Changes in the flow of stream water, the spread of invasive species, and the spread of chytridiomycosis have also been implicated in the disappearance of the species. A connection has been made between the frog's extinction and the presence of the invasive plant species Lantana camara and Ageratina riparia. References Further reading Frogs Australia Network Nature Conservation Act endangered biota Taudactylus Amphibians described in 1966 Endemic fauna of Australia Amphibian extinctions since 1500 Species endangered by invasive species Species made extinct by human activities Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Frogs of Australia