The boreal digging frog is a small, round, toad-like frog from Korea and China that spends most of the year buried underground. It surfaces in the summer monsoon to call and lay eggs in rain pools, and its tadpoles turn into frogs in about a month. It isn't found in the wild in the US.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 1.6–1.8 in (4–4.5 cm) long, with females a bit larger than males. It has a plump, rounded body, a short blunt snout, and speckled, toad-like skin.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Rice paddies
- Farm fields
- Rain pools
- Range
- Central and northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and Jeju Island, from about 30 to 3,000 ft (10–900 m) above sea level.
- Preferred conditions
- Often lives close to people in cultivated land, and needs temporary pools that fill during the rainy season.
Behavior
- Activity
- After the rainy season, adults dig burrows and come out only at night to feed.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- June–July, during the summer monsoon
- Clutch size
- Batches of 15–20 eggs, laid many times over
- Larva
- Tadpoles grow to about 1.4 in (35 mm) and become frogs in about 30 days.
Cautions
- Cautions
- When threatened, it puffs up its body and releases sticky mucus from its back.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- In South Korea it is legally protected as a Class II endangered species.
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