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Guess Who: Delineating Post-Metamorphic Amphibian Life Stages and Sexes Using a Standardised Visible Approach.

John Gould¹, Loren Louise Fardell¹, Alex Callen¹

¹School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.

Journal of Morphology

|April 27, 2026

Summary

Researchers developed a new method to define adulthood in green and golden bell frogs (Ranoidea aurea) using visible sex traits and size. This approach accounts for variations in development and hormone cycles, improving maturity assessments in the wild.

Keywords:

Anura adulthood gravidity nuptial pad reproductive status secondary sex characters sexual maturity

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Area of Science:

Herpetology
Amphibian Ecology
Reproductive Biology

Background:

Adulthood in animals is typically defined by sexual maturity and gamete functionality.
Field studies often rely on indirect maturity indicators like size and sex-specific traits due to difficulties in assessing gametes.
Previous methods for determining amphibian maturity may not fully capture developmental variations.

Purpose of the Study:

To establish a refined protocol for defining adulthood in male and female green and golden bell frogs (Ranoidea aurea).
To improve upon existing methods by incorporating externally visible sex attributes and size thresholds.
To develop a flexible decision-making pipeline applicable to other amphibian species.

Main Methods:

Utilized a multi-season dataset to analyze externally visible sex attributes and size in Ranoidea aurea.
Incorporated the presence and expression level of nuptial pad coloration and gravidity.
Established sex-specific minimum size thresholds for maturity based on trait expression levels.

Main Results:

The developed protocol allows for the classification of adults based on both trait expression and size thresholds.
It accommodates precocious development by classifying individuals with high trait expression as adults, even if below minimum size.
It accounts for temporal trait variability related to hormone cycles by classifying individuals above size thresholds as adults regardless of trait expression.

Conclusions:

The proposed decision-making pipeline offers a more nuanced and accurate method for defining amphibian adulthood in field conditions.
This approach enhances the assessment of maturity by considering precocious development and hormonal influences.
The methodology is adaptable for application to other amphibian species by adjusting species-specific trait thresholds.