Philoria sphagnicola (Moore, 1958)

Open encyclopedia reference

The sphagnum frog (Philoria sphagnicola) is a frog in the family Limnodynastidae. The species was first described by John Alexander Moore in 1958. Its natural habitats are subtropical moist upland forests, subtropical moist montane forests, and streams. They vary in colour from shades of yellow and orange. They usually have irregular black spots that range all over their body. Their main source of diet comes from small insects, usually ants. This species was classified as endangered in 2004, and was subsequently downlisted to vulnerable in 2023. It is threatened by climate change pathogens and habitat loss. It is endemic to Australia. There have been other recommendations by scientist and other groups made to protect this species. Some of these recommendations are exclude logging around breeding areas, prevent pollution of streams and wetlands, and maintain vegetation and deep-leaf litter around streams.

Wikipedia contributors, Sphagnum frog; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T17:40:59.839423+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Philoria sphagnicola (Moore, 1958)

Name authority

(Moore, 1958)

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Amphibia

Order

Anura

Family

Limnodynastidae

Genus

Philoria

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAmphibia
9. orderAnura
10. superfamilyMyobatrachoidea Schlegel, 1850
11. familyLimnodynastidae Lynch, 1969
12. genusPhiloria Spencer, 1901
13. speciesPhiloria sphagnicola (Moore, 1958)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Philoria. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 38 records assigned to Limnodynastidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1270581 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4GCS3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.