Every year March 20th marks World Frog Day which aims to bring awareness to amphibians across the globe. Frogs occupy every conceivable habitat. In Australia there are over 240 known species of frog, with 105 species found in Queensland. Some frogs are brightly coloured, others drab. There are smooth frogs, warty frogs, skinny frogs, fat frogs, frilled frogs, long-legged frogs, sharp-snouted frogs and many more. … Continue reading Tips for finding frogs around your home | World Frog Day

by Dr John Stanisic OAM ‘The Snail Whisperer’, Honorary Research Fellow, Queensland Museum As Curator of Molluscs at Queensland Museum for 26 years, I spent most of my time collecting and documenting the land snails of Queensland. Over that time, more than 900 new species were discovered. Now as Honorary Research Fellow, I divide my time between research and telling the snail story in schools … Continue reading Telling the snail story

By Patrick Couper, Senior Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians, Queensland Museum Tryon’s skink (now Karma tryoni) was described in 1918 by Heber Longman at Queensland Museum. Its description was based on two specimens collected by Henry Tryon in the McPherson Range on the Queensland/New South Wales border. However, until recently this species was overlooked because taxonomists regarded it as conspecific (the same species as) with … Continue reading A rare skink and a case of mistaken identity

By Dr Paul Oliver, Senior Curator Vertebrates. In a quiet corner of the Queensland Museum, behind the public galleries and displays, six small dumpy green parrots sit in a special drawer. These are among the last known specimens of Coxen’s Fig Parrots. They were collected well over half a century ago, before populations of this species precipitously declined—possibly to extinction. Years later, they’re now helping … Continue reading New stories from old specimens: understanding the history of one of Australia’s rarest parrots

By Patrick Couper, Senior Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians, Queensland Museum There were only two species of gastric brooding frogs and both were narrowly restricted to mountain ranges near the Queensland coast. The Southern Gastric Brooding Frog, Rheobatrachus silus, lived in the Conondale and Blackall Ranges north of Brisbane and its northern counterpart, R. vitellinus (commonly called the Northern Gastric Brooding Frog) was found in fast … Continue reading Rheobatrachus vitellinus, a species that vanished the year after its discovery

As #BiodiversityMonth comes to end for 2020, we’re recapping what is biodiversity, why it’s important, how you can help us protect it for our future and our role as a museum in protecting biodiversity.  Watch the 4 part video series below with curators and collection managers from our biodiversity team. What is Biodiversity with Dr Marissa McNamara, Collection Manager of Crustaceans Watch the full video … Continue reading Biodiversity Month Recap

by Geoff Thompson, Queensland Museum, Collection Imager In August last year, I was a very lucky to be invited to present at Les Walking’s Daintree 2019 Photography Workshop. The workshop was photographic heaven, held at James Cook University’s Daintree Research Observatory (DRO). One morning I took the opportunity to shoot from the canopy crane situated in the adjacent tropical rainforest. This was an astounding experience, … Continue reading Daintree Canopy Crane at JCU’s DRO and Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Mating Dance