Amphibians

Banjo Frog

Limnodynastes · also called banjo frog, pobblebonk

Least Concern → carnivoreinsectivore Rivers & wetlands Temperate grassland Temperate forest

A banjo frog announces itself with a single deep, hollow bonk — so exactly like a plucked banjo string that in southeastern Australia the frog is simply called the pobblebonk. Get a whole wetland full of them calling on slightly different notes and it sounds like a band that never quite finishes tuning up.

Overview

Banjo frogs are the stout, burrowing Australian frogs of the genus Limnodynastes, around five species across the wetter half of the continent and along inland watercourses. They eat insects, worms, and smaller frogs, and their tadpoles are among the largest of any Australian frog.

The bonk

The male’s call is one short, deep, resonant note. A chorus of males, each a little off from the others, produces the “out-of-tune banjo band” effect the frog is famous for. The onomatopoeic name pobblebonk has become the eastern species’ usual common name.

A frog for a dry country

Banjo frogs are heavy-bodied with a hard digging tubercle on each hind foot, and they burrow backwards deep into soft soil to wait out hot, dry months, some sealing themselves in a shed-skin cocoon. Rain brings them back up to feed and breed. The female whips her eggs into a floating foam nest at the water’s edge, and a grabbed frog oozes a sticky, mildly toxic skin secretion.

Status

Least Concern — most banjo frogs are common and readily use farm dams and garden ponds, making them among the more secure of Australia’s frogs. Only the range-restricted giant banjo frog of the southeast is of some concern.

Banjo Frog: common questions

Why is it called a banjo frog?

Because of the call. The male's advertisement call is a single short, deep, resonant note, and to most ears it sounds exactly like someone plucking one low string on a banjo, a hollow bonk or plonk. When many males call together from around a wetland, each a little different in pitch, the overall sound is like a group of banjos being tuned. The imitative nickname pobblebonk, widely used in southeastern Australia, comes from the same call.

What is a pobblebonk?

A pobblebonk is a banjo frog, specifically the eastern banjo frog of southeastern Australia, and the name is simply an onomatopoeic version of its bonking call that has become the frog's usual common name in that region. It is a stout, blotchy brown and yellow burrowing frog often found in suburban gardens and farm dams. The word is now so established that many Australians know the frog only as the pobblebonk and are surprised to learn its formal name is banjo frog.

Are banjo frogs poisonous?

Mildly. When grabbed, a banjo frog can produce a sticky white secretion from glands in its skin, and this substance is distasteful and can irritate a predator's mouth and eyes and gum up its jaws, which often makes the animal drop the frog. It is not dangerous to a person, though it is sensible to wash your hands after handling one and to avoid touching your eyes. The frog also puffs itself up and may squeal loudly to startle an attacker. It is not in the same league as a cane toad.

How do banjo frogs survive dry spells?

By burrowing. Banjo frogs have muscular hind legs with a hard, spade-like tubercle on each foot, and they dig themselves backwards down into soft soil, sometimes tens of centimetres deep, where it stays cool and damp. There they sit out hot, dry weeks or months with a slowed metabolism, and some form a cocoon of shed skin that further reduces water loss. When heavy rain soaks the ground they dig their way back up to feed and, if there is enough water, to breed in the newly filled pools and ditches.

Sources & further reading

Written by HideShark Editorial Team · reviewed by HideShark Science Desk. Published September 11, 2026. Last updated September 11, 2026.

Quick facts

Scientific name: Limnodynastes
Diet: Insects and other invertebrates taken on the ground and in shallow water, including beetles, ants, moths, spiders, and worms, with the larger banjo frogs also eating other frogs, and the well-grown tadpoles, which are among the biggest of any Australian frog, grazing algae and detritus
The bonk: Male banjo frogs give a short, deep, resonant note, most often written as bonk or plonk, that carries well and sounds like someone plucking a single low string on a banjo, and because males in a chorus call at slightly different pitches and rhythms the effect across a swamp is of an out-of-tune band
Named the pobblebonk: In much of southeastern Australia the eastern banjo frog is universally known as the pobblebonk, a word coined to imitate the call, and different species are told apart partly by the exact pitch and speed of their bonk
A burrowing frog: Banjo frogs are heavy-bodied, short-limbed frogs with a hard digging tubercle on each hind foot, and they spend dry periods buried backwards in soil, sometimes deep, emerging to feed and breed after rain, so they can persist in areas that are dry for much of the year
Floating foam nests: The female beats her egg-and-fluid mass into a floating raft of white foam among vegetation at the edge of a pond or flooded ditch, which protects the eggs from heat, predators, and low oxygen, and the tadpoles drop out into the water as the foam breaks down
Poison in the skin: When seized, a banjo frog can exude a sticky, milky secretion from glands in its skin that is distasteful and mildly toxic, gumming up a predator's mouth, and it also inflates its body and may give a sharp squeal
Several species: There are around five banjo frog species across Australia, including the eastern or pobblebonk, the western banjo frog, the giant banjo frog, and the northern banjo frog, between them covering most of the wetter half of the continent and parts of the interior
Range: Across the wetter southern, eastern, and southwestern parts of Australia and into the semi-arid interior along watercourses, in and around still and slow fresh water including swamps, marshes, dams, flooded grassland, roadside ditches, billabongs, and slow creeks, from the coast into the ranges and out onto the inland plains, wherever there is soft ground to burrow in.
Conservation status: Least Concern → ≈ Most banjo frogs are common, widespread, and adaptable, readily using farm dams, drainage ditches, garden ponds, and other artificial water, and are assessed as Least Concern with stable populations, which makes them among the more secure of Australia's frogs. Their burrowing habit and tolerance of temporary water help them cope with drought and with modified landscapes. Local declines occur where wetlands are drained or polluted, and the giant banjo frog of southeastern Australia, which needs particular swamp habitats, has a more restricted range and is of some conservation concern, but the group as a whole is not threatened in the wild