Hochstetter's frog

Species of amphibian
Speciesbox
| name = Hochstetter's frog
| image = Leiopelma hochstetteri 169509543. jpg
| status = D
| status system = NZTCS
| status ref =
| taxon = Leiopelma hochstetteri
| authority = Fitzinger, 1861 All native New Zealand frogs (pepeketua in Māori) share tail wagging muscles, inscriptional ribs, round pupils, and a lack of eardrums, eustachian tubes, and vocal sacs. These frogs, in some ways more similar to salamanders than modern frogs, use chemical signals over acoustic signals to mark habitat and recognize competitors. Hochstetter's frogs poor hearing is complemented by their lack of vocalization.

Hochstetter's frogs can live to 30 years old. Adults do not breed until they are three years old, laying up to 20 eggs each season. While all four species develop as tadpoles inside the egg, hatching as froglets with developed back legs, Hochstetter's frogs, as the only semiaquatic species, continue to develop in water while the three other species are cared for by their parents. Hochstetter's frogs have the most extensive distribution of the native frogs, spanning the upper North Island, including the Waitākere and Hunua Ranges, the Coromandel Peninsula, Great Barrier Island, Maungatautari Ecological Island, and the East Coast. Ten populations of this species have been found to be genetically distinct, owing to the history of glacial isolation.

Invasive species like rats, goats, and pigs have caused declines in the species' population. Predators known to predate other frog species in New Zealand, such as pigs, cats, hedgehogs and ferrets, The IUCN has classified the species as “Least Concern”.