Slender bleating tree frog

{{Short description|Species of frog}}

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| image = Litoria balatus, Pine Mountain QLD 4306, Australia imported from iNaturalist photo 345421874.jpg

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| taxon = Litoria balatus

| authority = Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea, & Donnellan, 2021

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The slender bleating tree frog (Litoria balatus), is a frog in the family Hylidae. It is endemic to Australia, where it is found in Queensland and the Bunya Mountains.{{BioRef|ASW6

|title=Litoria balatus Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea, and Donnellan, 2021

|url=https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/Amphibia/Anura/Hylidae/Pelodryadinae/Litoria/Litoria-balatus

|access-date=December 30, 2022}}{{BioRef|amphibiaweb

|title=Litoria balatus:Rowley, Mahony, Hines, Myers, Price, Shea & Donnellan, 2021: Slender Bleating Tree Frog

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|url=https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9465

|access-date=December 30, 2022}}{{cite journal|author1=Rowley JJL|author2= Mahony MJ|author3= Hines HB|author4= Myers S|author5= Price LC|author6= Shea GM |author7=Donnellan SC |year=2021 |title=Two new frog species from the Litoria rubella species group from eastern Australia |journal=Zootaxa |volume=5071|issue=1|pages= 1–41|url=https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5071.1.1|access-date=December 30, 2022|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5071.1.1|doi-access=free}} This is the "bleating tree frog" that occurs around Brisbane.{{Cite web |last=Rowley |first=Jodi |date=22 November 2021 |title=Bleating or screaming? Two new, very loud, frog species described in eastern Australia |url=https://australian.museum/blog/amri-news/bleating-or-screaming/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=The Australian Museum |language=en}}

It was long confused with the robust bleating tree frog (L. dentata) and was thus only described as a distinct species in 2021. Rowley et al (2021) distinguished three distinct clades in what was formerly considered a single species (Litoria dentata), based on genetic divergence, slight morphological differences, and notable differences in vocalizations; the latter were collected via the FrogID Australia citizen science project. One of these was the robust bleating tree frog (L. dentata sensu stricto), another was the slender bleating tree frog (L. balatus), and last was the screaming tree frog (L. quiritatus). The slender bleating tree frog has the shortest call out of the three species, has a more slender build than the other two, a white line extending down its side, and males have a distinctly black vocal sac during breeding season.{{Cite web |last=z3440238 |date=2021-11-23 |title=Surprise discovery of two new 'very loud' frog species |url=https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/surprise-discovery-two-new-very-loud-frog-species |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=UNSW Newsroom}}{{Cite web |date=2021-11-23 |title=Two new 'loud' frog species have been found along the east coast of Australia |url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2021/11/two-new-loud-frog-species-have-been-found-along-the-east-coast-of-australia/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=Australian Geographic |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2021-11-22 |title=Two New Species of Tree Frogs Discovered in Australia {{!}} Sci.News |url=https://www.sci.news/biology/two-new-litoria-species-10292.html |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=Sci.News: Breaking Science News |language=en-US}}