SPHENOPHRYNE - American Museum of Natural History

2000 ZWEIFEL: PARTITION OF SPHENOPHRYNE
27
chaperina aquilonia and A. mehelyi resemble
A. brevipes in disc proportions, although they
have larger toe discs. Austrochaperina is distinguished
by relatively shorter legs and longer
eye-naris distance that, in combination,
afford clear separation (fig. 2).
Austrochaperina brevipes is microsympatric
with Liophryne similis and probably also
with its sibling L. rhododactyla, larger species
that otherwise look much like brevipes.
Juvenile similis can easily be confused with
brevipes, alive or preserved. The undersurfaces
of similis tend to be more heavily pigmented,
with the throat and chest appearing
dark with light flecks in contrast to the paler,
mottled pigmentation of brevipes. A narrow,
pale vertical stripe on the snout of similis bifurcates
at the level of the nares, whereas in
brevipes the pale color of the top of the snout
typically converges to a point below the level
of the nares. These features, and the tendency
for similis to have much darker loreal and
postocular regions, should permit correct
identification of questionable specimens.
Confirming the sexual maturity of specimens
in the problematic size range is also a helpful
approach.
HABITAT AND HABITS: Austrochaperina
brevipes lives on the floor of mossy montane
rain forest. While collecting in August 1987
(Zweifel and Parker, 1989), we took most of
our specimens from beneath logs during the
daytime and found the balance at night as we
searched through the leaf litter for calling individuals.
We saw none active on the surface
of the leaf litter, although such small frogs
might easily be overlooked.
A male, SVL 23.9 mm SVL, was found
associated with a clutch of 14 eggs (fig. 11)
on the verge of hatching (most of the capsules
ruptured when preserved). The dimensions
of an intact egg (external capsule) are
5.8 5.2 mm. A female of 22.9 mm contained
10 well-yolked eggs about 2 mm in
diameter.
DISTRIBUTION: Austrochaperina brevipes is
known from only two localities 38 km apart:
Mount Victoria and Myola Guest House in
the Owen Stanley Mountains (fig. 42). It
likely has a wider range in these mountains
than is known at present, but it has not been
taken in seemingly appropriate habitat in
Morobe Province to the northwest, and it
may be replaced by Oxydactyla crassa in
mountains to the southeast.
LOCALITY RECORDS AND SPECIMENS EXAM-
INED: PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Central
Prov.(?): Mt. Victoria (BMNH 1947.2.12.50,
holotype). Northern Prov.: Myola Guest
House, 2080 m, 7 km S, 6 km W Mt. Bellamy
(AMNH A130512–130523, A130525–
130541; UPNG 7084–7091, 8276). 4
REMARKS: This species, described in 1896,
was known only from the type specimen until
rediscovered by James Menzies at Myola
Guest House in 1986.
Inasmuch as A. brevipes and L. rhododactyla
are similar morphologically at the size
of the holotype of brevipes, and the two species
share a common type locality, I have
considered the possibility that the holotype
of brevipes may be a juvenile rhododactyla.
In some measurements, in fact, the holotype
does hew more closely to the rhododactyla
regression lines. As the holotype has faded
somewhat, the characters of pigmentation are
not available. There is, however, no firm basis
for identifying brevipes with rhododactyla.
That Boulenger, with fresh specimens at
hand, recognized a close affinity of the two
but regarded them as distinct is sufficient reason
for not complicating the nomenclature.
Austrochaperina derongo, new species
Figures 12, 32H
Sphenophryne macrorhyncha: Zweifel, 1956
(part, specimens from vicinity of Idenburg River,
Irian Jaya).
HOLOTYPE: AMNH A82289, collected on
April 7, 1968 by Fred Parker at Derongo,
400 m, Western Province, Papua New Guinea.
PARATYPES: Papua New Guinea (collected
by Fred Parker unless otherwise noted).
Western Prov.: AMNH A82287, A82288,
A82290, A92794–92798 (C&S), A145507
(C&S), A157805–157819, MCZ A92510,
A132847–133016, type locality, Apr. 5–7,
1969; MCZ A80992, 81222, 81223, Wang-
4 Myola is plotted on the Efogi Quadrangle, Papua
New Guinea 1:100,000 topographic map series sheet
8479, in Central Province at approximately 9844S,
1474344E. The Myola Guest House where we collected
is in Northern Province, 5.0 km E, 0.5 km S of
the mapped position of the village of Myola.