SPHENOPHRYNE - American Museum of Natural History

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32 BULLETIN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NO. 253 Fig. 17. Austrochaperina gracilipes, AMNH A83072, SVL 18.0 mm. Austrochaperina gracilipes Fry Figure 17 Austrochaperina gracilipes Fry, 1912: 93 (type locality, ‘‘Somerset, Cape York, North Queensland,’’ Australia; holotype, AMS R4536, collected by C. Hedley and A. R. McCulloch in October 1907). S[phenophryne]. gracilipes: Nieden, 1926: 48 (first use of this combination). Sphenophryne gracilipes: Parker, 1934: 155. Zweifel, 1962: 31; 1985b: 289. Sphenophryne robusta: Zweifel, 1965: 2 (part, gracilipes considered a synonym). DIAGNOSIS: A small Austrochaperina—females to almost 23 mm SVL, males to 20 mm—with well-developed digital discs, small eyes (EY/SVL 0.115), long legs (TL/SVL mean of 0.464), and a call consisting of a train of high-pitched peeps. No other known New Guinean Austrochaperina has this combination of characteristics. MORPHOLOGY: Size small, less than 23 mm SVL. Head narrow, tapering to bluntly rounded snout, more pointed in profile, and overhanging the somewhat undershot lower jaw. Loreal region flat, nearly vertical; nostrils lateral, scarcely visible from above, about halfway between eye and snout tip but appearing closer to latter in profile. Eyes lateral, easily visible from below; eyelid slightly narrower than interorbital space. Tympanum inconspicuous, annulus one-half eye diameter or less. Relative lengths of fingers 3 4 2 1, first less than half length of second; fingers 2–4 with grooved terminal discs slightly broader than penultimate phalanges, disc of first finger not broadened; subarticular and inner metacarpal elevations moderately prominent (fig. 57C). Toes unwebbed, relative lengths 4 3 5 2 1, first less than half length of second; grooved terminal discs of toes 2–5 broader than penultimate phalanges and larger than finger discs, disc on first toe small, not broader than penultimate phalanx; subarticular and inner metatarsal elevations moderately prominent (fig. 57C). Body smooth above and below; a weak, curved postocularsupratympanic fold. COLOR AND PATTERN: The dorsal ground color in preservative is brown. A dark loreal streak often continues as an ill-defined dorsolateral streak separating the paler side of the body from the darker middorsal region. Small dark spots often are present on the dorsal and lateral ground color, and most individuals have a pale vertebral hairline. The upper surfaces of the limbs are tan with darker spots and speckles. The groin is paler, immaculate, or with indistinct darker flecks. Anterior and posterior surfaces of the thighs have a similarly pale ground color but are more heavily marked, comparable to the dorsal surfaces. The chin and chest are spotted to mottled with gray-brown on a tan ground, with the intensity of spotting being quite variable. The tip of the snout is gray. The abdomen is typically less heavily marked, whereas the undersides of the thighs are more like the chin and chest. Living frogs from Wipim, Western Province (fig. 17), had the dorsum grayish to golden brown anteriorly, changing to reddish brown posteriorly and on the hind legs; a fairly distinct dark stripe on the canthus rostralis and through the ear, and a diffuse darker band dorsolaterally on the back; central area of the back somewhat darker than the sides; a fine vertebral hairline; remainder of the dorsal pattern mostly in the form of dark brown to black maculations on the ground color; undersides mottled with dark and light gray, mottling more intense on the chin and farther back on the ventral surfaces; and iris golden in the upper half, much darker reddish gold in the lower half. Australian frogs of this species have bright orange in the axilla and groin as well as on the hidden surfaces of the thighs and upper arm; no such

2000 ZWEIFEL: PARTITION OF SPHENOPHRYNE 33 color was present in the Papuan frogs. Australian specimens are illustrated in color in Cogger (1992) and Cameron and Cogger (1992). VARIATION IN SIZE AND PROPORTIONS: The largest of about 100 specimens from Papua New Guinea is a female 22.8 mm SVL, and all eight frogs measuring more than 20 mm are females. Males reach 19.6 mm and are mature (calling) by at least 17.5 mm. Females are mature by at least 19.1 mm, probably smaller. Statistics for proportions are in table 2, and those for regressions in table 3. Minor average differences in some proportions between Australian and New Guinean samples do not appear to be significant (Zweifel, 1985b). ILLUSTRATIONS: 3rd finger terminal phalanx, fig. 71J; premaxilla, fig. 64A; sacral region, fig. 72I; vomer, fig. 65I; hand and foot, fig. 57C. CALL: ‘‘The call is a train of relatively high-pitched peeps (about 3700–4300 Hz) uttered over a period of about 10–29 seconds, each peep about 0.14–0.17 seconds in length . . . . the number of notes per minute ranges from 77 to 100 and the number of notes per call from 15 to 33 . . . . a minute or more may elapse between calls’’ (Zweifel, 1985b: 291). The quoted description includes Papuan (fig. 77D) and Australian samples with a temperature range of 23.4–24.8C. No geographic differentiation is evident. COMPARISONS WITH OTHER SPECIES: This is a rather generalized species of Austrochaperina with no particularly distinguishing morphological features except its small size, but it differs from other New Guinean species in its call and lowland, seasonal habitat. No other known New Guinean Austrochaperina has a repetitive, peeping call (although several Cophixalus and Oreophryne do), and no other Austrochaperina is known from grassy or savanna habitats at low elevations. Austrochaperina adelphe of Northern Territory, Australia, is identical in morphology to A. gracilipes but differs in the advertisement call. Curiously, whereas Australian and New Guinean gracilipes differ in that the former have bright orange pigmentation in the axilla and groin, adelphe and New Guinea gracilipes are alike in lacking this feature. HABITAT AND HABITS: Where I collected A. gracilipes at Wipim, the frogs had climbed up blades of grass at night to call where the vegetation was grassy woodland with denser gallery forest along small streams. Other Papuan localities appear to be in similar vegetation. In Australia the species lives at similar sites but also evidently invades pockets of rainforest (Cameron and Cogger, 1992; Zweifel, 1985b). Parker (1982) recorded gracilipes (as Sphenophryne robusta) as the prey of a snake, Tropidonophis mairi (as Amphiesma mairi). DISTRIBUTION: Austrochaperina gracilipes is the only species of microhylid frog known to inhabit both Australia and New Guinea (fig. 7). In the former area it occurs on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland. The known range in Papua New Guinea encompasses the non-rainforested lowlands of Western Province. It is likely that gracilipes occurs also in adjacent parts of Irian Jaya, although the species is not yet reported from there. LOCALITY RECORDS AND SPECIMENS EXAM- INED: See Zweifel (1985b: 292–293) for this information. REMARKS: Austrochaperina gracilipes may be a junior synonym of Microbatrachus pusillus; see the account of that questionable taxon. Austrochaperina guttata, new species Figures 18, 31C HOLOTYPE: MCZ A92812 (field no. Y22785), collected by W. Hutton at 30 km N, 14 km W Kikori, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, on September 11, 1975. PARATYPES: All from Papua New Guinea. MCZ A132842–132846, AMNH A157842, collected by Fred Parker at Uraru, 90 m, Simbu Province, Oct. 2, 1967; MCZ 132825, collected by Fred Parker at Ining River, Soliabedo, 360 m, Simbu Province, Sept. 24, 1967; BPBM 13107, 13137, QM J67256, collected at Ivimka Field Station, 5.5 km S, 5.6 km W of Tekadu Airstrip, 744.10S, 14629.77E, 120 m, Gulf Province, by A. Allison, Oct. 15, 1996 and S. Richards on Nov. 19, 1996. I also designate BPBM 13157 as paratype, which was taken from the last locality. A tape recording of its call and a

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