SPHENOPHRYNE - American Museum of Natural History

2000 ZWEIFEL: PARTITION OF SPHENOPHRYNE
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have a dark-edged, narrow, pale, midvertebral
line imposed on the more basic pattern
described. Five specimens have a dark figure
that involves the top of the head and snout,
part of the eyelids, and occupies the middorsal
region, where its irregular but well-defined
edges set it off abruptly from the paler
dorsolateral region. Both polymorphism and
individual color change (arrested by preservation)
may be involved.
ILLUSTRATIONS: 3rd finger terminal phalanx,
fig. 71F; premaxilla, fig. 63E; hyoid,
fig. 70; sacral region, fig. 72E; vomer, fig.
65E; skull, fig. 68C; hand and foot, fig. 54B.
CALL: An average call is a train of about
23 short (0.03 sec) notes uttered at 15 per
sec over a period of 1.5 sec (fig. 78A, table
8). Individual notes are unpulsed, with an
abrupt rise in frequency and a less abrupt
fall, with the dominant energy occurring in
the region of 2600–2900 Hz. One individual
initiated calls at an average interval of 46.8
sec (35.9–58.9, N 7), another at 35.5 sec
(26.7–51.8, N 4). Temperature was virtually
the same in both instances (16.4 and
16.5C, respectively). There is no indication
of an influence of temperature on call characteristics,
but the temperature range in the
sample is narrow (3.2C).
COMPARISONS WITH OTHER SPECIES: Details
in the Diagnosis should suffice to separate
allisoni from other Liophryne. The more
prominent subarticular elevations of allisoni
and its high TL/SVL ratio will distinguish it
from Austrochaperina of similar size.
HABITAT AND HABITS: Gressitt and Nadkarni’s
(1978) description of the vegetation
of Mt. Kaindi is illustrated with cross sec-
tions of forest at 1790 and 1880 m, within
the zone occupied by Liophryne allisoni. The
forest, on a steep ground with a ground cover
of leaves, moss and ferns, has an irregular
canopy 27–29 m high. Brass (1964: 201)
characterized the forest at Arau as ‘‘a transition
between mid-mountain fagaceous forest
and a lower montane mixed rain forest
. . . rich in herbaceous undergrowth.’’
I found the holotype in the daytime beneath
a small log. Frogs tape-recorded by Allen
Allison were beneath leaves on the forest
floor, and one that I recorded (but that eluded
four surrounding herpetologists) was deep in
roadside grass. The habitus of this species—
especially the long legs and large eyes—suggest
that it is more a frog of the leaf litter
rather than a truly burrowing form. This is
consistent with what is known of other Liophryne.
DISTRIBUTION: Liophryne allisoni is
known from localities in Papua New Guinea
spanning 150 km between the eastern edge
of Eastern Highlands Province and the vicinity
of Wau, Morobe Province (fig. 28).
The known range in elevation is 1400–2000
m. The upper limit, at least, may be approximately
correct, as this frog has not been
taken in the summit region of Mt. Kaindi
(2362 m) despite much collecting there. For
locality data, see Holotype and Paratypes
above.
REMARKS: Members of the Sixth Archbold
Expedition (1959) were the first to collect
this species. The majority of specimens and
tape recordings resulted from the efforts of
Allen Allison, working out of the Wau Ecology
Institute.