SPHENOPHRYNE - American Museum of Natural History

88 BULLETIN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NO. 253
Fig. 46. Comparison of relative eye size and
tibia length in Oxydactyla stenodactyla from Mt.
Wilhelm (circles) and O. alpestris (squares) from
the Porol Ranges. Adult individuals only plotted;
symbols enclosing dots represent two specimens
with identical ratios.
other. See Holotype and Paratypes for localities
and specimens examined.
REMARKS: It is evident from the description
of variation that frogs from at least the
three principal population samples (excluding
Mt. Kerigomna, with only two specimens
available) are quite distinctive in color pattern.
A large majority could be assigned correctly
geographically on the basis of color
pattern alone. One could argue not unreasonably
for separate specific (or at least subspecific)
status for each population. I regard the
morphological similarity (other than color
pattern) of the three populations as compelling
evidence for conspecific status, although
I would welcome the opportunity to test this
hypothesis against information from advertisement
calls. Naming the known populations
as subspecies would, in my opinion,
serve no particularly useful service, because
knowledge of the variation and distribution
of the species most likely is far from complete.
P. J. Darlington, who climbed Mt. Wilhelm
during World War II, was the first to collect
this species. Loveridge (1948) referred the
specimens to Sphenophryne brevicrus, a
name that as used in the past included four
species by my present reckoning.
Genus Sphenophryne Peters and Doria
Cornufer Tschudi, 1838: 28, 71, part; see Zweifel
(1967b) for disposition of this name.
Sphenophryne Peters and Doria, 1878: 430. Type
species (by monotypy),
Sphenophryne cornuta Peters and Doria, 1878:
430.
DIAGNOSIS: A genus of genyophrynine microhylid
frogs (sensu Zweifel, 1971 and
Burton, 1986) with the following combination
of morphological characters: clavicles
long and slender, reaching from scapula almost
to midline of pectoral girdle; frontoparietal
region of skull short and wide, mean
ratio of braincase to skull length, 0.56; diapophyses
of sacral vertebra broadly expanded,
mean ratio of anterior-posterior distance
to lateral span, 0.47 (table 14); first finger
short, less than half length of second; tips of
fingers (except 1st) and toes broadened into
flattened discs with terminal grooves, disc on
third finger broader than that on fourth toe;
terminal phalanges with the tip broadly Tshaped,
span of tip of phalanx of third finger
averages 2 width of base of phalanx.
CONTENT: The genus is monotypic.
MORPHOLOGY: See species account.
DISTRIBUTION: See species account.
REMARKS: Superficially, Sphenophryne
may be distinguished from other genyophrynine
genera by the presence of a small dermal
appendage on each eyelid. Proportions
of the skull and sacral vertebra set it apart
from the other genera with the primitive pectoral
girdle, as do the short first finger and
the relative sizes of finger and toe discs.
Sphenophryne cornuta Peters and Doria
Figures 31A, 47
Cornufer unicolor Tschudi, 1838: 28, 71, part
(based on two specimens, only one of which is
S. cornuta; see Zweifel, 1967b).
Sphenophryne cornuta Peters and Doria, 1878:
430 (type locality, ‘‘presso il fiume Wa Samson
nella Nuovo Guinea settentrionale’’ [‘‘near the
Wa Samson River in northern New Guinea’’;
this river is on the northwestern edge of the
Vogelkop Peninsula, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, with
its mouth about 20 km east-northeast of Sorong];
holotype, MSNG 29479, collected by O.
Beccari in 1875).