Cophixalus cupricarenus, Kraus, Fred & Allison, Allen, 2009

Kraus, Fred & Allison, Allen, 2009, New species of Cophixalus (Anura: Microhylidae) from Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 2128, pp. 1-38 : 4-6

Cophixalus cupricarenus , sp. nov.

Fig. 1 A, B

Holotype. BPBM 20223 (field tag FK 10166), adult female, collected by F. Kraus on S slope Mt. Rossel, 11.35552ºS, 154.22459ºE, 720 m, Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, 6 May 2004.

Paratypes (n = 32). BPBM 20208–18, Damunu, 11.3650362ºS, 154.0013736ºE, 0–40 m, Rossel Island, 1 May 2004; BPBM 20219, Cheme, 11.32312ºS, 154.24285ºE, 5 m, Rossel Island, 4 May 2004; BPBM 20220, same data as holotype except collected 5 May 2004; BPBM 20221–22, W slope Mt. Rossel, 11.35435ºS, 154.22315ºE, 640 m, Rossel Island, 4 May 2004; BPBM 20224, same data as holotype except collected 6 May 2004; BPBM 20225–30, same data as BPBM 20221–22 except collected 8 May 2004; BPBM 20231, same data as holotype except collected 8 May 2004; BPBM 20232–33, same data as BPBM 20221–22 except collected 9 May 2004; BPBM 20234, PNGNM 24045–46, along Rupu River, 11.33537ºS, 154.2247ºE, 280 m, Rossel Island, 12 May 2004; PNGNM 24043–44, same data as BPBM 20234 except collected 11 May 2004; PNGNM 24047, Gobubob, 11.33535ºS, 154.22226ºE, 275 m, Rossel Island, 12 May 2004; PNGNM 24048, same data as BPBM 20234 except collected 14 May 2004.

Diagnosis. A fairly large species (male SV = 23.4–28.7 mm, female SV = 24.3–34.3 mm) with finger discs and toe discs of approximately same size (3rdF/4thT = 0.88–1.02); well-developed first finger bearing disc with circum-marginal groove; top of head copper; body usually with dark dorsolateral and dorsal stripes on a green or yellow-brown ground color; and a rapid peeping call of 40 or more notes.

Comparisons with other species. The new species differs from all other members of the genus in its unique coloration of dark striping on a green or yellow-brown ground color and the copper patch on the top of the head. The only other Papuan Cophixalus having finger and toe discs of approximately equal size are C. pulchellus Kraus and Allison and C. sisyphus Kraus and Allison. Both are much smaller species (SV <20 mm).

Description of holotype. An adult female with mid-ventral incision. Head moderately wide (HW/SV = 0.36), with steep loreal region; canthus rostralis rounded, straight when viewed from above; nostrils directed laterally, much closer to tip of snout than to eyes; internarial distance larger than distance from naris to eye (EN/IN = 0.84, IN/SV = 0.11, EN/SV = 0.090); snout rounded and somewhat projecting when viewed from the side, broadly angulate when viewed from above; eyes moderately large (EY/SV = 0.12); eyelid approximately 2/3 width of interorbital distance; tympanum indistinct and small (TY/SV = 0.044), with a slightly raised annulus. Skin granular on head, becoming smoother posteriorly; skin appears almost malleated laterally; ventral surfaces smooth. Supratympanic fold absent. Fingers unwebbed, bearing discs with terminal grooves; relative lengths 3>4>2>1; first finger and disc well-developed. Finger discs approximately 3 times widths of penultimate phalanges, except for the first finger disc, which is approximately 1.5 times width of penultimate phalanx. Subarticular tubercles low but distinct; metacarpal tubercles oval, well-developed, but low. Toes unwebbed, bearing discs with terminal grooves; relative lengths 4>3>5>2>1. Toe discs approximately same size as those of fingers (3rd F/4thT = 0.97); disc of fourth toe approximately 3 times width of penultimate phalanx; disc of first toe almost twice width of penultimate phalanx. Subarticular tubercles well-developed; inner metatarsal tubercle narrow and elongate, outer lacking. Hind legs moderately long (TL/ SV = 0.51).

Dorsum with straw ground heavily stippled with dark-brown; a narrow cream vertebral stripe bordered on each side by dark-brown stripe with irregular lateral margins; broken dark-brown dorsolateral stripes with irregular margins, below which is a series of elongate lateral blotches and a few ventrolateral dark-brown spots in axillary region; paravertebral and dorsolateral stripes connected by a short, transverse dark-brown bar just posterior to forearm insertion. Top of head cream-tan mottled with dark brown, this brown color absent from the posteriormost portion, so forming a cream-tan interocular bar. Wide dark-brown canthal stripe, continued by dark-brown postocular stripe that ends above forearm insertion and is then followed by the lateral series of brown blotches; lower half of face straw mottled with brown and flecked with silver-white; dark-brown blotch at angle of jaw, and another on anterior face of forearm at its insertion. Upper third of tympanum contained in dark postocular stripe, lower 2/3 tan with silver-white flecks. Sides with silver-white flecks partly arrayed into a slightly raised reticulum. Forearm with conspicuous dark-brown band; arms otherwise irregularly mottled with brown. Legs irregularly spotted with small brown blotches and with scattered silver-white flecks, these becoming denser and joined into a reticulum on sides of shanks and tarsi; front and rear of thighs straw stippled with brown and irregularly blotched with brown. Narrow cream stripe present along proximal half of rear of each thigh, distal 2/3 of rear of each shank, and entire rear face of each tarsus; similar narrow cream stripe along outer surface of each forearm, bending around each elbow to end on distal 1/3 of upper arm. Venter straw heavily stippled with dark-brown, these arrayed so as to form flecks, heavier anteriorly, sparser posteriorly; underside of thighs heavily flecked with dark brown. Scattered silverwhite flecks along margin of lower jaw, sides of abdomen, and near forearm insertion. Narrow, broken creamtan stripe extending from mandibular symphysis posteriorly to mid-belly; this crossed by similar stripes in the pectoral region. Palmar and plantar surfaces dark brown; subarticular, metacarpal, and metatarsal tubercles opaque light gray. Iris black, stippled with silver-bronze; pupil margined in silver-bronze.

Measurements (in mm). SV = 34.3, TL= 17.4, HW = 12.2, HL = 10.8, IN = 3.7, EN = 3.1, SN = 5.0, EY = 4.2, TY = 1.5, 3rd F = 2.13, 4th T = 2.20.

Variation. Mensural variation for the type series is shown in Table 1 . Few animals have the dark-brown striping as well developed as in the holotype; most have narrow, irregular dark blotches in the same paravertebral, dorsolateral, and lateral locations but these are often poorly defined or very obscure; sometimes these are absent and only a postocular stripe to mid-body remains. In overall impression, animals vary from light brown to dark brown, with the difference due to the amount of dark blotching present. The light triangular patch on the top of the head is present in all specimens, usually followed posteriorly by a dark interocular bar (in light specimens with little dorsal blotching) or a dark field (in dark animals with much dorsal blotching); this triangle is sometimes mottled with dark brown but is usually clear. The dark mottling on rear of thighs is frequently restricted to the distal half, but often extends along the entire surface. Venters vary from sparsely to densely flecked with dark brown; flecking is always heavier anteriorly than on abdomen. Dark canthal stripe always present, but remainder of face can vary from straw to dark brown. Ten of 33 specimens have a light vertebral stripe; most of these also have the light stripes on venter and rear of legs partly developed too, but never as prominently as holotype. Many of the light-brown specimens without pale vertebral stripes have a very narrow dark-brown line mid-dorsally instead; several of those also have vestiges of the pale lines on venter or rear of legs.

Color in life. BPBM 20208: “Dorsum yellow-brown, striped and mottled with black. Top of head from snout to between eyes orange-brown, as is a spot on each tympanum. Iris yellow-brown. Venter gray with dark gray flecks on chin and throat and tiny pale gray flecks on chest and belly. Rear of thighs mottled as dorsum.” BPBM 20209 had an orange vertebral stripe and two black paravertebral stripes. The holotype had a light olive-green dorsum with a narrow tan vertebral line, two wide black paravertebral stripes, a dorsolateral and lateral row of black spots, a copper head, light gray venter heavily flecked with dark gray, and an olive-green iris margined around the pupil with copper ( Fig. 1 A). BPBM 20224 was similar but darker and with less green. Many other individuals were yellow-green instead of olive-green.

Call. Animals usually called at night, but some occasionally called briefly during the day. We recorded single calls of two individuals, BPBM 20219 and 20234. The call consists of a long series of rapidly delivered peeping notes. The call of BPBM 20219 included 40 notes issued at a rate of 5.2 notes per second. The overall call lasted 7.64 s. Mean note duration was 0.1157 s (range 0.0457–0.1734) and the interval between notes averaged 0.0777 s (range 0.0649–0.1731). A spectrogram of the first nine notes is shown in Fig. 3 A. The first note was much briefer than the rest (551 ms vs. a mean 1172 ms for notes 2–40) and was unpulsed. The subsequent notes show some pulsing, generally with a brief (~300 ms), high-amplitude initial pulse followed by a long (~850 ms), lower amplitude pulse. Five of the notes (e.g., note four in Fig. 3 A) terminated with a brief (~300 ms) pulse. All notes were finely tuned with a dominant frequency of 3100 Hz ( Fig. 3 B, C). The call of BPBM 20234 was similar. It included 46 notes, lasted 9.0 s, and had a repetition rate of 5.0 notes/s. Mean note duration was 0.0972 s and the interval between notes averaged 0.1107 s. The dominant frequency of the call was 3140 Hz.

Etymology. The name is a latinized Greek compound adjective derived from “cupreus” and “karenon” and means “possessing a copper-colored head”.

Range. Known only from Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea ( Fig. 4 ).

Ecological notes. Animals were common along, and in the vicinity of, streams, but were also taken in primary and advanced secondary rainforest and in sago swamps. Animals were encountered either on the ground or perched on low vegetation or on rocks in or alongside streams. We found the species to occur from sea level to 750 m, and it most likely reaches the top of the island at 880 m. These upper elevations consist of dwarfed cloud forest; the collecting site at 750 m was briefly described by Brass (1959: 57).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Photos in life of (A) holotype of Cophixalus cupricarenus (BPBM 20223), (B) paratype of Cophixalus cupricarenus (BPBM 20208), (C) paratype of Cophixalus kethuk (BPBM 20202), (D) paratype of Cophixalus iovaorum (BPBM 19280), (E) paratype of Cophixalus desticans (BPBM 15703), and (F) paratype of Cophixalus desticans (BPBM 16434).

FIGURE 3. (A) Waveform, (B) power spectrum, and (C) spectrogram of the first nine notes of a 40 - note call of paratype of Cophixalus cupricarenus (BPBM 20219) recorded by F. Kraus at Cheme, Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, at 2000 h, 4 May 2004. Air temperature 27.8 ° C.

FIGURE 4. Map showing known distributions for Cophixalus cupricarenus (inverted triangles), C. desticans (circles), C. iovaorum (triangle), C. melanops (star), and C. tomaiodactylus (squares). Filled symbols are type localities; open symbols are additional localities, as relevant.

Tables

TABLE 1. Mensural data for type series of Cophixalus cupricarenus sp. nov. Data include only adult animals. Character Males (n = 10) Females (n = 8)

	mean	range	mean	range
SV (mm)	25.4	23.4–28.7	29.4	24.3–34.3
TL/SV	0.52	0.49–0.56	0.52	0.48–0.57
EN/SV	0.093	0.091–0.098	0.091	0.086–0.099
IN/SV	0.12	0.11–0.12	0.11	0.11–0.12
SN/SV	0.15	0.14–0.16	0.15	0.14–0.15
TY/SV	0.052	0.045–0.056	0.050	0.044–0.056
EY/SV	0.13	0.13–0.14	0.12	0.12–0.13
HW/SV	0.38	0.37–0.40	0.35	0.33–0.37
HL/SV	0.33	0.32–0.35	0.33	0.31–0.35
3rdF/SV	0.059	0.054–0.068	0.058	0.053–0.063
4thT/SV	0.062	0.054–0.069	0.060	0.053–0.067
EN/IN	0.81	0.75–0.85	0.81	0.78–0.84
3rd F/4th T	0.97	0.88–1.02	0.96	0.93–1.01
HL/HW	0.87	0.82–0.92	0.92	0.88–0.96