Cophixalus caverniphilus, Kraus & Allison, 2009

Kraus, Fred & Allison, Allen, 2009, New microhylid Frogs from the Muller Range, Papua New Guinea, ZooKeys 26 (26), pp. 53-76 : 59-64

Cophixalus caverniphilus sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:90795C42-34A3-4D52-B299-4025E0389CA3

Fig. 1B

Holotype. BPBM 33748 (field tag FK 13180 ), collected by F. Kraus and D. Gibson, Mt. Paramo , Muller Range, 5.64728°S, 142.63941°E, 1718 m, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, 5 April 2009.

Paratypes (n = 48). BPBM 33707 , E slope Mt. Itukua , Muller Range, 5.66954°S, 142.62334°E, 2177 m, 20 March 2009 ; BPBM 33708–40 , PNGNM 24101–07 , Mt. Paramo , Muller Range, 5.64791°S, 142.63663°E, 1780 m, 22 March 2009 ; BPBM 33741–43 , Kunida , 5.64°S, 142.63°E, 1700–1800 m, 23 March 2009 ; BPBM 33744– 46 , same data as BPBM 33707, except collected 30 March 2009 ; BPBM 33747 , same data as holotype except collected 4 April 2009 .

Diagnosis. A moderately large species of Cophixalus (adult SV = 25.5–36.7 mm) distinguished by its combination of expanded finger discs larger than toe discs (3rdF/ SV = 0.069 –0.107, 3rdF/4thT = 1.27–1.70); long legs (TL/SV = 0.50–0.59); third toe distinctly longer than fifth; distinct tympanum; curved scapular ridges; pustulose skin; short, dark postocular stripe; dark W-shaped mark above the shoulders; lacking a dark

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Notes 60

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0 0 5 ļ0 ļ5 20 25 30 35

Call No.

face and yellow spotting on the rear of thighs; and having a call consisting of a rapid series of 6–9 musical peeps.

Comparisons with other species. The new species differs from all congeners except C. balbus Günther , C. biroi (Méhelÿ) , C. cheesmanae Parker , C. cryptotympanum , C. nubicola Zweifel , C. riparius Zweifel , and C. verrucosus (Boulenger) in its combination of SV> 25 mm, finger discs larger than toe discs, and third toe longer than fifth. It differs from C. balbus and C. biroi in having (vs. lacking) raised scapular ridges, lacking (vs. having) a triangle of pale coloration on the top of the snout, having a call consisting of only 6–9 peeps (vs. long trains of peeps), and from C. biroi in having (vs. lacking) a dark W-shaped mark above the shoulders; from C. cheesmanae in having pustulose (vs. smooth) skin and in lacking the dorsolateral ridge and uniformly dark face of that species; from C. cryptotympanum in having an exposed (vs. obscure or hidden) tympanum, pustulose (vs. smooth) skin, a dark (vs. light) postocular stripe, and a dark W-shaped mark above the shoulders (absent in C. cryptotympanum ); from C. nubicola in its longer legs (TL/SV = 0.35–0.38 in C. nubicola ), thighs same color as (vs. conspicuously paler than) dorsum, and dorsum yellow or greenish-yellow with a dark W-shaped mark above the shoulders (vs. reddish-brown with light spots in C. nubicola ); from C. riparius in its smaller size (SV = 40–50mm in C. riparius ) and dorsum yellow or greenish-yellow with a dark W-shaped mark above the shoulders (vs. brown with two elongated and irregular dark dorsolateral patches or network in C. riparius ); and from C. verrucosus in having larger finger discs (3rdF/SV = 0.052 –0.073, 3rdF/4thT = 0.96–1.26), a dark W-shaped mark above the shoulders (absent in C. verrucosus ), and rear of thighs yellow dusted with brown (vs. spotted with yellow on dark brown in C. verrucosus ).

Description of holotype. Adult male with small lateral incision on right side. Head moderately wide (HW/SV = 0.39), with steep, almost vertical, loreal region and slightly inflated lip; 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 = 0.83, IN/SV = 0.106, EN/ SV = 0.088); 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 = 0.049), with a slightly raised annulus anteriorly but covered by ridge of skin dorsally and posteriorly. Skin pustulose dorsally and laterally, with prominent pair of scapular ridges, granulose ventrally. Supratympanic fold present, distinct ventrally but merging with pustulose skin dorsally. 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 2 times width of penultimate phalanx. Subarticular tubercles low; inner metacarpal tubercle weakly developed, outer absent. Toes unwebbed, bearing discs with terminal grooves; relative lengths 4>3>5>2>1. Toe discs smaller than those of fingers (3 rdF /4thT = 1.33); approximately twice widths of penultimate phalanges. Subarticular tubercles weakly developed; inner metatarsal tubercle narrow, elongate, and low; outer lacking. Hind legs moderately long (TL/ SV = 0.54).

In preservative, dorsum brown with broken, dark-brown scapular W, and indistinct dark-brown markings scattered throughout. Dark-brown interocular bar, postocular stripe, and loreal stripe. Face light brown with small dark-brown flecks and smudges. Rear of thighs pale straw suffused with brown stippling and having dark-brown blotching distally. Ventral surfaces pale straw yellow heavily stippled with black, this more evenly distributed on chin and throat, and more broken on abdomen and under legs. Few white flecks along margin of mandible and sparsely scattered on throat and chest. Palmar and plantar surfaces brown, latter darker. Iris very dark brown, densely flecked with brass.

Variation. Mensural variation for the type series is shown in Table 3. Sexual dimorphism is slight except that females are of larger size than males. Th ere is relatively little variation in dorsal color pattern. Most specimens are similar to the holotype, but four or five have a slightly lighter ground color, and four are darker; all have the scapular W. Similarly, ventral color pattern varies little. Most specimens are like the holotype, but a few (7 or 8) have darker stippling, which gives a higher contrast to the ventral pattern.

Color in life. BPBM 33708: “Mustard yellow with irregular dark-brown markings; dark-brown suprascapular W and dorsolateral lines which are ridges. Iris bronze punctated with brown. Venter yellow with blue-white punctations.” BPBM 33728 was mustard yellow with black spots dorsally. Th e yellow color was prominent in all specimens collected.

Call. We heard this species call only in the morning between 0500–0930 h. We obtained good recordings of 16 calls produced by two individuals, BPBM 33747 and 33748 ( Table 4). Both calls were similar, so we combined data for analysis. The call consists of 5–9 (mode = 7) regularly spaced notes delivered at a mean rate of 6.63 notes/s (range 5.65–7.57) with the acoustic impression of bell-like peeping. The mean duration of calls was 1.77 s (range 1.50–2.18). The first note, with one exception, was the longest note in the call, averaging 0.2933 s (range 0.0920 –0.3280) ( Fig. 5A ). If the exception is excluded, the mean duration of the first note increases to 0.3067 (range 0.2818 –0.3280). This note also generally had a lower amplitude than that of subsequent notes.

The second note tended to be the second longest in the call, averaging 0.1556 s (range 0.0790 –0.1990). Subsequent notes were generally similar, averaging 0.1324 s in duration (range 0.0602 –0.1960), but in nine of the 16 calls the last note was the shortest in the call, with a duration ranging from 0.0602 – 0.1100 s.

There was a slight tendency for pulsing of the first note ( Fig. 6 A–B). This is more apparent in the second and subsequent notes, particularly in BPBM 33748 ( Fig. 6B ), in which the first note generally included upwards of 8–9 irregular, often partial pulses. Subsequent notes, particularly in BPBM 33748, generally had at least two components: a short, high-amplitude pulse of ̴0.03–04 s followed by a longer, lower-amplitude pulse that was generally 0.07 s or more in duration.

0.5 ļ.0 ļ.5 2.0 Time (s)

Figures

Figure 5. A Waveform, B power spectrum, and C spectrogram of the complete call of call “H” (Table 4) of Cophixalus caverniphilus sp. n. (BPBM 33748) recorded from a cave at Mt. Paramo, Muller Range, 1720 m, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea at 0830 h, 5 April 2009. Air (cave) temperature 17.6 °C.

Figure 6. A Waveforms of the first four notes of the call of Cophixalus caverniphilus sp. n. Call “J” of BPBM 33747 B Call “D” produced by BPBM 33748. See Table 4 for details.