Three new species of Austrochaperina from southern Papua New Guinea (Anura, Microhylidae)

Title: Three new species of Austrochaperina from southern Papua New Guinea (Anura, Microhylidae)

Creators: Rainer Günther, Stephen J. Richards

Submitted May 9, 2019.
Accepted August 1, 2019.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on August 15, 2019.
Published in print Q4/2019.

DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-3-2019-05
PDF/A 4.1MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description: We describe three new species in the microhylid frog genus Austrochaperina Fry, 1912 from southern Papua New Guinea. All three species are medium sized for the genus (between 23 – 31 mm SUL) and exhibit no or limited sexual dimorphism. Austrochaperina beehleri sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by, among other characters, having the dorsal surfaces in life reddish with brown mottling, while the surfaces of the axilla, groin, knee pit and posterior thigh are orange. It produces 50 – 70 unpulsed advertisement calls in series lasting 8 – 12 s. Austrochaperina fulva sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by, among other characters, having the dorsum in life reddish-brown to brown without mottling, the lateral surfaces yellowish to reddish, and the ventral surfaces largely yellow. It utters distinctly pulsed advertisement calls in very long series, one series lasting more than 25 s. Austrochaperina brachypus sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by, among other characters, having very short legs, having the dorsum in preservative uniform brown becoming lighter on the flanks, and the abdomen, chest and ventral surfaces of the limbs cream with fine brown markings that are most dense on the throat. It utters unpulsed advertisement calls in short series lasting just 1 – 2 s. Like most other members of the genus these species were encountered most commonly on the forest floor, although two of them appear to be at least partially scansorial. Descriptions of these three species brings the number of Austrochaperina known from the New Guinea region to at least 25.

Key words: Amphibia, Melanesia, systematics, bioacoustics, morphology, rainforest.

Citation: Günther, R., Richards, S. J.. (2019). Three new species of Austrochaperina from southern Papua New Guinea (Anura, Microhylidae). Vertebrate Zoology, 69(3): 327-344. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-3-2019-05