AmphibiaWeb - Litoria eurynastes
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(Translations may not be accurate.)

Litoria eurynastes Menzies, Richards & Tyler, 2008
family: Hylidae
subfamily: Pelodryadinae
genus: Litoria
Species Description: Menzies JI Richards SJ Tyler MJ 2008 Systematics of the Australo- Papuan tree frogs known as Litoria bicolor (Anura: Hylidae) in the Papuan region. Australian Journal of Zoology 56: 257-280.
 
Taxonomic Notes: Following the Australian Society of Herpetology, AmphibiaWeb uses Litoria instead of Ranoidea or Dryopsophus (contrary to Dubois and Fretey 2016 and Duellman et al 2016).
Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN Red List Status Account Least Concern (LC)
CITES No CITES Listing
National Status None
Regional Status None
Access Conservation Needs Assessment Report .

   

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Description

Diagnosis: A larger species of the Litoria bicolor complex. Vomerine teeth often (but not always) present. Separated from other species based on morphometric analysis and locality.

Description: Adult males measure 25.7-31.5 mm SVL. Adult females measure 27.3-33.0 mm SVL. Snout projects and is rounded in lateral view, and angular when viewed from above. Eyes are large. Tympanum large and distinct, with uppermost margin obscured by shallow postorbital fold that ends before the axillary region. Vomerine teeth may or may not be present; if they are, they lie in two small patches between the choanae. Outer fingers are half webbed, while other fingers are only webbed at the base. All fingers and toes have discs. Finger discs are large than toe discs. All toes are fully webbed except for Toe IV, in which the terminal phalanx is free. Dorsal skin is finely granular, while ventral skin is more coarse. Skin around the throat is wrinkled (Menzies et al. 2008).

In life, individuals from Alexishafen and Frieda River had a yellow green to bright green dorsum with a bronze dorsolateral stripe running from snout tip to midbody, and cream band underneath the bronze stripe that continues to the groin. Those from Seram were a dull brownish green with an indistinct pale dorsolateral stripe, and an additional specimen (locality not specified) was more brownish. The dorsolateral stripe runs from the snout tip to midbody, and separates dorsal and ventral coloration. Indistinct yellowish stripe extends from the eye to the groin. Bronze tympanum. Venter is white. Throat is yellow. Concealed surfaces of thighs are sparsely to moderately speckled with blue-black dots. Gold iris (Menzies et al. 2008).

The tadpole has not been conclusively identified, but Menzies et al. (2008) mention that a distinctive tadpole from the Sentani area was described as Litoria bicolor by van Kampen (1906). The tadpole described by van Kampen (1906) has a tail with three dark transverse bands, and deep dorsal and ventral fins; the tail tip abruptly tapers to a terminal filament.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Papua New Guinea

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
Endemic to Papua New Guinea. Inhabits the lowlands of northern Papua New Guinea from Alexishafen to the east coast of Cenderawasih Bay (Siewa River), Seram Island and Manus Island. Referred specimens from Aitape are also included in L. eurynastes, as are specimens from the Sentani area. Aitape is 480 km beyond Alexishafen and Sentani is 220 km beyond Aitape (Menzies et al. 2008).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
All five populations of L. eurynastes made similar calls, with no obvious geographic distinction in note length or pulse rate.

At Alexishafen, males called from tall grass in a coconut plantation near a small pond. They were only found calling in the rain. Longer calls (0.028-0.363 sec, with a pulse rate of 145-214 pulses/sec) sounded like "zeeep" and shorter calls (<0.1 sec) sounded like "clicks"; relatively few short calls were recorded. Shorter calls were usually emitted as doublets or triplets in between longer calls. The dominant frequency began at around 3 kHz and rose to 3.8 kHz, with secondary bands at around 2 kHz and 4.8-5.2 kHz. However, calls from Alexishafen cannot be directly compared in frequency to those of Manus and Siewa, as recordings were made using different microphones (Menzies et al. 2008).

At Siewa, males called from tall grass and low bushes around shallow artificial ponds in highly degraded forests. They called only sporadically, with calls consisting of a series of long buzzing notes and a few short calls that were thought likely to have been made by L. eurynastes. The note duration was 0.113-0.441 sec, with amplitude rising at first in longer calls and then plateauing until finally falling away. Dominant frequency increased from 3.5 kHz-4 kHz (Menzies et al. 2008).

On Manus Island, where conditions were dry and calling males were few at the time of recording, males called from low vegetation near roadside ditches and small ponds on the outskirts of town. They were never heard in primary rainforest. Males continued to call sporadically, with the call consisting of long buzzing notes (note duration 0.122–0.390 sec, at a pulse rate of 108-223 pulses/sec). The dominant frequency varied from just above to just below 4 kHz, with a secondary band at 2 kHz, and frequency rose by 0.2 kHz as the call progressed. Initial amplitude was low, for the first half of the call, with a sharp rise in amplitude and an increasing pulse rate beginning about midway through the call (Menzies et al. 2008).

Lastly, on Seram Island, males were collected from flooded ditches next to logging tracks through recently logged lowland forests. Males from Seram made long "zeeep" calls but these were difficult to analyze due to simultaneous calls of L. infrafrenata. Amplitude increased and frequency rose as the call progressed (Menzies et al. 2008).

Comments
The species' name is dervived from the Greek words , meaning "wide," and naio, meaning "to dwell" (Menzies et al. 2008).

References

Menzies, J. I., Richards, S. J. and Tyler, M. J. (2008). ''Systematics of the Australo-Papuan tree frogs known as Litoria bicolor (Anura : Hylidae) in the Papuan region.'' Australian Journal of Zoology, 56, 257-280.

Van Kampen, P. N. (1906). ''Résultats de l’expédition scientifique Néerlandaise à la Nouvelle-Guinée en 1903, Amphibien.'' Nova Guinea, 5, 163-180.



Originally submitted by: Stephanie Ung (first posted 2009-11-16)
Edited by: Kellie Whittaker (2010-05-13)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2010 Litoria eurynastes <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7390> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 29, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 29 Mar 2024.

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