Fred Kraus

“ Species without toe webbing are largely, but not entirely, confined to the central cordillera and islands to the west, whereas those with either basal webbing or well-webbed toes are found throughout the region. And all variants in relative toe length are found throughout the region. Given that most Oreophryne species seem to have narrowly circumscribed geographic ranges suggestive of limited dispersal ability, the distribution patterns of these phenotypic features are consistent with independent origins of each character state. ”

“ The males all have an even dusting of brown punctations ventrally, as seen in the holotype, but also have large, darker-brown spots scattered across the ventrum, giving the impression of a pale venter with scattered large brown flecks; these spots are weaker in BPBM 22788 than in the other specimens. In the subadult male, these larger brown spots are arrayed more or less into two rows extending from the chin to the abdomen. None of the males has the pale, brown-bordered, mid-ventral line seen on the chin of the holotype. ”

“ However, one would expect additional species with this feature to surface once the large expanses of intervening terrain in Indonesian New Guinea are better surveyed. Most other Papuan Oreophryne with a cartilaginous connection occupy portions of the central cordillera, although Oreophryne clamata is known from the eastern portion of the Vogelkop Composite Terrane, Oreophryne kampeni is known only from the type locality near Port Moresby and Oreophryne gagneorum is restricted to Rossel Island. ”

“ Although the description of the new species treated herein now brings to seven the number of Oreophryne species reported from the north-coast region of New Guinea, the presence from these areas of additional specimens of uncertain identity ( [24] ) suggests that additional species likely await description. Furthermore, the large expanse of unexplored north-coast mountains in adjacent Papua Province of Indonesia will certainly disclose new species once they become more thoroughly investigated. ”

“ There is typically a diffuse dark-brown field below the cream postocular stripe; occasionally this is better developed into another brown dash or blotch. The dark-brown canthal stripe and subocular blotch may be present, absent, or only vaguely suggested. Top of the snout is often, but not always, paler than the remainder of the dorsum; there is often either a dark-brown or pale-tan bar extending between the eyes, but these too are variably present. A narrow, pale-tan vertebral line is present in 25 of the specimens ”

“ Four specimens have poorly defined, pale-straw lines mid-ventrally on the chin and throat, and another four have pale-gray flecks scattered across the belly. Iris color is always pale tan either suffused or veined with black, this is usually concentrated in a horizontal plane before and behind the pupil.
Color in life.
Field notes for BPBM 20531 in life recorded the color as: “Dorsum brown with darker brown mottling and tan stripe laterally, below which is dark brown. Iris tan. Tan postocular stripe. Venter pale gray stippled with dark gray. Rear of thighs dark brown.” ”

“ Note-delivery rate of both call types is so rapid that to the human ear calls sounds like a high-pitched whinny.
Table 5. "Call data for six specimens of Oreophryne gagneorum sp. n. from Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, PNG. Numbers for call parameters are mean ± SD (range) ." The more commonly delivered, long calls (n = 8) ranged from 1.98–2.92 s in duration and consisted of a series of 21–31 notes emitted at a rate of 10.30–11.02 notes/s (Table 5) . The first note of each call was much longer than the remainder (Fig. 7A) , being 143–190 ms in length (mean 167 ms) ”

“ Under drier conditions, the frogs gave slower calls at more erratic intervals, and they often called from hidden perches. Calls in the population would often move in a wave of chorusing activity across the mountain.
The smallest mature male was 16.3 mm SV, and it was recorded calling, but another male at 16.5 mm SV was not yet mature. The smallest mature female had a SV of 19.0 mm; two immature females were 17.0 and 17.4 mm long. Hence, males mature at a smaller size than do females.
The frog community on Rossel Island is rather depauperate ”

“ Dorsal surfaces of limbs medium brown; rear of thighs with small pale-straw patch of ground color proximally, distal three-fourths uniform medium brown; front of thighs uniformly medium brown. Ventral surfaces pale straw heavily and uniformly stippled with brown punctations throughout; plantar surfaces more densely stippled with brown. A vaguely defined dark-brown blotch present on each wrist, and a dark-brown ring or blotch present on each finger and toe, each followed distally by a pale-straw blotch at the junction of the last two phalanges. Iris dark brown. ”

“ Toe discs smaller than those of fingers (4thT/SV = 0.060, 3rdF/4thT = 1.24) , approximately 1.5 times width of penultimate phalanges. Subarticular tubercles low but distinct; inner metatarsal tubercle a narrow oval; outer not apparent. Hind legs rather long (TL/SV = 0.49) .
A Top of head B side of head C palmar view of left hand, and D plantar view of left foot of holotype of Oreophryne gagneorum sp. n. (BPBM 20542) . Scale bar = 5 mm. In preservative, dorsum pale tan minutely speckled with brown, with a narrow, partially obscured tan vertebral line ”

“ Mature males were 17.5–17.7 mm in SV, but one male was still immature at 15.8 mm SV.
Syntopic frogs include Albericus brunhildae, Austrochaperina septentrionalis, Choerophryne longirostris, Choerophryne rostellifer, Copiula tyleri, Hylarana jimiensis, Hylarana volkerjane, Hylophorbus sp., Liophryne schlaginhaufeni, Litoria modica, Litoria wollastoni, Nyctimystes pulcher, and Xenorhina arboricola. ”

“ Bickford, D & Johnston, GR (2012) , A new egg-guarding species of Oreophryne (Amphiba, Anura, Microhylidae) from southern Papua New Guinea., vol. 88, pp. 223–230, DOI 10.1002/zoos.201200019 ↑ Richards and Iskandar (2000) ↑ van Kampen (1913) ↑ Zweifel (19561 2 3 4 Zweifel et al. (2003↑ Leviton et al. (1985) ↑ Davies et al. 1997↑ Davies 20121 2 Pigram and Symonds 19911 2 Polhemus and Polhemus 1998↑ Köhler and Günther (2008) ↑ Kraus and Allison 2009a1 2 Menzies 20061 2 Kraus and Allison 2009b
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