A New Species of Small Green Treefrog (Pelodryadidae: Litoria) from the Lakekamu Basin in Southern Papua New Guinea

Abstract

We describe a new species of very small (male body length 22.0–22.8 mm), green treefrog in the pelodryadid genus Litoria Tschudi from lowland rainforest on the southern margin of Papua New Guinea's central cordillera. The new species is morphologically most similar to Litoria leucova, a small green treefrog known only from the north-flowing Sepik River catchment in western Papua New Guinea. It differs from that species by having longer limbs (TL/SVL 0.56–0.60 vs. 0.53–0.55), a poorly defined (vs. prominent) tympanum, in having a distinct lemon yellow mid-lateral line, and in its unique advertisement call comprising a slowly repeated series of short clicks followed by a discrete group of pulses produced rapidly but with highly variable inter-pulse intervals. Although genetic data are not available, the new species' association with a fast-flowing rocky stream suggests that its relationships may lie with other torrent-dwelling Litoria species.