New species of Cophixalus (Anura: Microhylidae) from Papua New Guinea

Abstract

We describe nine new species of the microhylid frog genus Cophixalus from the Southeastern Peninsula and adjacent islands of Papua New Guinea. All but one of the new species are small – adult males attain 20 mm in only one of the new forms. None of the new species has finger discs consistently larger than toe discs, a character state sometimes claimed to be diagnostic for the genus; most have finger discs distinctly and consistently smaller than toe discs. This raises the number of recognized Papuan members of the genus to 34, and several more undescribed forms exist, making this one of the largest frog genera in the region.