Cophixalus zweifeli

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Cophixalus zweifeli
Cophixalus zweifeli female.jpg
Female Cophixalus zweifeli [1]
Cophixalus zweifeli male.jpg
Male Cophixalus zweifeli [1]
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Microhylidae
Genus: Cophixalus
Species:
C. zweifeli
Binomial name
Cophixalus zweifeli
Davies and McDonald, 1998 [3]

Cophixalus zweifeli is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to northern Queensland, Australia, and only known from the area of its type locality in the Cape Melville National Park. [1] [4] The species was named to honour American herpetologist Richard G. Zweifel. [3] [5] Common name Zweifel's frog has been coined for it. [4] [5] It is one of the five northeast Australian Cophixalus species that are specialized in boulder field habitats. [1]

Contents

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Cophixalus zweifeli is restricted to the boulder fields of Cape Melville

Description

Adult males measure 36–38 mm (1.4–1.5 in) [1] and adult females 40–49 mm (1.6–1.9 in) in snout–vent length. [1] [3] The snout is elongated, truncated in dorsal view and straight, slightly projecting laterally. The tympanum is large but obscured dorsally. Fingers II–IV have greatly enlarged, truncated discs. The toe discs are also enlarged but smaller than those of the fingers. The dorsum is tan with some darker brown spots. A dark canthal stripe runs from the tip of the snout to slightly beyond the tympanum. [3]

The male advertisement call is a single high-pitched "yelp" composed of hundreds of fine pulses. [1]

Habitat and conservation

Cophixalus zweifeli live in boulder fields amongst and adjacent to rainforest. They are nocturnal. Males call from boulders on the ground. [1] The types were found in a boulder field near a creek, at the base of rocks and on a rock in a creek at 40–80 m (130–260 ft) above sea level. [3] Cophixalus zweifeli is sympatric with Cophixalus petrophilus , but the latter is restricted to boulder fields largely devoid of vegetation, whereas the former is associated with boulders under or near rainforest. [1]

In the past, logging was a threat to this species. At present, a more likely threat is habitat degradation caused by increased visitation to the Cape Melville National Park. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cophixalus</i> Genus of amphibians

Cophixalus is a genus of microhylid frogs. These are arboreal species with expanded toe-pads, endemic to Moluccan Islands, New Guinea and northeastern Queensland, Australia.

Choerophryne darlingtoni is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and found in the New Guinea Highlands. The specific name darlingtoni honors P. Jackson Darlington Jr., an American evolutionary biologist and zoogeographer. Common name Darlington's rainforest frog has been coined for it.

Choerophryne variegata is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to West Papua, Indonesia, and is only known with certainty from its type locality, Digul River. It is assumed that most records from elsewhere refer to other, possibly undescribed species. As the species is only known from one specimen from its vaguely stated type locality, its ecology is essentially unknown, although it is presumed to be a rainforest inhabitant. No other specimen has been collected anywhere near the type locality. Despite all this, vernacular name common rainforest frog has been coined for it.

Barygenys exsul is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. It is known from Rossel and Sudest Islands in the Louisiade Archipelago, east of New Guinea. It is uncertain whether the specimens from Sudest really are conspecific with this species. Barygenys apodasta and Barygenys resima were mixed with this species prior to their description in 2013.

Barygenys parvula is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to New Guinea and is only known from the Adelbert Mountains, an isolated coastal range on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. The specific name parvula is from the Latin adjective meaning small, in reference to the small size of this frog.

Callulops boettgeri, also known as Boettger's Callulops frog, is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Halmahera in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It is only known from the holotype collected from Galela in 1894. The genus-level placement of this little known frog has changed many times, and it is still unclear whether it should be placed in some other genus.

<i>Callulops personatus</i> Species of frog

Callulops personatus is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to the northern lowlands of central New Guinea and occurs in both Western New Guinea (Indonesia) and Papua New Guinea. The specific name personatus is Latin adjective meaning "masked", in reference to the head coloration. Common name Maprik callulops frog has been proposed for it.

Cophixalus nubicola is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and only known from its type locality, Mount Michael in the Eastern Highlands Province. The specific name nubicola refers to its cloud-swept habitat. Common name Michael rainforest frog has been coined for this species.

<i>Cophixalus parkeri</i> Species of frog

Cophixalus parkeri is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea where it occurs in the central mountainous region between Chimbu and Morobe Provinces. The specific name parkeri presumably honours Hampton Wildman Parker, an English zoologist and herpetologist to whose perusal Arthur Loveridge sent the holotype. Common name Papua rainforest frog has been coined for it.

<i>Cophixalus pipilans</i> Species of frog

Cophixalus pipilans is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to northern mainland Papua New Guinea and occurs between Lae and the Adelbert Mountains. The specific name pipilans is derived from the Latin verb pipilio and means "peeping". Common name Sempi rainforest frog has been coined for this species.

Cophixalus riparius is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and occurs in the New Guinea Highlands in Madang, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands provinces southeastward to the Morobe Province. The specific name riparius refers to the creek-side habitat from which many specimens in the type series were collected. Common name Wilhelm rainforest frog has been coined for this species.

<i>Cophixalus shellyi</i> Species of frog

Cophixalus shellyi is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and occurs in the New Guinea Highlands as well as in the Adelbert Range and on the Huon Peninsula. The specific name shellyi honors Father Otto Schellenberger ("Shelly"), an American missionary and former professor in mathematics who collected the type series.

Cophixalus tagulensis is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and only known from the Tagula Island in the Louisiade Archipelago, east of New Guinea. It is only known from the type series of three specimens collected in 1956.

Oreophryne brachypus is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to the island of New Britain, in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. Common name Gazelle cross frog has been coined for it.

Oreophryne notata is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and known from two localities, Ialibu, its type locality in the Southern Highlands Province, and Tabubil in the Western Province. It might occur more widely. The specific name notata is from Latin nota meaning a "mark" or "letter" and refers to the diagnostic U-like pattern on the lores.

Xenorhina zweifeli is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to New Guinea and is only known from the Bewani and Hunstein Mountains in northern Papua New Guinea. The species is named for American herpetologist Richard G. Zweifel, a specialist in New Guinean herpetology and microhylid frogs; he is also said to share "characteristically terse vocalizations" with this frog.

Xenorhina parkerorum is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to New Guinea Highlands and occurs in both eastern Western New Guinea (Indonesia) and western Papua New Guinea. Common name Imigabip snouted frog has been proposed for it. The specific name parkerorum honours herpetologists Fred Parker and Hampton Wildman Parker.

<i>Cophixalus petrophilus</i> Species of amphibian

Cophixalus petrophilus, the blotched boulder-frog, is a species of frogs from the Cape York Peninsula that was described in 2013. It is one of three newly described vertebrate species from Cape Melville, Australia, the other two being skink Saproscincus saltus and gecko Saltuarius eximius. The specific name petrophilus means "rock-loving" and refers to restriction of this species to boulder field habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kutini boulder frog</span> Species of Australian frog

The Kutini boulder frog is a species of rainforest frog that is endemic to Australia.

The golden-capped boulder frog is a species of rainforest frog that is endemic to Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hoskin, Conrad J. (2013). "A new frog species (Microhylidae: Cophixalus) from boulder-pile habitat of Cape Melville, north-east Australia" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3722 (1): 61–72. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3722.1.5. PMID   26171515.
  2. 1 2 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2022). "Cophixalus zweifeli". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022: e.T41043A78438380. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Davies, M. M. & McDonald, K. R. (1998). "A new species of frog (Anura: Microhylidae) from Cape Melville, Queensland". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 122: 159–164.
  4. 1 2 Frost, Darrel R. (2018). "Cophixalus zweifeli Davies and McDonald, 1998". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael & Grayson, Michael (2013). The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Pelagic Publishing. p. 241. ISBN   978-1-907807-42-8.
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