Litoria serrata ( Andersson, 1916 )

Richards, Stephen J., Hoskin, Conrad J., Cunningham, Michael J., Mcdonald, Keith & Donnellan, Stephen C., 2010, Taxonomic re-assessment of the Australian and New Guinean green-eyed treefrogs Litoria eucnemis, L. genimaculata and L. serrata (Anura: Hylidae), Zootaxa 2391 (1), pp. 33-46 : 42-43

The status of Litoria serrata ( Andersson, 1916) .

Litoria serrata ( Figure 4D ) can be distinguished from all of the taxa discussed above by a combination of morphological traits and the male advertisement call. It can be distinguished from L. genimaculata , L. papua and L. exophthalmia by its larger size (adult males 38– 53 mm SVL) and the presence of an extremely well-developed crenulated fold along the outer edge of the fore- and hind-limbs (versus reduced or absent in L. exophthalmia , L. genimaculata , and L. papua ). It can be distinguished from L. eucnemis (including H. rhacophorus and N. loveridgei ; see above) by having a small, narrow tubercle or spike on the heel (versus a large, triangular lappet in L. eucnemis ) and in having a different advertisement call consisting of a series of quiet ticking notes (versus a series of growls or ‘raucous notes’ in L. eucnemis ). Advertisement calls of L. eucnemis have been described and illustrated by Zweifel (1980), and those of L. serrata by Richards et al. (1993) and Hoskin (2007).

Litoria serrata is sympatric with the genetically similar species L. myola over a very small area in the central Wet Tropics. In this area the two species can be distinguished by the smaller male size and faster, shorter and higher pitched call of L. myola ( Hoskin et al. 2005; Hoskin 2007).

Concluding remarks. Our allozyme and mitochondrial molecular genetic data support the presence of two genetically divergent lineages, ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ Wet Tropics, within L. serrata ( Schneider et al. 1998; Hoskin et al. 2005). The northern and southern lineages of L. serrata have been retained as a single species ( Hoskin 2007), pending further investigations of the degree of reproductive isolation between them (Hoskin, in progress). On the basis of our mitochondrial DNA data, New Guinean populations of L. genimaculata are clearly polyphyletic, but we will deal with the taxonomic status of these in a subsequent publication.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Photographs in life of A) Litoria eucnemis, Muller Range, PNG, B) L. exophthalmia, Namosado, PNG, C) L. genimaculata, Waigeo Island, Indonesia, D) L. serrata, Wooroonooran National Park, Australia, and of preserved specimens of E) holotype of L. genimaculata, RMNH 4420, F) hand of L. genimaculata holotype showing extent of finger webbing, G) holotype of Hyla rhacophorus, ZMA 5823, and H) holotype of Nyctimystes loveridgei, MCZ 27823 including (below) close-up of large heel flap. All scale bars = 10 mm