SPHENOPHRYNE - American Museum of Natural History

2000 ZWEIFEL: PARTITION OF SPHENOPHRYNE
91
CALL: Menzies (1976: 61) described the
call as ‘‘a long rattling chuckle lasting about
one second and so loud that it can be heard
from several hundred metres distance.’’ I
heard this call near Tabubil but was unable
to record it. However, a recording by Ian
Redmond made available through the courtesy
of Mr. Redmond and the British Library
of Wildlife Sounds is available for analysis
(fig. 76B). The calls (N 4 from one individual,
BMNH 1980.673) are 1.9–3.1 sec in
length (mean 2.4) and consist of 42–67 notes
(mean 52.2), each note comprised of 2 or 3
(rarely 4) discrete pulses. There is a dominant
frequency at 3000 Hz and a slightly
lesser peak at 1200 Hz. The note repetition
rate is 21.6–23.0 notes per second (mean
22.1), with no obvious change in rate over
the course of a call. Temperature was not
noted.
In addition to the call described above, the
species also has another that is possibly territorial
in function. This call includes one to
three brief (0.03–0.05 sec) pulsed notes with
several emphasized harmonics. Single- and
double-note calls are in the majority; triplenote
calls are infrequent. Single or initial
notes are more rapidly pulsed than second or
third notes and include a more nearly complete
set of harmonics (fig. 76A). In one recorded
instance, a frog called 18 times in the
space of 3 min 49 sec (average, once every
12.7 sec). Many of these calls (10 of 19) appeared
to elicit responses from, or were in
response to, similar calls from an individual
nearby.
COMPARISONS WITH OTHER SPECIES: Sphenophryne
cornuta is that rare creature, a Papuan
microhylid that readily can be identified
to genus and species without resorting to dissection
or call analysis. No other species
shares its combination of a small dermal appendage
on the eyelid, fingers with enlarged
discs larger than those on the toes, and vertical
loreal region. Scansorial species of Cophixalus
and Oreophryne may be similar in
size and general morphology, but none has
the eyelid appendage.
HABITAT AND HABITS: Myfield experience
with this species is limited to two areas—the
Adelbert Mountains in coastal Madang Province,
and the vicinity of Tabubil, Western
Province. At an elevation of 670 m in the
former region, I found individuals at night at
heights of less than 2 m on vegetation beside
a stream in rainforest regrowth. They shared
this habit and habitat with two other microhylids
of similar size, Cophixalus biroi
(Méhely¨) and C. cheesmanae Parker. These
two were calling, whereas I heard no calls
from cornuta. Near Tabubil, frogs gave possibly
territorial calls (see above) from perches
1–2 m up in shrubs, saplings, or tangled
vegetation not close to any running water.
Menzies (1976: 60–61) remarked that
‘‘calling males seem to be well spaced out
for I have never found, or heard, two close
together,’’ and added that cornuta ‘‘is probably
as much terrestrial as scansorial although
males, at least, do climb about on low
vegetation.’’ I find nothing else in the literature
on the ecology of this species.
DISTRIBUTION: On the north coast of New
Guinea, Sphenophryne cornuta has been
found at low to moderate elevations from
near the tip of the Vogelkop Peninsula eastward
to the Adelbert Mountains north of Madang.
Records on the south coast extend
from the Bomberi Peninsula in Irian Jaya
eastward to slightly east of Port Moresby
(fig. 48). Spotty but fairly intensive collecting
on the Huon Peninsula and eastward on
the north coast has produced no cornuta. Elevations
of collection range from virtually
sea level, as at Kerema and Katau, to 2600
m in the Hellwig Mountains of Irian Jaya,
though most localities lie between about 400
and 1250 m. There are no insular records.
LOCALITY RECORDS AND SPECIMENS EXAM-
INED: IRIAN JAYA: Bomberi (BPBM 5290);
Camp VI, Utakwa River (BMNH 1913.
11.1.139); foot of Charles Lewis Mtns.
(BMNH 1897.3.23.5); Geitenkamp, Lorentz
River (ZMA 5777, syntype of Chaperina
ceratophthalmus); Hellwig Mtns., 2600 m
(ZMA, unnumbered); Heuvelbivak, 800 m,
Lorentz River (ZMA, unnumbered); Mt. Kohari,
between Modder-lust and Kasawari
(MCZ A7611); Launch Camp, Setekwa River
(BMNH 1913.11.1.136–138); near the Wa
Samson River, about 20 km ENE Sorong
(MSNG 29479, holotype); Peramelesbivak,
Lorentz River (ZMA unnumbered); Resi
Peak, Lorentz River (ZMA 5778, 5779, syntypes
of Chaperina ceratophthalmus); Sabang,
Lorentz River (ZMA, unnumbered);