Two new species of torrent-breeding treefrogs (Anura: Pelodryadidae: Litoria) from hill forests on the southern edge of New Guinea’s Central Cordillera

Abstract

Abstract We describe two new species of torrent-breeding Litoria Tschudi, 1838 from low-elevation hill-forest habitats on the southern fringe of Papua New Guinea’s Central Cordillera. One is currently known only from the Kikori River basin, and the other is known from the Kikori and adjacent Strickland River basins. The two new species can be distinguished from all other Litoria by aspects of morphology and advertisement call structure. Both are known only from below 500 m a.s.l. and so are considered less likely to be threatened by the devastating frog pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Longcore, Pessier & Nichols, 1999 than torrent-breeding Melanesian pelodryadid frogs occupying higher, cooler habitats, should that pathogen be introduced to the region. One hundred and ten frog species have now been documented from the Kikori River basin, a near doubling of the total recognised when the first field guide to the region was published nearly 20 years ago, emphasising the rich anuran community of this area.