Philoria pughi, Knowles & Mahony & Armstrong & Donnellan, 2004

Knowles, Ross, Mahony, Michael, Armstrong, Jan & Donnellan, Stephen, 2004, Systematics of Sphagnum Frogs of the Genus Philoria (Anura: Myobatrachidae) in Eastern Australia, With the Description of Two New Species, Records of the Australian Museum 56 (1), pp. 57-74 : 69-70

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.3853/j.0067-1975.56.2004.1391
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F88794-BD74-FFD8-AF0D-889DFD48F996
treatment provided by	Carolina
scientific name	Philoria pughi
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Philoria pughi View in CoL n.sp.

Type data. HOLOTYPE AMS R152706 , an adult male from Cedar Creek Trail, Washpool National Park , New South Wales, 29°28'52"S 152°19'05"E (grid reference 4339 67385, zone 56), collected by Ross Knowles on 12 December 1992 ( Fig. 4 View Fig ) GoogleMaps . PARATYPES: SAMA R39818–20 Billilimbra SF, collected by Ross Knowles on 6–8 December 1991 ; AMS R165008–10 Spirabo SF collected by Ross Knowles on 30 November 1992 ; AMS R165013 Spirabo SF collected by Ross Knowles on 29 October 1992 ; SAMA R 39241 Spirabo SF collected by Harry Hines on 29 January 1990 ; AMS R165014 Cedar Creek , Washpool NP collected by Ross Knowles on 12 December 1992 .

Other material examined. See Appendix.

Diagnosis. Relatively small adult size (SVL to 30 mm); males with poorly developed nuptial pad; well-developed facial stripe present, and dorsum usually yellow, red or maroon, occasionally light tan or bronze, usually with conspicuous black patch on flank.

Description. Body robust, pear-shaped. Head shorter than wide (HL/HW 0.64), head length approximately one quarter of SVL (HL/SVL 0.23). Snout blunt in profile. Nostrils more lateral than superior, closer to snout than to eye. Distance between eye and naris half that of internarial span (EN/IN 0.58). Canthus rostralis well defined and concave. Eye relatively large, its diameter greater than eye to naris distance (E/EN 1.5). Pupil shape horizontal when constricted. Tympanum small and indistinct. Tongue approximately rectangular. Vomerine teeth in two laterally aligned plates, separated in midline, behind level of choanae.

No webbing on fingers or toes. Digits long, slender and cylindrical. Inner and outer palmar tubercules small but distinct. Fingers in decreasing order of length 3>2>4>1. Very weakly developed nuptial pad on first finger. Hindlimb short (TL/SVL 0.44). Toes in decreasing order of length 4>3>5>2>1. Inner metatarsal tubercule at base of first toe small but distinct. No outer metatarsal tubercule. Dorsum and abdomen smooth.

Dimensions of holotype (mm). SVL 25.4, HL 5.8, HW 9.1, EN 1.8, IN 3.6, E 2.7, T 11.1.

Colour in life. Dorsum orange fading to yellow on flanks with small flecks of maroon. Crescent shaped black mark on mid-flank. Loreal region dark. A black band expanding posteriorly from snout through nostril along canthus rostralis, through eye along side of head to base of forearm. Blue sclera around eyes. Upper surfaces of limbs maroon, colour extending onto lower abdomen above vent. In preservative, abdomen pale, submandibular area and ventral surfaces of limbs, soles and palms, outer fingers and toes dark. Other fingers and toes with light banding.

Variation. Adult males (n = 6) measure 25 to 30 mm and females (n = 7) 27 to 30 mm SVL. Head shorter than wide (HL/HW mean 0.72, range 0.65–0.84). Head length approximately one-quarter snout to vent length (HL/SVL mean 0.24, range 0.22–0.30). Hind limbs short (TL/SVL mean 0.42, range 0.38–0.47). Ratio of eye to naris distance to internarial span variable (EN/IN mean 0.63, range 0.55– 0.75). Dorsum either smooth or with raised ridges (aligned

along long axis of body) or tubercules along mid-dorsal line and flanks. The description of variation of colour in life is based on colour transparencies of six specimens.Dorsum varies from either plain orange or orange with dark irregular shaped and sized patches and spots or plain maroon. Upper surfaces of limbs maroon. Crescent shaped black mark on mid-flank present in a majority of specimens. Black patch over cloaca, sometimes spreading onto thighs.Ventral surfaces yellow with red patches on abdomen, undersurfaces of hindlimbs mostly red or yellow with numerous red patches. Spatulae on first and second fingers of females.

Etymology. Named for Dailan Pugh (North East Forest Alliance), for his contributions to the protection of the habitat of the species.

Distribution. Confirmed records from seven localities in the Gibraltar Range, Girard, Billilimbra, Forestland, and Spirabo State Forests, and Gibraltar Range and Washpool National Parks to the west of Grafton. The NEFBS (1993) recorded this species from four other localities on the basis of morphological appearance and geographic location. However, these records should be treated with caution as our records include populations of P. sphagnicolus in this region. TheAustralian and Queensland Museums hold specimens from a further eight locations in this area: 20 km SE Tenterfield, the Cangai, Gibraltar Range, Spirabo SF and Washpool SF and Washpool NP. These are probably referable to P. pughi on the basis of geographic proximity to OTUs assigned by molecular analyses, but definite assignment awaits genetic analysis. An attempt to sequence ND4 from AMS R132319 from Cangai SF, 40 km W Grafton was unsuccessful.

Conservation status. The distribution of P. pughi is much smaller than the previously recognized distributions of either P. kundagungan or P. loveridgei , to which this species had been attributed in the past. Only the Gibraltar Range NP and Washpool NP populations are protected within the national park estate with records from 7–12 sites and four other possible but unconfirmed sites. The four populations examined during the present study were all very small. The largest number of calling males observed at any one location was six, at Spirabo SF where the species was found in the boggy headwaters of a small creek. At this site the creek bed had been trampled by cattle in the exact area in which the nests of P. pughi were found. Whilst no assessment has been carried out of the potential damaging effects of this trampling on the population’s breeding area, the eggs of this species are large and relatively fragile, and would be likely to be damaged or destroyed by trampling by stock.