Tyler's big-eyed tree frog
| Tyler’s big-eyed tree frog | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Hylidae |
| Genus: | Nyctimystes |
| Species: | N. tyleri |
| Binomial name | |
| Nyctimystes tyleri Zweifel, 1983[2] | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Litoria michaeltyleri Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006 — replacement name to avoid homonymy with Litoria tyleri Martin, Watson, Gartside, Littlejohn, and Loftus-Hillis, 1979 "1978" when this species is placed in Litoria[3] | |
Tyler’s big-eyed tree frog, Nyctimystes tyleri, is a species of frog in the Hylidae family, endemic to Papua New Guinea. It is only known from its type locality, Gapaia Creek, at 1,280 m (4,200 ft) asl between Garaina and Saureli, in the Morobe Province.[1][3] The specific name honours Michael J. Tyler, "in recognition of his notable contributions to the systematics of Australo-papuan frogs."[2]
Description
The holotype, an adult male, measures 78 mm (3.1 in) in snout–vent length. All dorsal surfaces, apart from the top of thigh, are very warty. Dorsal ground colour is dark green. There are somewhat inconspicuous, large, dark brown blotches on the back. Ventral surfaces are grey with small, dark brown spots on the chin, chest, and abdomen. Legs have larger spots of the same colour. Iris is golden. Tympanum is small and indistinct. Vocal sac is absent.[2]
Habitat and conservation
The type specimen—the only known specimen—was encountered at night sitting on a tree branch about 10 metres from a torrential mountain stream in rainforest.[1][2] The locality has an unusually high diversity of stream-associated hylid frogs and is also the type locality for Nyctimystes trachydermis.[2] The locality is remote and probably safe from most threats.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Richards, S. & Zweifel, R. (2004). "Litoria michaeltyleri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) 2004: e.T55787A11356021. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T55787A11356021.en.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Zweifel, R. G. (1983). "Two new hylid frogs from Papua New Guinea and a discussion of the Nyctimystes papua species group". American Museum Novitates 2759: 1–21.
- 1 2 Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Nyctimystes tyleri Zweifel, 1983". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 29 October 2015.