''Cornufer cheesmanae'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family

Ceratobatrachidae The Ceratobatrachidae are a family of frogs found in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines, Palau, Fiji, New Guinea, and the Admiralty, Bismarck, and Solomon Islands. Taxonomy Ceratobatrachidae was formerly treated as a subfamily (i.e ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and found in the

Cyclops Mountains The Cyclops Mountains ( id, Pegunungan Cycloop) are located to the west of Jayapura in Papua, Indonesia, and north of Lake Sentani. In Papua, it is also known as Dafonsoro or Dabonsolo mountain, and is the namesake for football club Persidafon. ...

( Papua, Indonesia) and

Bewani Mountains The Bewani Mountains form a mountain range in northwestern Papua New Guinea. Together with the Torricelli Mountains and Prince Alexander Mountains it forms the North Coastal Range of Papua New Guinea.

(

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

). The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''cheesmanae'' honors Lucy Evelyn Cheesman, an English entomologist, explorer, and curator at

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 o ...

. Common name Cheesman's wrinkled ground frog has been coined for it.

Description

''Cornufer cheesmanae'' is the smallest species of its genus in New Guinea: adult males can grow to and adult females to in snout–vent length. It is morphologically similar to '' Cornufer wuenscheorum'', but is even smaller. The first finger is shorter than second one. The inner metatarsal tubercle is relatively shorter in ''Cornufer cheesmanae''. The male advertisement call consists of a single note, instead of double notes as in ''Cornufer wuenscheorum''. The dominant frequency is about 3300 Hz. Call series can last tens of seconds, during which the emission rate increases.

Habitat and conservation

Little is known about this inhabitant of hilly tropical rainforests. The

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

from the Cyclops Range was collected at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, whereas the Bewani Mountains record is from

. The eggs are laid on the ground and development is direct, without free-living

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

stage. The threats to ''Cornufer cheesmanae'' are unknown. Its range includes Cyclops Mountains Nature Reserve, but fires and illegal removal of vegetation are encroaching on this habitat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28057401 cheesmanae Amphibians of Western New Guinea Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Taxa named by Hampton Wildman Parker Amphibians described in 1940 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fauna of New Guinea