''Cornufer gilliardi'', commonly known as Gilliard's wrinkled ground frog, 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 ...

to the Whiteman Ranges of

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

(

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 ...

''gilliardi'' honors

Ernest Thomas Gilliard Ernest Thomas Gilliard (23 November 1912 – 26 January 1965) was an American ornithologist and museum curator who led or participated in several ornithological expeditions, especially to South America and New Guinea. Gilliard was born in York, Pen ...

, an American ornithologist who, together with Margaret Gilliard, collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

Taxonomy

''Cornufer gilliardi'' was originally described as ''Platymantis gilliardi'' based on holotype from New Britain and

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). Of ...

s from the Admiralty Archipelago. Later research has shown that the Admiralty Archipelago specimens represent other species, ''Platymantis latro'' (now '' Cornufer latro''), and that the range of ''Cornufer gilliardi'' is restricted to New Britain.

Description

The holotype is an adult female measuring in

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

. The tympanum and the supratympanic fold are moderately distinct. The eyes are relatively large. The fingers have lateral fringes but no discs. The toes have small terminal discs. The preserved specimen is dorsally gray-brown, slightly paler between the convergent dorsal folds. The chest and abdomen are pale and nearly immaculate.

Habitat and conservation

The ecology of ''Cornufer gilliardi'' is poorly known. It is probably a foothill species occurring in rainforest habitats. The holotype 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 ...

. Development is direct (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage) and the eggs are laid on the ground. The very extensive logging taking place within its range is a possible threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28057410 gilliardi Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Endemic fauna of Papua New Guinea Fauna of New Britain Amphibians described in 1960 Taxa named by Richard G. Zweifel Taxonomy articles created by Polbot