''Papurana novaeguineae'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

true frog True frogs is the common name for the frog family Ranidae. They have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. The true frogs are present in North A ...

, family Ranidae. 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 southern

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 occurs between Lake Yamur ( West Papua,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

) and

Purari River Purari may refer to: * Purari River, Papua New Guinea *Purari language Purari (Namau) is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. Names Purari is also known as ''Koriki, Evorra, I'ai, Maipua,'' and ''Namau.'' "Namau" is a colonial term which mea ...

(

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 ...

). Common name New Guinea frog has been coined for it.

Description

''Papurana novaeguineae'' is the smallest ''Papurana'' species in New Guinea: males reach maturity below and females below in snout–vent length; these lengths have also been interpreted as the maximum sizes. Although it could be mixed with juveniles of other species, ''P. novaeguineae'' is easy to distinguish from its relatives because it has reduced webbing between the toes: the fourth toe has the last two

phalanges The phalanges (singular: ''phalanx'' ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. ...

free of webbing (one free phalanx or none in other species). The nostrils are relatively widely separated. The male advertisement call is a short series of pulsed notes with a "ringing" quality. The dominant frequency is about 3 kHz.

Habitat and conservation

''Papurana novaeguineae'' occurs in tropical flooded

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

s and foothill rainforests at elevations up to

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 ...

. It is locally abundant. Breeding takes place in permanent swamps and temporary grassy flooded ditches. No significant threats to this species have been identified. It occurs in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4669522 novaeguineae Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Amphibians of Western New Guinea Amphibians described in 1909 Taxa named by Pieter Nicolaas van Kampen