Description
Austrochaperina guttata is a relatively large member of the genus, males reach a max SVL of 43 mm and females reach 44 mm. A. guttata also have large digital discs (disc width/SVL ≥ 0.035), long legs (TL/SVL average of 0.479), and a dorsal pattern of irregular dark brown spots on a gray-brown background. The call is also a diagnostic character (see below). Head is narrower than body with a snout that is subacute in dorsal view and projecting in lateral view. Nostrils are lateral and barely visible from above. Tympanum is small. Relative finger lengths are 3>2>4>1, with the first digit being larger than one-half the second. Toes are unwebbed with relative lengths of 4>3>5>2>1, first toe reaching almost to distal end of subarticular elevation of the second digit. There is a fairly well developed supratympanic fold present. In preservative, dorsum is gray-brown with small but distinct irregular dark brown spots from snout to tip of body. The loreal region is darker than the dorsal ground color.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Papua New Guinea

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

The habitat for these specimens were in Paijman’s (1975) Medium Crowned Lowland Hill Forest.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Call: the call is comprised of a prolonged series of brief, harsh notes given at a rate of approximately 7 per second at 24°C. Mean note duration is 0.048 seconds with dominant frequency ranging from 2050-2200 Hz. Males were found calling from under litter at the base of a small shrub.

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss

References

Paijmans, K. (1975). ''Explanatory notes to the vegetation map of Papua New Guinea.'' CSIRO Land Res. Ser., 35, 1-25.

Zweifel, R.G. (2000). ''Partition of the Australopapuan Microhylid frog genus Sphenophryne with descriptions of new species.'' Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 253, 1-130.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2004 Austrochaperina guttata <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/6370> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 27, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 27 Nov 2024.

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