''Aphantophryne parkeri'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

in the family

Microhylidae The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family (biology), family of frogs. The 683 species are in 57 genera and 11 subfamilies. Evolution A molecular phylogenetic study by van der Meijden, et al. ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the north coast of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and only known from Matapan (or Matapau) and the

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.

in the

West Sepik Province Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland province of Papua New Guinea (also known as home of the sunset). It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The c ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, and from Sentani in the

Papua Province Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of the Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri, and is divided in ...

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region ...

(

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

). This species was formerly included in the genus ''

Oreophryne ''Oreophryne'', the cross frogs, is a genus of microhylid frogs. They are found in the southern Philippines, Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands, and New Guinea and New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archi ...

'', but was in 2017 moved to ''Aphantophryne'' based on molecular data. 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 ...

''parkeri'' honours

Hampton Wildman Parker Hampton Wildman Parker, CBE (5 July 1897 – 2 September 1968) was an English zoologist. Parker graduated from Cambridge in 1923 with degrees in botany, zoology, and chemistry. Within the same year, he joined the staff of the British Museum (Natu ...

, an English zoologist and herpetologist. Common name Parker's cross frog has been coined for it.

Description

Adult males measure about and adult females in snout–vent length (each of these ranges is based on just two specimens). The head is relatively narrow. The snout bluntly rounded, approaching truncate, in dorsal view, and vertical in profile. The

canthus rostralis In snakes and amphibians, the canthus, canthal ridge or ''canthus rostralis''Spawls S, Branch B. 1995. ''The Dangerous Snakes of Africa''. Ralph Curtis Books. Dubai: Oriental Press. 192 pp. . is the angle between the flat crown of the head and the ...

is rounded. The tympanum is moderately distinct to indistinct. The fingers and the toes have well-developed terminal disks. The fingers have no webbing whereas the toes have moderate webbing. The dorsum is light brown and has irregular darker small spots interrupted by a sharply defined, dark W-like mark in the

scapula The scapula (: scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either side ...

r area. There are abundant tiny white spots over all dorsal and lateral surfaces and limbs. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

is dark brown. The male advertisement call is a train of 21–34 notes, with a dominant frequency of 2600–2900 Hz. The notes are uttered at a rate of 5 s⁻¹, and the call lasts about 5 seconds.

Habitat and conservation

''Aphantophryne parkeri'' occurs in very disturbed forests and

sago Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

swamps in highly disturbed habitats at

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

. 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 associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

was reported as having been collected "from running water in sago-palm forest", but this is likely erroneous because no related species is aquatic; an earlier account on the same specimens stated them having been collected "near running water". In Sentani, males were calling from about 3–6 m above ground in banana plants and sago palms in an area of garden regrowth. There are no known threats to this species, and it appears to adapt to disturbance. It is common in the Papuan locality. It presumably occurs in Cyclops Nature Reserve.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2242616 parkeri Endemic fauna of New Guinea Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Amphibians of Western New Guinea Taxa named by Arthur Loveridge Amphibians described in 1955 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot