The Central Ranges toadlet (''Pseudophryne robinsoni''), or Everard Ranges toadlet, is a species of small frog that 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 els ...

to Australia.

History

The species was first discovered by

Mike Tyler Mike Tyler is a non-academic, post-beat American poet. He first became known during the 1990s poetry revival centered on the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City. He has been dubbed the “most dangerous poet in America” because he once br ...

in 1970, but was thought at the time to be an isolated eastern population of ''

Pseudophryne occidentalis The orange-crowned toadlet (''Pseudophryne occidentalis''), or western toadlet, is a species of frog in the family Myobatrachidae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, in ...

'', and was not formally described until 2012. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honours Dr Tony Robinson, formerly of the South Australian Department for the Environment and Natural Resources.

Description

The species grows to 23–26 mm (males) and 27–28 (females) in length ( SVL). Colouration of the warty upper body is pale brown, khaki or grey, with dark blotches, and with pale orange-brown patches on the upper arms; the belly is smooth and black with white markings; the limbs are short, with unwebbed toes and fingers.

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in the arid

Everard Everard is a given name and surname which is the anglicised version of the old Germanic name Eberhard. Notable people with the name include: People First name * Everard Aloysius Lisle Phillipps (1835–1857), English East India officer awarded t ...

and

Musgrave Ranges Musgrave Ranges is a mountain range in Central Australia, straddling the boundary of South Australia ( Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) and the Northern Territory ( MacDonnell Shire), extending into Western Australia. It is between the Gre ...

of extreme north-western

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, in Australia's

Central Ranges Central Ranges (code CER) is an Australian bioregion, with an area of 101,640.44 square kilometres (39,244 sq mi) spreading across two states and one territory: South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.bioregion A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use th ...

. There the frogs are found in the vicinity of waterholes and spring-fed pools, sheltering in crevices and beneath rocks and collapsed vegetation.

References

Pseudophryne Amphibians of South Australia Amphibians described in 2012 Frogs of Australia {{Myobatrachidae-stub