''Cophixalus 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 ...

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 ...

where it occurs in the central mountainous region between Chimbu and

Morobe Province Morobe is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands Province ...

s. 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'' presumably 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 to whose perusal

Arthur Loveridge Arthur Loveridge (28 May 1891 – 16 February 1980) was a British people, British biologist and Herpetology, herpetologist who wrote about animals of East Africa, particularly Tanzania, and of New Guinea. He gave Binomial nomenclature, scientific ...

sent the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

. Common name Papua rainforest frog has been coined for it.

Names

In the

Kalam language Kalam is a Kalam language of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Kobon, and shares many of the features of that language. Kalam is spoken in Middle Ramu District of Madang Province and in Mount Hagen District of Western Highlands Prov ...

, mature ''C. parkeri'' are known as , while immature specimens are called lk ɨkBulmer, RNH (1975)
Kalam Classification Of Reptiles And Fishes
. ''Journal of the Polynesian Society'' 84(3): 267–308.

Description

Maximum snout–vent length is . The snout is slightly prominent and obtusely pointed. The tympanum is distinct and about half the diameter of the eye. The canthus rostralis is angular. Fingers have large discs whereas toes have slightly smaller discs; the toes are unwebbed. Skin is smooth with scattered tubercles. The

has a pale, broad interocular band, but the majority of specimens do not show this. Most specimens do not have distinct dorsal patterns but have a dark brown dorsum that grades rather abruptly into the pale reddish tan flanks. The lower parts are usually mottled with dark gray on a light tan background, but can occasionally be nearly uniform. Males have a median sub gular

vocal sac The vocal sac is the flexible Biological membrane, membrane of skin possessed by most male frogs and toads. The purpose of the vocal sac is usually as an amplification of their mating or advertisement call. The presence or development of the voca ...

. The male advertisement call is a group of short buzzing notes (usually four).

Habitat and conservation

''Cophixalus parkeri'' inhabits montane rainforest and forest edges at elevations of

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 ...

. It occurs in vegetation up to one metre above ground at night and in leaf litter during the daytime. Reproduction is through direct development (no free-living larval stage). This species is distributed in a remote area where it is unlikely to be threatened. It is not known to be present in any protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2242155 parkeri Endemic fauna of New Guinea Endemic amphibian species of Papua New Guinea Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Amphibians described in 1948 Taxa named by Arthur Loveridge Taxonomy articles created by Polbot