''Cophixalus petrophilus'', the blotched boulder-frog, 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 ...

s from the

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

(

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) that was described in 2013. It is one of three newly described vertebrate species from

Cape Melville Cape Melville is a headland on the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. To its west lies Princess Charlotte Bay. It is part of the Cape Melville National Park. Cape Melville was named Stoney Cape in 1815 by Lieutenant Charle ...

, the other two being skink ''

Saproscincus saltus The Cape Melville shadeskink (''Saproscincus saltus'') is a species of lizards from the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia, described in 2013.

'' and gecko ''

Saltuarius eximius The Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko (''Saltuarius eximius'') is a species of geckos that is endemic to the Melville Range on Cape Melville in Northern Australia. The species was described in 2013 by Australian zoologists Conrad Hoskin (of James C ...

''. 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 ...

''petrophilus'' means "rock-loving" and refers to restriction of this species to boulder field habitats.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The head is narrower than the body. The snout is blunt to projecting in profile. The tympanum is comparatively large but indistinct to moderately distinct, bordered by the supra-tympanic fold. The limbs are relatively long. The fingers and toes have no webbing. Fingers II–IV have large, truncated discs. The toe discs are also enlarged but smaller than those of the fingers. Skin is smooth but has some scattered, fine tubercles on the dorsum. Dorsal colouration is creamy yellow with dark brown blotching, which is paler in females than in males. The markings include a prominent W-mark on the shoulders and a bar between the eyes. A dark horizontal line runs through 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 ...

. The ventral surfaces are uniformly white or pinkish grey; the throat is white.

Reproduction

The male advertisement call is a fairly short, medium-paced, low-pitched rattle (dominant frequency about 1300 Hz). Reproduction has not been observed, but this species is likely to lay its eggs in moist rock cracks, as known for closely related species '' Cophixalus saxatilis''. The development is likely direct, with the

tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

s developing within the eggs while being guarded by the male, emerging as fully formed froglets when they hatch out.

Habitat

''Cophixalus petrophilus'' is restricted to granite boulder fields that are largely devoid of vegetation and is known from two sites a few kilometers apart on the Melville Range 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 is

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

with '' Cophixalus zweifeli'', but the latter is associated with boulders under or near rainforest, instead of more purely rocky habitats. ''Cophixalus petrophilus'' were observed to be active at night after or during rains, sitting on surface boulders of very deeply piled boulder fields. 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 ...

male was calling from inside the boulder layers.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15267813 petrophilus Endemic fauna of Australia Amphibians of Queensland Amphibians described in 2013 Frogs of Australia