''Sphenophryne magnitympanum'' 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 ...

and only known from the vicinity of its type locality on the western slope of Mount Obree, Central Province.

Etymology

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 ...

''magnitympanum'' is derived from Latin ''magnus'' meaning "large" and ''tympanum'' meaning "drum", in reference to the large tympanum.

Description

Based on 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 ...

consisting of 14 adult males and a female, males measure and females about in snout–vent length. The snout is gently angulate. The eyes are moderately large. The tympanum is distinct and large. The

canthus The canthus (: canthi, palpebral commissures) is either corner of the eye where the upper and lower eyelids meet. More specifically, the inner and outer canthi are, respectively, the medial and lateral ends/angles of the palpebral fissure. The ...

is rounded but distinct. A pair of angular dermal ridges runs in the scapular region. The fingers have small discs, those of the toes are much larger. No webbing is present. The dorsum is tan, light yellow-brown, or pink brown stippled with black. There is a pair of vague, pale lumbar ocelli. The venter varies from deep, dark yellow to pale yellow. 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 single-note "boop" lasting about 0.5 seconds. The call is emitted intermittently (maximum three calls per minute, but often only about once per five minutes).

Habitat and conservation

The

was collected from lower

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

rainforest 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 ...

. Males call at night from under leaf litter, or from within shallow burrows in the soil or compacted leaf litter. The species was relatively common, but difficult to collect because of its cryptic habits; a few animals were active on the forest floor at night. As of late 2020, this species has not been assessed for the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3242083 magnitympanum Amphibians of New Guinea Amphibians of Papua New Guinea Endemic fauna of New Guinea Endemic fauna of Papua New Guinea Amphibians described in 2009 Taxa named by Allen Allison Taxa named by Edward Frederick Kraus