A new large Oreophryne species from the mountains of Papua Province, Indonesian New Guinea (Amphibia, Anura, Microhylidae)

Abstract

The microhylid genus Oreophryne reaches its greatest diversity in the New Guinea region, where more than 60 species have been documented to date. Most Oreophryne are small (<30 mm SVL) and only three species, O. anthonyi, O. idenburgensis and O. inornata, exceed 40 mm SVL adult body size. Here we describe a fourth large species of Oreophryne that was collected in 1998 from the mountains of Papua Province in western New Guinea. In having a cartilaginous connection between the procoracoid and scapula it is most similar to O. idenburgensis, a species known only from the mountains of central-western New Guinea but differs from that species in a suite of morphological characters including a broader head, a hidden (vs. visible) tympanum and a more pointed snout.