Beck's tree frog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hylidae
Genus: Litoria
Species:
L. becki
Binomial name
Litoria becki
(Loveridge, 1945)
Synonyms
  • Hyla becki Loveridge, 1945
  • Ranoidea becki (Loveridge, 1945)

Beck's tree frog (Litoria becki) is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea.[2] Its natural habitats are tropical moist montane forests, grasslands and streams.[1] It was first described by the British biologist and herpetologist Arthur Loveridge in 1945 and is named in honour of the American ornithologist and explorer Rollo Beck who led the Whitney South Seas Expedition in the 1920s, collecting bird and other specimens from thousands of islands in the South Pacific.[3]

Description

Beck's tree frog is a fairly large tree frog with a snout-to-vent length of between 34 and 44 mm (1.3 and 1.7 in). The head is about as wide as it is long, with small, widely separated nostrils and tympani (eardrums) somewhat smaller than the eyes. Both fingers and toes are long with the toes being webbed while the fingers have disced tips and are unwebbed, the third finger being the longest. The skin is rather coarse, especially on the head and eyelids, but in other parts of the body it is finer. The upper parts of head and body are brown or dark green, and the underparts are streaked with dark colour.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Beck's tree frog is endemic to the mountainous regions of Papua New Guinea. It was at first only known from the two highest mountains in the country, Mount Wilhelm in the Bismarck Range and Mount Giluwe in the Southern Highlands. Specimens have been found at altitudes of over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). In 2007, a previously unknown population was discovered at an altitude of 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) in the Kaijende Highlands in Enga Province.[1][4] The typical habitat of this frog is mountain grassland including boggy areas with pools. It breeds in rapid mountain streams, the large eggs being stuck onto the underside of stones. The tadpoles are not known.[4]

Status

Very little is known of this frog and its habits. The high-altitude sites at which it has been observed are far from human settlements and subject to little human impact. It might be vulnerable to the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis which affects some montane, torrent-dwelling frog species in Australia. The IUCN has listed it as being of "least concern".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2020). "Litoria becki". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T55710A67858721.
  2. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Litoria becki (Loveridge, 1945)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Fellers, Gary M. (2014). "Animal taxa named for Rollo H. Beck". Archives of Natural History. 41 (1): 113–123. doi:10.3366/anh.2014.0214.
  4. 1 2 3 Pollak, Tania (2010-06-24). "Litoria becki". AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
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