Abstract
We describe two new species of forest frogs in the genus Platymantis from the Isabel Island group, Solomon Islands. One new species is a medium-sized, terrestrial form that is morphologically most similar to P. weberi (a widespread Solomon Islands species). The other new species is an arboreal frog that is morphologically similar to Platymantis neckeri (known from Bougainville, Choiseul, and Isabel islands). Both new species possess unique advertisement calls that distinguish them from all sympatric congeners. Because acoustic characteristics function as the primary mate-recognition signals for anuran species, and are therefore an excellent indicator of the status of unique evolutionary lineages, we recognize each as new species. We diagnose both new species on the basis of their distinctive advertisement calls and in the case of the terrestrial form, by differences in body size, body proportions and skin texture. The diversity of ceratobatrachid frogs of the Solomon islands and Bougainville is underestimated and in need of a comprehensive taxonomic review coupled with a standardized survey of acoustic characters.References
Alcala, A.C. & Brown, W.C. (1998) Philippine amphibians: an illustrated field guide. Bookmark Inc., Makati City, Philippines, 116 pp.
Alcala, A.C. & Brown, W.C. (1999) Philippine frogs of the genus Platymantis (Amphibia: Ranidae). Philippine Journal of Science, 128, 281–287.
Allison, A. (1996) Zoogeography of amphibians and reptiles of New Guinea and the Pacific region, In: Keast, A. & Miller, S.E. (Eds.), The Origin and Evolution of Pacific Island Biotas, New Guinea to Eastern Polynesia: Patterns and Processes. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam, pp. 407–436.
Allison, A. & Kraus, F. (2001) New species of Platymantis (Anura: Ranidae) from New Ireland. Copeia, 2000, 194–202.
Brown, R.M. (2004) Evolution of ecomorphological variation and acoustic diversity in mate-recognition signals of southeast Asian forest frogs (subfamily Platymantinae). Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Brown, R.M., Foufopoulos, J., & Richards, S.J. (2006a) New species of Platymantis (Amphibia; Anura: Ranidae) from New Britain and redescription of the poorly known Platymantis nexipus. Copeia, 2006, 674–695.
Brown, R.M., & Gonzalez, J.C. (2007) A new forest frog of the genus Platymantis (Amphibia; Anura: Ranidae) from the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon Island, Philippines. Copeia, 2007, 251–266.
Brown, R.M., & Iskandar, D.T. 2000. Nest site selection, larval hatching, and advertisement calls of Rana arathooni (Amphibia; Anura; Ranidae) from southwestern Sulawesi (Celebes) Island, Indonesia. Journal of Herpetology, 34, 404–413.
Brown, R.M., Richards, S.J., Sukumaran, J., & Foufopoulos, J. (2006b) A new morphologically cryptic species of forest frog (genus Platymantis) from New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago. Zootaxa, 1334, 45–68.
Brown, W.C. (1949) A new frog of the genus Platymantis from the Solomon Islands. American Museum Novitates, 1387, 1–4.
Brown, W.C. (1952) The amphibians of the Solomon Islands. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparartive Zoology, Harvard, 107, 1–64.
Brown, W.C. (1997) Biogeography of the amphibians in the islands of the southwestern pacific. Proceedings of the California Academy of Science, 50, 21–38.
Brown, W.C., Brown, R.M., & Alcala, A.C. (1997) Species of the hazelae group of Platymantis (Amphibia: Ranidae) from the Philippines, with descriptions of two new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 49, 405–421.
Brown, W.C. & Menzies, J.I. (1979) A new Platymantis (Amphibia: Ranidae) from New Ireland, with notes on the amphibians of the Bismarck Archipelago. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 91, 965–971.
Brown, W.C. & Tyler, M.J. (1968) Frogs of the genus Platymantis (Ranidae) from New Britain with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 81, 69–86.
Charif, R.A., Mitchell, S. & Clark, C.W. (1996) Canary 2.0 Users' Manual. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca.
Edgar, P.W. & Lilley, R.P.H. (1993) Herpetofauna survey of Manusela National Park In: Edwards, I.D., Macdonald, A.A. & Proctor, J. (Eds.). Natural History of Seram, Maluku, Indonesia. Intercept Ltd, Andover, pp 131–141.
Foufopoulos, J. & Brown, R.M. (2004) A new frog of the genus Platymantis (Amphibia; Anura; Ranidae) from New Britain,with a redescription of the poorly-known Platymantis macrosceles. Copeia, 2004, 825–841.
Foufopoulos, J. & Richards, S.J. (2007) The amphibians and reptiles of New Britain Island: diversity and conservation status. Hamadryad, 31, 176–201.
Gorham, S.W. (1965) Fiji Frogs, with synopses of the genera Cornufer and Platymantis. Dunker und Humbolt, Berlin, 55 pp.
Günther, R. (1999) Morphological and bioacoustic characteristics of frogs of the genus Platymantis (Amphibia, Ranidae) in Irian Jaya, with descriptions of two new species. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin, Zoologische Reihe, 75, 317–335.
Günther, R. (2006) A new species of the frog genus Platymantis from the mountains of Yapen Island, northern Papua Province, Indonesia (Amphibia: Anura: Ranidae). Zoologische Abhandlungen, 55, 85–94.
Hayek, L.-A. C., Heyer, W. R. & Gascon, C. (2001) Frog morphometrics: a cautionary tale. Alytes, 18, 153–177.
Kraus, F., & Allison, A. 2007. Two new species of Platymantis (Anura: Ranidae) from New Britain. Zootaxa, 1485, 13–32.
Lee, J.C. (1982) Accuracy and precision in anuran morphometrics: artifacts of preservation. Systematic Zoology, 31, 266–281.
Leviton, A.E., Gibbs, R. H. Jr., Heal, E. & Dawson, C.E. (1985) Standards in herpetology and ichthyology: Part I. Standard symbolic codes for institutional resource collections in herpetology and ichthyology. Copeia, 1985, 802–821.
Macromedia, Inc. (1995) Soundedit 16 users' guide. Macromedia, San Francisco.
Menzies, J. I. (1982a) Systematics of Platymantis papuensis (Amphibia: Ranidae) and related species in the New Guinea region. British Journal of Herpetology, 6, 236–245.
Menzies, J. I. (1982b) The voices of some male Platymantis species of the New Guinea region. British Journal of Herpetology, 6, 1–5.
Morrison, C. (2003) A field guide to the herpetofauna of Fiji. Institute of Applied Sciences, University of the South Pacific, Suva, 122 pp.
Pregill, G. K., & Crombie, R. I. (1999) A checklist of the herpetofauna of the Palau Islands (Republic of Belau), Oceania. Herpetological Monographs, 13, 29–80.
Richards, S.J., Mack, A.L. and Austin, C.C. (2007). Two new species of Platymantis (Anura: Ceratobatrachidae) from the Admiralty Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Zootaxa, 1639, 41–55.
Ryan, M. J. (1983). Frequency modulated calls and species recognition in a neotropical frog. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 150, 217–221.
Ryan, M. J., & Rand, A. S. (1993). Sexual selection and signal evolution: the ghost of biases past. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 340, 187–195.
Zweifel, R.G. (1960) Results of the Gilliard New Britain expedition 3. Notes on the frogs of New Britain. American Museum Novitates, 2023, 1–27.
Zweifel, R.G. (1969) Frogs of the genus Platymantis (Ranidae) in New Guinea, with the description of a new species. American Museum Novitates, 2374, 1–19.
Zweifel, R.G. (1975) Frogs of the genus Platymantis (Ranidae) from New Britain. American Museum Novitates, 7582, 1–7.