Litoria ewingii (Duméril and Bibron, 1841)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hylidae > Subfamily: Pelodryadinae > Genus: Litoria > Species: Litoria ewingii

Hyla Ewingii Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 597. Type(s): MNHNP; MNHNP 4851 considered holotype (implicit lectotype designation) by Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 19; BMNH 1852.12.11.3 (now reregistered as 1947.2.22.75) considered a syntype (on exchange from MNHNP) by Condit, 1964, J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc., 4: 90 Type locality: "la terre de Van Diémen" (=Tasmania), Australia.

Hyla parvidens Peters, 1874, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1874: 620. Holotype: ZMB 8252 according to Bauer, Günther, and Klipfel, 1995, in Bauer et al. (eds.), Herpetol. Contr. W.C.H. Peters: 42. Type locality: "Australien (Port Phillip)", Victoria, Australia. Synonymy suggested by Fletcher, 1898, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, Ser. 2, 12: 671–673; although he did not actually do so, subsequent authors have considered him to have made the synonymy. Resurrected; without discussion, by Wells and Wellington, 1985, Aust. J. Herpetol., Suppl. Ser., 1: 6.

Hyla ewingii var. ewingi — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 407.

Hyla ewingi ewingi — Fletcher, 1898, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, Ser. 2, 12: 670.

Hyla ewingii iuxtaewingii Copland, 1957, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, 82: 60. Holotype: AMS R85610, by original designation. Type locality: "18 m[iles]. W. of Bairnsdale", Victoria, Australia. Synonymy by Moore, 1961, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 121: 280.

Litoria ewingii — Tyler, 1971, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 19: 353.

Rawlinsonia ewingi — Wells and Wellington, 1985, Aust. J. Herpetol., Suppl. Ser., 1: 6.

Rawlinsonia parvidens — Wells and Wellington, 1985, Aust. J. Herpetol., Suppl. Ser., 1: 6.

Common Names

Brown Tree Frog (Moore, 1961, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 121: 284; Cogger, 1975, Rept. Amph. Australia: 94; Martin and Littlejohn, 1982, Tasman. Amph.: 7).

Australian Brown Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 59).

Ewing's Tree Frog (Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2: 83; Tyler and Knight, 2009, Field Guide Frogs Aust.: 46).

Whistling Tree Frog (Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2: 83)

Distribution

Widespread throughout south-eastern Australia including Tasmania and the south-eastern mainland coast, ranging from southern New South Wales, across Victoria, as far west as Deepwater in South Australia; introduced into New Zealand.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Australia

Endemic: Australia

Introduced: New Zealand

Comment

See Moore, 1961, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 121: 278 and Tyler, 1978, Amph. S. Aust.: 39–41. New Zealand distribution and introduction discussed by West, 1979, Herpetofauna, Weinstadt, 10: 4–9. In the Litoria ewingii group of Tyler and Davies, 1978, Aust. J. Zool., Suppl. Ser., 27 (63): 26, and the Litoria ewingii complex of Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2: 82. Martin and Littlejohn, 1982, Tasman. Amph.: 26–27, provided a brief account for the Tasmanian population. Littlejohn, 1982, Occas. Publ. New Zealand Dept. Inter. Aff. Wildl. Serv., 2: 113–135, discussed the taxonomic history of the Litoria ewingii complex. Bell, 1982, in Newman (ed.), New Zealand Wildlife Serv. Occas Publ., 2: 29–31, provided a brief chronology for the introduction of this species into New Zealand. Littlejohn, Watson, and Wright, 1993, Copeia, 1993: 60–67, described the advertisement call for the introduced population in New Zealand. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 187–188, discussed the introduced population in New Zealand. See brief account by Tyler and Knight, 2009, Field Guide Frogs Aust.: 46–47. Smith, Oliver, and Littlejohn, 2012, Aust. J. Zool., 60: 37–45, reported on hydridization with Litoria verreauxii. Cutajar, Portway, Gillard, and Rowley, 2022, Tech. Rep. Aust. Mus. Online, 36: 25, provided a polygon distribution map. See comments under Litoria calliscelis and Litoria sibulus, which were partitioned out of Litoria ewingii by Parkin, Rowley, Elliott-Tate, Mahony, Sumner, Melville, and Donnellan, 2024, Zootaxa, 5406: 1–37. Elliott-Tate and Rowley, 2024, Aust. J. Zool., 72(ZO23026): 1–13, reported on variation in the advertisement call as part of a comparative study of the species in the Litoria ewingii complex. Mollard, Mahony, and West, 2024, Comp. Cytogenet., 18: 161–174, described and compared the karyotype.  

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