Litoria tornieri (Nieden, 1923)

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

Pelodytes affinis Gray, 1842, Zool. Misc., Part 2: 56. Holotype: Not designated, but BMNH 1947.2.22.79 (formerly 1836.12.3.193) according to Condit, 1964, J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc., 4: 87. Type locality: "North Coast of New Holland"; rendered as "Port Essington", Northern Territories, Australia by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 413. Secondary homonym of Hyla affinis Spix, 1824, when both are in Hyla, which is not currently the case, nor has it been  since 1974. Nevertheless, although I have not counted the number of authors or usages, I assume that, following Art. 23.9.12 of the Code (1999), the name Hyla tornieri or Litoria tornieri has been used by at least 10 authors in the previous 50 years and the taxon therefore retains the name of common usage, which is Litoria tornieri (DRF). 

Hyla affinis — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 413.

Hyla tornieri Nieden, 1923, Das Tierreich, 46: 228. Replacement name for Pelodytes affinis Gray, 1842.

Litoria tornieri — Cogger and Lindner, 1974, in Frith and Calaby (eds.), Fauna Survey Port Essington District: 71.

Common Names

Black-shinned Rocketfrog (Ingram, Nattrass, and Czechura, 1993, Mem. Queensland Mus., 33: 222; Reynolds, 2007, N. Terr. Nat., 19: 63).

Black-shinned Rocket Frog (Tyler and Doughty, 2009, Field Guide Frogs W. Aust., 4th ed.: 85).

Tornier's Australian Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 60; Reynolds, 2007, N. Terr. Nat., 19: 63).

Tornier's Frog (Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2: 77; Reynolds, 2007, N. Terr. Nat., 19: 63; Tyler and Knight, 2009, Field Guide Frogs Aust.: 42).

Distribution

Extreme north of Western Australia and the northwestern part of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Australia

Endemic: Australia

Comment

In the Litoria latopalmata group of Tyler and Davies, 1978, Aust. J. Zool., Suppl. Ser., 27 (63): 29. In the Litoria lesueuri complex, Litoria latopalmata group, according to Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2: 59). Davies, Martin, and Watson, 1983, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust., 107: 87, reviewed the species. Removed from the synonymy of Litoria latopalmata by Cogger and Lindner, 1974, in Frith and Calaby (eds.), Fauna Survey Port Essington District: 71, where it had been placed by Tyler, 1971, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 19: 354. See account by Tyler and Doughty, 2009, Field Guide Frogs W. Aust., 4th ed.: 85. See brief account by Tyler and Knight, 2009, Field Guide Frogs Aust.: 42-43. Cutajar, Portway, Gillard, and Rowley, 2022, Tech. Rep. Aust. Mus. Online, 36: 32, provided a polygon distribution map.

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