Litoria albolabris (Wandolleck, 1911)

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

Hyla albolabris Wandolleck, 1911 "1910", Abh. Ber. Zool. Anthropol. Ethnograph. Mus. Dresden, 13: 12. Syntype(s): "Many" according to the original description; MTDK 2220 (2 specimens), according to the Dresden catalog. NHMW 16976 and SAMA R4947 were considered syntypes by Duellman, 1977, Das Tierreich, 95: 114, wthout comment. Obst, 1977, Zool. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden, 34: 173, listed MTD D2220 as "holotype" (destroyed), which constituted a lectotype by indication at the time, and a paratype in NHMW. Häupl and Tiedemann, 1978, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 2: 18, and Häupl, Tiedemann, and Grillitsch, 1994, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 9: 22, considered NHMW 16976 to be a syntype, received from the MTKD. Tyler, 1990, Rec. S. Aust. Mus., 24: 2, reported SAMA R4947 as a syntype, apparently in error as there were only two specimens originally, one in the MTKD according to the MTKD type catalogue (H. Kaiser, personal. commun. 29 Jan 2013). Type locality: "Eitapé" (=Aitape), West Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. H. Kaiser (personal commun. 29 Jan 2013): "In 1927, when Schüz prepared a type catalog of the Dresden collection, there were two specimens under the number MTD 2220. One of these was sent off as an exchange to Vienna in 1931. Thus, the specimen in Vienna is the remaining syntype of this species. Given the catalog entries, it is not possible that a specimen used by Wandolleck in his description was subsequently sent to Adelaide. Therefore, I believe Tyler to be in error. He may have listed a type specimen of a synonymous taxon under this name in error." Regardless, it seems that since Wandolleck himself mentions having many specimens before him that it is not too hard to imagine wide dispersal of multiple syntypes (thanks to John Bird, 26 June 2022).

Litoria albolabrisTyler, 1971, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 19: 352.

English Names

Wandolleck's White-lipped Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 59).

Distribution

Known only from the type locality (Aitape, West Sepik Province, northern coast of Papua New Guinea).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Papua New Guinea

Endemic: Papua New Guinea

Comment

In the Litoria albolabris group according to Tyler and Davies, 1978, Aust. J. Zool., Suppl. Ser., 27 (63): 6. Menzies, 2006, Frogs New Guinea & Solomon Is.: 149, provided a brief account.

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