Mahonabatrachus Wells & Wellington, 1985: 5

Donnellan, Stephen C., Mahony, Michael J., Esquerré, Damien, Brennan, Ian G., Price, Luke C., Lemmon, Alan, Lemmon, Emily Moriarty, Günther, Rainer, Monis, Paul, Bertozzi, Terry, Keogh, J. Scott, Shea, Glenn M. & Richards, Stephen J., 2025, Phylogenomics informs a generic revision of the Australo-Papuan treefrogs (Anura: Pelodryadidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 : -

Mahonabatrachus Wells & Wellington, 1985: 5

( Fig. 21)

Synonymy

Llewellynura Wells and Wellington, 1985: 5 .

Type species: Hyla meiriana Tyler, 1969 , by original designation.

Content: Six species— Mahonabatrachus aurifer * (Anstis, Tyler, Roberts, Price & Doughty, 2010) comb. nov., Mahonabatrachus dorsalis * ( Macleay, 1878) comb. nov., Mahonabatrachus longirostris * (Tyler & Davies, 1977) comb. nov., Mahonabatrachus meirianus * ( Tyler, 1969) , Mahonabatrachus microbelos * ( Cogger, 1966) comb. nov., Mahonabatrachus timidus * ( Tyler & Parker, 1972) comb. nov.

Diagnosis: Mahonabatrachus can be diagnosed from Coggerdonia by small vs. medium body size, medium vs. small ED/SVL, overall tadpole morphology Type 2, 5, or 6 vs. Type 1, and none vs. reduced finger webbing. Mahonabatrachus can be diagnosed from Litoria by small vs. medium body size, defined vs. non-defined call duration (nine of 13 species). All Mahonabatrachus except M. microbelos can be diagnosed from Amnihyla by the presence vs. absence of an alary process of the hyoid. Mahonabatrachus microbelos can be diagnosed from Amnihyla by an oral dics Type 1 vs. Type 3 or 6B and by an overall tadpole morphology Type 2 vs. Type 6 or 7. It can be diagnosed from the other members of the Drymomantis Sub-clade as follows: from Carichyla , Drymomantis , and Papuahyla by overall tadpole morphology Type 2, 5, or 6 vs. Type 1; from Exochohyla , Nasutibatrachus , and Teretistes by the absence of a rostral spike vs. presence; from Exedrobatrachus and Viridihyla by small vs. medium body size, by no vs. reduced or fully webbed fingers, further from Exedrobatrachus by toe discs equal to finger discs in size vs. smaller; from Hyalotos by pigmented vs. transparent tympanum, small pigmented vs. medium to large pigmented eggs; from Ischnohyla by overall tadpole morphology Type 2, 5, or 6 vs. Type 2A, by no vs. reduced or fully webbed fingers; from Kallistobatrachus by small vs. medium body size, overall tadpole morphology Type 2, 5, or 6 vs. Type 7; from Lathrana by small vs. medium body size, no vs. reduced finger webbing, toe discs equal to finger discs in size vs. smaller, and small vs. medium eggs. Refer to Tables 1 and 2.

Distribution and ecology: Terrestrial and saxicoline frogs that breed in ephemeral and permanent streams and still water in grasslands, forests, and savannah woodlands, and rocky terrains in northern Australia and the southern New Guinean mainland.

Etymology: According to Wells and Wellington (1985), named for Michael Mahony in recognition of his research on Australia’s amphibians. The gender, based on batrachus (frog), is masculine.

Remarks: Mahonabatrachus is the equivalent of the Litoria dorsalis and L. meiriana Groups of Tyler and Davies (1978).

For Litoria aurifera Anstis, Tyler, Roberts, Price and Doughty 2010 , the specific epithet is feminine, but becomes aurifer (masculine) in combination with a generic name based on batrachus.

Information on the derivation of the specific epithet was not provided in the original description of Litoria meiriana Tyler 1969 . Our investigations would indicate that it is derived from meiri = waterhole as listed in Baldwin Spencer’s book ‘Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia’ ( Spencer, 1914: 460). As such meiriana is an adjective and becomes meirianus in a masculine genus.