Sandyrana Wells and Wellington, 1985: 6

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 : -

Sandyrana Wells and Wellington, 1985: 6

( Fig. 32)

Type species: Hyla infrafrenata Günther, 1867 , by original designation.

Content: 14 species— Sandyrana azuroscelis * (Günther, Richards, Hamidy, Trilaksono, Sulaeman & Oliver, 2023) comb. nov., Sandyrana dux * ( Richards and Oliver 2006a) comb. nov., Sandyrana graminea * ( Boulenger, 1905) comb. nov., Sandyrana hunti * (Richards et al., 2006) comb. nov., Sandyrana infrafrenata * ( Günther, 1867) , Sandyrana lubisi ( Oliver et al., 2021a) comb. nov., Sandyrana multicolor * ( Günther, 2004b) comb. nov., Sandyrana nullicedens ( Kraus, 2018) comb. nov., Sandyrana pallidofemora * ( Kraus, 2018) comb. nov., Sandyrana pterodactyla * ( Oliver, Richards & Donnellan, 2019) comb. nov., Sandyrana purpureolata * (Oliver et al., 2007) comb. nov., Sandyrana sanguinolenta * ( Van Kampen, 1909) comb. nov., Sandyrana sauroni * ( Richards and Oliver, 2006a) comb. nov., Sandyrana tenuigranulata * ( Boettger, 1895) comb. nov.

Diagnosis: Sandyrana can be diagnosed from Nyctimystes by small to medum pigmented vs. large unpigmented eggs, tadpole oral disc Type 1 vs. Type 6A, overall tadpole morphology Type 1 vs. Type 6, by the presence of the m. extensor brevis medius digiti IV vs. absence, by non-vertical vs. vertical pupil; and from Sylvagemma by long vs. medium TL/SVL, reduced to fully vs. no finger webbing, reduced or fully vs. minimally webbed toes, cartilaginous vs. ossified intercalary structures, tadpole oral disc Type 1 vs. 1A. Refer to Tables 1 and 2.

Distribution and ecology: Arboreal frogs that are found in north-eastern Australia, New Guinea and surrounding islands, the Bismarck and Admiralty Archipelagos, the Indonesian provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku, and introduced into Java. Sandyrana display two contrasting lifestyles: dwelling and calling high in the canopy ( Günther et al. 2023) and in some species observations of parachuting ( Kraus 2018) or calling close to ponds and other water bodies on the ground ( Günther et al. 2023).

Etymology: According to Wells and Wellington (1985), named for Sandy Ingleby, Sydney. The gender, based on Rana , is feminine.

Remarks: Sandyrana is the equivalent ( S. infrafrenata ) of the Litoria infrafrenata Group and in part ( S. graminea ) of the L. aruensis Group of Tyler and Davies (1978). The diploid chromosome number of 2 n = 24 for Sandyrana infrafrenata is unique amongst pelodryadids which otherwise have a 2 n = 26 karyotype among the 21 genera for which data are presently available (Supporting Information, Table S3; Stephenson and Stephenson 1970, Menzies and Tippet 1976, Tyler et al. 1978, King et al. 1979, 1990, King 1980, 1981, Kuramoto and Allison 1991, Donnellan and Mahony 2004, Kakampuy et al. 2013, Mollard 2018, Mollard et al. 2018, 2024, Schmid et al. 2018).

Shea and Kraus (2007) emended the name hunti to huntorum on the basis that it was named in recognition of the Hunt family (by implication, more than one person). However, Frost (2023) considered this to be an unjustified emendation. We retain hunti here while acknowledging that not all authors of this paper agree with this interpretation.

Sulaeman et al. (2021) include colour images in life of Sandyrana tenuigranulata (which they mis-spelt as tennuigranulata) from Ternate and Halmahera in the North Moluccas, Indonesia.

Genetic data for Litoria lubisi and L. nullicedens were not available. They are placed in Sandyrana on the basis of their very large size, green coloration, extensively webbed fingers, and canopy-dwelling habit ( Kraus 2018, Oliver et al. 2021a).