Viridihyla Richards, Mahony & Donnellan, 2025

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 : -

Viridihyla Richards, Mahony & Donnellan , gen. nov.

( Fig. 33)

ZooBank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7E5988C6-9AAC-43DB-A5B8-B3BEE7281448 Type species: Hyla multiplica ( Tyler, 1964b) .

Content: Five species— Viridihyla christianbergmanni ( Günther, 2008) comb. nov., Viridihyla gasconi * ( Richards et al., 2009) comb. nov., Viridihyla multiplica * ( Tyler, 1964b) comb. nov., Viridihyla spectabilis * (Richards & Donnellan, 2023) comb. nov., Viridihyla wapogaensis (Richards & Iskander, 2001) comb. nov.

Diagnosis: Viridihyla can be diagnosed from Nasutibatrachus and Teretistes by the absence of a rostral spike; from Kallistobatrachus by cartilaginous vs. ossified intercalary structures, large vs. small or medium egg size, by having dorsum uniform green with small scattered white-yellow or green spots vs. bright green or occasionally yellow-green with brown markings or brown with green markings, peppered or vermiculated black occasionally with white spots, or scattered pale brown spots, or immaculate green or yellowish green mottled all over with darker green or sparse minute yellow spots; and from Lathrana by finger and toe discs of equal size vs. smaller toe discs, cartilaginous vs. ossified intercalary structures, large vs. medium egg size, fusiform or left teardrop, or rectangular vs. oval call envelope shape. Refer to Tables 1 and 2.

Distribution and ecology: Arboreal frogs that are found typically along or near small clear-flowing streams in mainland New Guinea. The tadpole of V. multiplica is boldly marked with black ( Anstis and Richards 2014).

Etymology: From the Latin viridis (green) and Hyla . The gender is feminine.

Remarks: Viridihyla corresponds in part ( V. multiplica ) to the Litoria aruensis Group of Tyler and Davies (1978). Genetic data were not available for Litoria christianbergmanni and L. wapogaensis and they are placed tentatively in Viridihyla based on the morphologically diagnostic characters outlined above. However, adult males of these two species have distinct brown nuptial pads (vs. absent in the remaining three species) so molecular genetic studies may require a reassessment of their relationships.

Incertae sedis

‘ Hyla jeudii ’ Werner, 1901 is known only from the holotype and lacks a precise type locality (= ‘German New Guinea’, now the northern part of Papua New Guinea). This species exhibits an unusual combination of characters including an elongate head, extremely short limbs, and reduced webbing between the toes, summarized in Tyler (1968a) and Menzies (2006). Tyler and Davies (1978) placed it in the Litoria jeudii Group, but its relationships remain obscure, and it was considered incertae sedis within Pelodryadidae by Duellman et al. (2016).