Litoria revelata Ingram, Corben and Hosmer, 1982

Price, Luke C., Hoskin, Conrad J., Mahony, Michael J. & Donnellan, Stephen C., 2025, Systematic evaluation of molecular genetic, morphological and acoustic variation reveals three species in the Litoria revelata complex (Anura: Pelodryadidae), Zootaxa 5584 (3), pp. 301-338 : 317-320

Litoria revelata Ingram, Corben and Hosmer, 1982

Southern Whirring Tree Frog

Fig. 9

Holotype: QM J28233 , adult male, by original designation. Type locality: O’Reillys, Lamington Plateau , south-eastern Queensland, Australia, -28.23°, 153.13°. Collected by G. J. Ingram, 6 August 1973. Amey & Couper (2022) illustrated dorsal, ventral, and lateral views of the holotype.

Diagnosis. Litoria revelata can be diagnosed from L. littlejohni and L. watsoni by its smaller size (23–37 mm vs 43–61 mm and 42–64 mm, respectively), and orange, red or yellow groin and posterior thighs with black spots or patches (vs immaculate orange markings on anterior and posterior surfaces of femur and tibia, in groin, and posterior flanks). Can be diagnosed from L. ewingii , L. paraewingi and L. verreauxii by expanded finger and toe terminal discs (vs terminal discs similar width or only slightly wider than terminal phalanges). Diagnosed from L. jervisiensis by termination of lateral head stripe near forearm (vs terminating along flank), by having dark patches in groin (vs absent), and by smaller size (23–37 mm vs 37–44 mm). Litoria revelata can also be diagnosed from Litoria ewingii Group species outside the L. revelata complex by a greater mean number of notes in call (31, vs 15 in L. calliscelis ; 9 in L. ewingii ; 4 in L. jervisiensis ; 12 in L. littlejohni ; 6 in L. paraewingi ; 10 in L. sibilus ; 23 in L. verreauxii ; and 12 in L. watsoni ).

Litoria revelata can be diagnosed from L. eungellensis sp. nov. by a combination of an absence of black patches or blotches in all of axilla, groin, posterior thighs and underside of the hindlimbs in most individuals (vs large prominent black patches and blotches in axilla, groin, posterior thighs and underside of the hindlimb); by smaller females (32.0– 37.1 mm vs 37.0– 39.5 mm); and by having an advertisement call with higher mean pulse repetition rate (105.3 pps, range 86.9–127.3 vs 78.1 pps, range 66.9–86.2). Litoria revelata can be diagnosed from L. corbeni by a lower mean pulse repetition rate (105.3 pps, range 86.9–127.3 vs 130.5 pps, range 127.3–136.7). Litoria revelata can be diagnosed further from L. corbeni and L. eungellensis sp. nov. by apomorphic states at 30 and 10 nucleotide sites respectively in the ND4 gene alignment ( Table 3 ).

Measurements of holotype (mm). SVL 26.7, HL 8.9, HW 9.1, TL 14.6, TD 1.4, ED 3.2.

Description. A summary of variation in 14 mensural characters and five ratios is presented in Table 4 . Mean SVL: females = 34 ± 1.23, 32–37.1 mm; males = 28.1 ± 1.2, 24.7–31.6 mm.

Snout rounded when viewed from above, blunt in profile. Nostrils more lateral than superior; closer to tip of snout than to eye. Canthus rostralis well defined, straight. Eye relatively large (ED/HL 0.4 ± 0.04, 0.3–0.5); pupil horizontal when constricted ( Fig. 9 ). Tympanum distinct; oval. Head length about equal to head width (HL/HW 0.98 ± 0.06, 0.7–1.1) and approximately one-third of SVL (HL/SVL 0.29 ± 0.02, 0.20–0.32). Tympanum length about equal to or greater than half eye diameter (TD/ED mean 0.5, 0.4–0.7). Vomerine teeth in semi-circular arc from anterior edge of the choanae to midline of palate (assessed on specimen SAMA R14298).

Fingers long, narrow; webbing absent. Subarticular and palmar tubercles prominent. Terminal discs prominent. Fingers in order of length: 3>4>2>1. Hindlimbs moderately long (TL/SVL 0.5 ± 0.02, 0.5–0.6). Toes in order of length: 4>5=3>2=1. Webbing between toes reaches to penultimate phalanges. Subarticular tubercles prominent. Rectangular inner metatarsal tubercle approximately one-quarter length of first toe. Terminal toe discs prominent, smaller than finger discs ( Fig. 9 ).

Narrow dark brown finely granular nuptial pad wraps around dorsal surface of the base of finger I (SAMA R14298–9).

Dorsum finely granular. Upper surface of limbs smooth or finely granular. Chin, undersurfaces of limbs, and lateral aspect of abdomen smooth; remainder of abdomen finely granular.

Colour in life. Dorsal surfaces tan, cream-brown or reddish-brown, continuing onto flanks; middle dorsum has darker shading starting with well demarked margin between eyes, not obvious in some males in nuptial display colour. Some individuals with small to minute dark flecks over dorsal surfaces and flanks. A black or dark or light brown stripe, with lower margin often poorly defined, extends from nostril along canthus rostralis through eye to just past forearm, sometimes incorporating tympanum. Yellow dorsum in males during calling and amplexus. Abdomen white to cream, but males with yellow or orange throat with some dark flecks, particularly around margin. Vocal sac pigmented light cream to yellow ( Fig. 9B, C, F ). Upper iris bright copper-gold, lower iris brown copper gold ( Fig. 9 ).

Axilla with dark brown or black marks in about half of specimens examined (43% of the 112 specimens), remainder with axilla same colour as flanks or the diffuse eye stripe extends across the tympanum onto axilla. Groin yellow or orange, with 64% of specimens having dark patch in groin ( Fig. 6B, C, D ), and occasionally smaller dark spots anterior to groin ( Fig. 2B ). Posterior of thighs uniform orange ( Fig. 6A ) or with black spot at proximal margin ( Fig. 6B ), or black dorsal margin ( Fig. 6C ), or with black pattern spread across thigh ( Fig. 6D )a. Eight individuals from the northern end of the range (Yabbra State Forest, Tooloom Range, Lamington National Park, Border Ranges National Park, Richmond Range) have black marks on the underside of the hindlimbs (Supplementary Table S1 ), otherwise the underside of the hindlimb lacks dark marks ( Table 5 ).

Distribution. Extends from Main Range (Cunningham’s Gap) and Mt Tamborine in the north, through other south-eastern Queensland upland areas in the McPherson and Border Ranges and Killarney area, south through coastal ranges and lowlands of northern NSW to the mid NSW coast at Ourimbah State Forest (about halfway between Newcastle and Sydney). Records south of Sydney, at Thirlmere (QM J60187 ) and in the Wollongong area (Atlas of Living Australia), need confirmation because they sit over 100 km south of all other records ( Fig. 1 ). Some populations are probably disjunct, particularly in the uplands of south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern NSW. Records are from near sea-level to approximately 900 m a.s.l. Only occurs in mid elevation and upland areas in the north of the range (south-eastern Queensland and far northern NSW) but occurs at low elevations in the rest of the range.

Ecology and reproductive biology. Occupies a wide range of natural and human-modified habitats including: permanent and ephemeral ponds, swamps, dams near forests, and low-flow pools in upland streams in heath, wet or dry sclerophyll forest, and rainforest. In the north of the range occurs predominantly in rainforest, but occupies broader range of habitats in more southerly portions of the range.

Males display dynamic sexual dichromatism during the breeding season ( Webster et al. 2023). Males change colour during calling and amplexus, from tan, brown, grey, or red-brown to brilliant lemon yellow or yellow-brown over much of the dorsum. Calling has been heard in every month of the year with a slight peak in September and the lowest number in June (FrogID). Anstis (2017) described egg and larval morphology and noted that the sides and venter of tadpoles of L. revelata were grey-blue to silver-grey, often with a dull copper sheen (vs a bluish sheen in L. eungellensis sp. nov.; Hero et al. 1996).

Conservation status. Litoria revelata does not fulfill a threatened species listing based on assessment against IUCN Red List criteria (2012). Litoria revelata has an estimated Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 81,348 km 2 andArea of Occupancy (AOO) of 1,852 km 2. The estimated AOO is less than the 2,000 km 2 threshold for Criterion B2 but the species does not meet any additional conditions of that listing level due to a large number of known ‘locations’ and a lack of known, inferred or projected decline in extent or quality of habitat, number of subpopulations, or number of mature individuals. However, this is largely due to a lack of data and population monitoring is required across the distribution. The northern, upland populations in south-eastern Queensland and far northern New South Wales are localised and disjunct and may be under threat from climate change; hence they should be a particular focus for monitoring.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of eastern Australia showing collection locations and specimen records for the Litoria revelata complex, in the states of Queensland (Qld) and New South Wales (NSW). Genetically analysed specimens: blue dots—L. corbeni, red dots—L. eungellensis sp. nov., grey dots—L. revelata. Small black dots are specimen records from the Atlas of LivingAustralia. See Appendix 1 for location codes. Graded blue background represents the elevational gradient, with darker blue being higher elevations.

FIGURE 2. An illustration of the variation in colour pattern characters in the Litoria revelata complex. A) forelimb and axilla (no voucher, Mount William Creek, site e1, Eungella National Park, photo Harry Hines), B) inner thigh and inguinal region (no voucher, Eungella, photo Stephen Mahony), C) concealed surface of posterior thigh (SAMA R68976, Murrays Scrub, site r4, NSW), and D) multiple dark spots and marks on undersurface of hindlimbs (SAMA R68691, from Mt William Ck, site e1, Eungella National Park, Qld).

FIGURE 6. Examples of colour pattern character states for the groin and posterior thigh for the Litoria revelata complex. A) orange without a dark border (SAMA R69002, from Wild Cattle Ck, site r11, NSW); B) orange with a distinct dark expanded margin at the anterior and posterior ends (SAMA R68976, from Murrays Scrub, site r4, NSW); C) as in B but with a distinct dark border encompassing the orange area (SAMA R68977, from Murrays Scrub, site r4, NSW); D) as in C but with the distinct dark border invading the orange area laterally (no voucher, from Watagan State Forest, site r20, NSW); E) multiple dark spots and marks in groin and posterior thigh (ABTC81985, from Mt William Creek, site e1, Eungella, Qld, photo Harry Hines); F) multiple dark spots and marks in groin, posterior thigh and along hindlimbs (no voucher, Eungella, Qld, photo Stephen Mahony).

FIGURE 9. Litoria revelata in life: A) Dorrigo, NSW, photo Stephen Mahony; B) Olney State Forest, NSW, photo Stephen Mahony; C) Watagan National Park, NSW, photo Stephen Mahony; D) O’Reilly’s, Lamington Plateau, Qld, QM J92494, photo Harry Hines, E) Heaton State Forest, NSW, photo Stephen Mahony; F) Wallingat National Park, NSW, photo Stephen Mahony.