Bioacoustics of Rawlinsonia eungellensis

Ecology and reproductive biology. Most occurrence records come from slow-flowing rainforest creeks, where adults have been found sitting in vegetation along streams and eggs and tadpoles have been observed in small pools in bedrock adjacent to the stream ( Retallick et al. 1997 , Retallick 1998 , Meyer et al. 2020 ). These small, isolated pools are rare along the streams—for example, breeding habitat was only present along 30 m of a 700 m section of Mt William Creek ( Retallick 1998 ). Litoria eungellensis sp. nov. also occupies farm dams on small gully lines in pasture adjacent to rainforest habitat west of the Dalrymple Road ( Meyer et al. 2020 ). In these situations, adult males call from low vegetation on the margins of the dams. Calling and breeding have been recorded in Spring and early Summer ( Retallick et al. 1997 , Retallick 1998 , CJH observations). Anstis (2017) compared the tadpole morphology of L. revelata and L. eungellensis sp. nov. (then denoted as L. revelata Eungella ) but did not find any differences. Hero et al. (1996) described the tadpole in detail, pointing out that a blue sheen was present on the abdomen ( vs a dull copper sheen on L. revelata ; Anstis 2017 ), but the consistency of this trait needs verification.

Diagnosis . Litoria eungellensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from L. littlejohni and L. watsoni by its smaller size ( 28–39.5 mm vs 43–61 mm and 42–64 mm , respectively), yellow or orange groin, and posterior thighs with black spots or patches ( vs immaculate orange markings on the anterior and posterior surfaces of the femur and tibia, in the groin, and posterior flanks). Can be distinguished from L. ewingii , L. paraewingi and L. verreauxii by expanded finger and toe discs ( vs terminal discs similar in width to, or only slightly wider than, the terminal phalanx). Distinguished from L. jervisiensis by the termination of the lateral head stripe near the forearm ( vs terminating along flank), dark patches in groin ( vs absent), and smaller size ( 28–39.5 mm vs 37–44 mm ). Litoria eungellensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed further from the following species by the greater mean number of notes in the advertisement call (39.3, range 30–35 vs 9, range 4–22 in L. ewingii ; 2.3, range 1–4 in L. jervisiensis ; 8.8, range 5–16 in L. littlejohni ; 4, range 3–8 in L. paraewingi ; 9, range 8–11 in L. sibilus ; 16.7, 8–23 in L. verreauxii ; and 6.5, range 3–14 in L. watsoni ). Litoria eungellensis sp. nov. can be diagnosed from L. corbeni and L. revelata by the presence of well-demarked, back spots or patches in all of the axilla, groin, posterior thigh, and underside of the hindlimbs ( vs variable presence of spots in any of the first three locations, and any spots present being generally smaller and less conspicuous, and absence of dark marks on the underside of the hindlimb) ( Table 5 ). It can be diagnosed further from L. corbeni and L. revelata by having calls with a lower mean pulse repetition rate (78.1 pps, range 67–86 vs 130.5, range 127.3–136.7 for L. corbeni and 105.3, range 87–127 for L. revelata ) ( Table 6 ) and by apomorphic states at 31 and 10 nucleotide sites, respectively, in the ND4 gene alignment ( Table 3 ).