Bioacoustics of Spicicalyx serrata

Litoria serrata ( Figure 4D ) can be distinguished from all of the taxa discussed above by a combination of morphological traits and the male advertisement call. It can be distinguished from L. genimaculata , L. papua and L. exophthalmia by its larger size (adult males 38– 53 mm SVL) and the presence of an extremely well-developed crenulated fold along the outer edge of the fore- and hind-limbs (versus reduced or absent in L. exophthalmia , L. genimaculata , and L. papua ). It can be distinguished from L. eucnemis (including H. rhacophorus and N. loveridgei ; see above) by having a small, narrow tubercle or spike on the heel (versus a large, triangular lappet in L. eucnemis ) and in having a different advertisement call consisting of a series of quiet ticking notes (versus a series of growls or ‘raucous notes’ in L. eucnemis ). Advertisement calls of L . eucnemis have been described and illustrated by Zweifel (1980) , and those of L. serrata by Richards et al. (1993) and Hoskin (2007) . Litoria serrata is sympatric with the genetically similar species L. myola over a very small area in the central Wet Tropics. In this area the two species can be distinguished by the smaller male size and faster, shorter and higher pitched call of L. myola ( Hoskin et al . 2005 ; Hoskin 2007 ). Concluding remarks. Our allozyme and mitochondrial molecular genetic data support the presence of two genetically divergent lineages, ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ Wet Tropics, within L. serrata ( Schneider et al . 1998 ; Hoskin et al. 2005 ). The northern and southern lineages of L. serrata have been retained as a single species ( Hoskin 2007 ), pending further investigations of the degree of reproductive isolation between them (Hoskin, in progress). On the basis of our mitochondrial DNA data, New Guinean populations of L. genimaculata are clearly polyphyletic, but we will deal with the taxonomic status of these in a subsequent publication.