The montane Pinocchio frog (Litoria vivissimia) is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to New Guinea. Scientists saw it on Hides Ridge in the karstic area of the Southern Fold Mountains in Papua New Guinea.[1] Like the Pinocchio frog, it has a protuberance on its snout that can grow or shrink.[2][3]
| Montane Pinocchio frog | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Hylidae |
| Genus: | Litoria |
| Species: | L. vivissimia
|
| Binomial name | |
| Litoria vivissimia Oliver, Richards, and Donnellan, 2019
| |
According to one of the lead scientists, Dr. Paul Oliver, senior curator of the Queensland Museum, “And Litoria vivissimia translates to ‘cheeky monkey’ – we have probably walked past dozens of them but have only ever seen one. We think they are probably up there in treetops laughing at us." The "Pinocchio" refers to the children's book character whose nose would grow whenever he told a lie.[4]
The male adult frog is about 2.9 cm long. It is light yellow-brown in color with light green patches and more yellow on its legs. It has a spike on its nose, and all of its toes are webbed.[5]
As of 2019, scientists had only seen Litoria vivissimia once,[3] in the Central Cordillera. The scientists used DNA barcoding to examine Litoria vivissimia and its relatives, the parachuting frog and the Pinocchio frog.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Litoria vivissimia Oliver, Richards, and Donnellan, 2019". Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ "Litoria vivissimia". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ a b Carley Rosengreen (June 7, 2019). "Frog discoveries have scientists hopping". Griffith University. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ Meilan Solly (June 10, 2019). "Meet the Newly Described Long-Nosed Pinocchio Frog". Smithsonian Museum. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ "Litoria vivissimia". Plazi. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ Paul Oliver; Stephen J. Richards; Stephen C. Donnellan (2019). "Two new species of treefrog (Pelodrydidae: Litoria) from southern New Guinea elucidated by DNA barcoding". Zootaxa (abstract). 4609 (3): 469. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4609.3.4. PMID 31717094. S2CID 182921660. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
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