Geocrinia laevis (Günther, 1864)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Superfamily: Myobatrachoidea > Family: Myobatrachidae > Genus: Geocrinia > Species: Geocrinia laevis

Pterophrynus laevis Günther, 1864, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864: 48. also described as new by Günther, 1864, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 3, 14: 314. Holotype: Not stated, but by museum records BMNH 1947.2.19.65 (formerly 1860.11.29.25), according to Parker, 1940, Novit. Zool., 42: 76, Cogger, Cameron, and Cogger, 1983, Zool. Cat. Aust., Amph. Rept., 1: 14, and Tyler, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 14. Type locality: "Van Dieman's Land" (= Tasmania), Australia.

Crinia laevisKeferstein, 1868, Arch. Naturgesch., 34: 265; Günther, 1869 "1868", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868: 480.

Crinia laevis laevisLoveridge, 1935, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 78: 7, by implication; Parker, 1940, Novit. Zool., 42: 75.

Geocrinia laevisBlake, 1973, Aust. J. Zool., 21: 142.

English Names

Gunther's Ground Froglet (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 94).

Tasmanian Smooth Frog (Martin and Littlejohn, 1982, Tasman. Amph.: 7).

Smooth Frog (Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2: 305; Tyler and Knight, 2009, Field Guide Frogs Aust.: 118).

Southern Smooth Frog (Parkin, Donnellan, Parkin, Shea, and Rowley, 2023, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 189(107934): 12). 

Distribution

Widely distributed in central, northern and western Tasmania, including King Island. On the mainland, occurs across the southern coastline from Port Campbell, Victoria, in the east to Mount Burr, South Australia in the west. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Australia

Endemic: Australia

Comment

Discussed by Littlejohn and Martin, 1964, Aust. J. Zool., 12: 72. Hybrid zone with Geocrinia victoriana discussed by Gollmann, 1991, Z. Zool. Syst. Evolutionsforsch., 29: 289–303. Walker and Goonan, 2000, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust., 124: 135–139, discussed the distribution of the species. Tyler, 1978, Amph. S. Aust.: 59–60, provided an account. Martin and Littlejohn, 1982, Tasman. Amph.: 36–37, provided a brief account. Harrison and Littlejohn, 1985, Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 18: 67–73, reported on the advertisement call. See brief account by Tyler and Knight, 2009, Field Guide Frogs Aust.: 118–119. Webster and Bool, 2022, Zootaxa, 5154: 127–151, summarized life history information (call, breeding, larval morphology) and phylogenetics of the taxon. Parkin, Donnellan, Parkin, Shea, and Rowley, 2023, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 189(107934): 1–13, partitioned Geocrinia sparsiflora from this species on the basis of molecular markers, comparative morphology, and advertisement call. 

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