On the generic status of "Nyctimystes rueppelli" (Anura: Hylidae), a tree frog of Halmahera Island, Indonesia

Abstract

Nyctimystes is currently diagnosed by a combination of two characters, namely vertical pupil and a palpebral venation. In a newly collected series of “Nyctimystes rueppelli” this combination of characters is found wanting and the species is therefore removed from Nyctimystes and transferred to Litoria. Removal of this species from Nyctimystes now allows that genus to have a third diagnostic character, unpigmented ova, and confines it to New Guinea and satellite islands.