770 



DESCRTPTTON OF APHANTOPHRYNE, A NEW 



BATRACHIAN GENUS FROM NEW GUINEA; 



With Comparative Notes on the Pectoral Musculature. 



By Dene B. Fry, Australian Museum, Sydney. 



(Plates liv.-lv.) 



The material on which the present paper is based consists of a 

 collection of six small frogs belonging to a single species. They 

 were collected in 1896 by the late A. Giulianetti, at an altitude 

 of 12,200 feet on Mount Scratchley, in the Owen Stanley' Range, 

 British New Guinea. While they undoubtedly belong to the 

 family Brevicipitidte* (Engystomatidse auct.), I cannot find a 

 definition of any genus with which they agree even approximately. 

 Therefore, a new genus has been characterised, for which the 

 name Aphmitophryne is proposed. 



The most interesting feature about this new form is the 

 apparent absence of a sternal plate. At first, thinking that my 

 dissection of a small, pooi^ly preserved specimen was at fault, I 

 regarded the absence of this important element with reserve. 

 However, after a careful examination of three specimens, I have 

 failed to find it, and, as will be seen later, the modification of 

 the pectoral musculature certainly points to its total reduction. 



There are twenty-six genera of Brevicipitidse recognised from 

 India, Malay, East Indies, Papuasia, and Australia, sixteen of 

 which have a highly specialised sternal apparatus, modified by 

 the loss of the procoracoid cartilage and clavicles. As Aphan- 

 topkryne also lacks these elements, its affinities must be sought 

 amongst this group of genera. 



*I have followed Stejneger (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xxiii., 1910, p. 165), 

 who shows that, as the name of the type-genus of the family Engystoma- 

 tida?, namely En<iyMoma, is untenable, Cope's name Brevicipitidse must 

 replace it. 



