Zootaxa 4370 (1): 023–044 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2018 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4370.1.2 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:949E6268-A4B7-4528-859C-482E1F3652D9 A new miniature Melanesian Forest Frog (Ceratobatrachidae: Cornufer) from New Britain Island, constituting the first record of the subgenus Batrachylodes from outside of the Solomon Archipelago SCOTT L. TRAVERS1, STEPHEN J. RICHARDS2, TAYLOR S. BROADHEAD1,3 & RAFE M. BROWN1 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Dyche Hall, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd, Law- rence, KS 66045-7561, USA. E-mail: SLT:
[email protected]; RMB:
[email protected] 2Herpetology Department, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, S.A. 5000, Australia. E-mail:
[email protected] 3Current address: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 203 South Martin Jischke Dr, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1971, USA. E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract We describe a new species of Cornufer, subgenus Batrachylodes, from high-elevation forests of New Britain Island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Eastern Melanesia. The new species, Cornufer exedrus sp. nov., is a biogeographically disjunct member of the Batrachylodes clade, representing the first record of the subgenus from outside of the Solomon Archipel- ago. The new species is a small terrestrial form from dense, closed-canopy forests above 1500 meters elevation in the Na- kanai Mountains of eastern New Britain. It differs from its closest relatives, the other members of the subgenus Batrachylodes, on the basis of its minute body size, degree of digital disc expansion, reduced subdigital tuberculation, color pattern, and other traits related to its small size.