Litoria naispela

Litoria naispela, also known as the Crater Mountain treehole frog, is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It was described in 2023 by Australian herpetologist Stephen Richards and his colleagues Stephen Donnellan and Paul Oliver. The specific epithet naispela is a Tok Pisin term meaning ‘beautiful’ or ‘attractive’.

Distribution and habitat

The species is endemic to New Guinea. It is found in the Crater Mountain wildlife management area of Papua New Guinea.

Behaviour

When breeding, the frogs glue their eggs to the trunks of trees above water-filled tree hollows, with the tadpoles being washed into the hollows after hatching. When the immature froglets first emerge from the tree hollows, their appearance resembles that of bird droppings, a factor hypothesised to protect them from bird predation, before they acquire the green and white markings of adult frogs.