\ -^ WW «-, w LIBRARY APR *^ lQ7n B R E V I O rJkI UNiVERSITYj Meseem of Comparative Zoology Cambridge, Mass. 3 April, 1970 Number 346 NEW FROGS OF THE GENUS BATRACHYLODES (RANIDAE) FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS Walter C. Brown^ and Fred Parker^ Abstract. Prior to 1963, only two lowland species of the genus Batrachy-lodes (Ranidae) were recognized from the Solomons archipelago. In the past few years intensive sampling of the populations of frogs in the moun-tain areas of Bougainville has revealed the presence of eight species of this endemic genus. Brief note is also made of their known geographic distribution in the archipelago as well as their zonal distribution in the mountains. INTRODUCTION In this paper, the second based on the extensive collections of amphibians obtained by the junior author on Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands, new species of the endemic ranid genus Batrachy-lodes are described. The genus was set up by Boulenger (1887, p. 337) to accom-modate a single species, vertebralis. Stemfeld (1921, p. 435) described two frogs from Buka Island which he regarded as micro-hylids. He named these Sphenophryne wolfi and Chaparina fred-erici, each based upon a single specimen. Mertens (1929, p. 266) sank both in the synonomy of Batrachylodes vertebralis. Brown and Myers (1949, p. 379) described B. trossulus from Bougain-ville Island. The collections made by the junior author on Bougainville Island during the period 1961-63 and 1966 contain samples of eight species. Re-examination of the types of Chaperina frederici and Sphenophryne wolfi confirms the fact that the former is synony-mous with B. vertebralis (northern Bougainville population). How-ever, our present large series indicates that B. wolfi is distinct from 1 Division of Systematic Biology, Stanford University, and Menlo Col-lege, Menlo Park, California; 2 Australian Government Service.
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