Litoria watjulumensis (Copland, 1957)

Taxonomic Classification

The Wotjulum frog, scientifically known as Litoria watjulumensis, is a species of frog belonging to the subfamily Pelodryadinae.

Natural Habitats

Its natural habitats include subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and rocky areas.

Etymology Origin

Litoria watjulumensis was named after Watjulum Mission, located in northern Western Australia.

Spelling Variants

The name is sometimes spelled 'wotjulum', which has resulted in variant spellings for both the common name and the specific epithet; the spelling from Tyler's publication, where the species was listed as Hyla wotjulumensis, is still repeated.

Common Names

This species has several common names: Watjulum frog, Wotjulum frog, Watjulum Mission tree frog, and giant or large rocket frog.

Original Description Basis

The original species description published by Copland was based on a collected type series.

Type Specimen Reassignment

The 29 original specimens, held at the Western Australian Museum, were later reassigned as three separate syntypes, one each for this species, Litoria coplandi, and Litoria peronii.

Type Locality

The type specimen for Litoria watjulumensis was collected near Watjulum mission, close to Yampi Sound, north of King Sound.