Taxonomy, relationships and conservation of a new genus and species of myobatrachid frog from the high rainfall region of southwestern Australia

We describe a frog, Spicospina flammocaerulea gen. et sp. nov., from the high rainfall region of southwestern Australia. Spicospina is defined by spines on the transverse processes of presacral vertebrae III and can be recognized by the massive parotoid glands and distinctive orange and blue ventral coloration. Immunological comparisons based on albumin and karyotype suggest that this frog represents another major lineage in the subfamily Myobatrachinae, thus warranting generic status. This lineage is more closely related to Uperoleia, Pseudophryne, Myobatrachus, Arenophryne, and Metacrinia than to other Myobatrachine genera. The single species is only known from three dystrophic swamps (area of occupancy 0.05 km(2), extent of occurrence 3.63 km(2)) in far southwestern Australia. This is the third, new, restricted frog species described in the last 10 yr from the high rainfall region of southwestern Australia and demonstrates the inadequacy of documentation of biodiversity in this region.