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Evolutionary, molecular and comparative zoology
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 53(4)

Geographic variation in advertisement calls of Crinia signifera (Anura : Myobatrachidae) in the Bass Strait area of south-eastern Australia

M. J. Littlejohn
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Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia. Email: m.littlejohn@zoology.unimelb.edu.au

Australian Journal of Zoology 53(4) 221-228 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO04060
Submitted: 4 August 2004  Accepted: 24 May 2005   Published: 6 September 2005

Abstract

The structure of recorded advertisement calls of a total of 176 males of Crinia signifera from eight localities on the south-eastern Australian mainland and Tasmania was investigated. On the basis of number of pulses per call (samples from all localities) and call duration adjusted to 13.0°C (samples from six localities), two geographic groups are recognised: (1) south-central Victoria, and (2) the extreme south-eastern mainland and Tasmania. This pattern of variation is postulated to reflect expansion of a differentiated Tasmanian stock on to the extreme south-eastern Australian mainland along the eastern sill of the Bassian Isthmus during the lower sea levels of the Late Pleistocene. Geographic variation in pulse rate (derived from number of pulses and call duration) was also considered because of its use in previous studies. The variation in dominant frequency in samples from five localities, adjusted for snout–vent length, does not conform to that for number of pulses and call duration, and is attributed to differences in demographic structure and recruitment.


Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council, the Nuffield Foundation (King Island) and the University of Melbourne. Scientific research permits were provided by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria; and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, New South Wales. Procedures were approved by the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee of the University of Melbourne. The following people kindly assisted with the field work: Ben Bell (Victoria), Jean-Marc Hero (Tasmania), Patsy Littlejohn (Victoria), and the late Peter Rawlinson (King Island). John Wright carried out the acoustic analyses on the Kay DSP 5500 digital Sona-Graph. The author thanks: the residents of Willowmavin, Victoria, and Bramhall and Lune River, Tasmania, for allowing access to dams and ponds on their properties; Melbourne Water for access to the Yan Yean Water Supply Reserve; and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, for access to the Rhyll Swamp Reserve, Phillip Island. Angus Martin kindly read and commented on a recent draft of the manuscript.


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