On the occurrence of Scinax kennedyi (Pyburn, 1973) (Anura, Hylidae) in the state of Roraima, northern Brazil

Scinax comprises 129 species of treefrogs divided between the S. ruber and the S. catharinae clades. The S. rostratus group belongs to the S. ruber clade, and comprises ten species characterized by having a dark interorbital triangular mark, tubercle on the heel and by vocalizing in a head-down position. Within this group, S. kennedyi and S. rostratus are similar in that they are the only species that do not possess a row of tubercles on the lower jaw. In spite of their morphological similarity, they can be distinguished from each other by male size and advertisement call traits. Scinax kennedyi was described from eastern Colombia, and occurs from central Colombia to western Venezuela, whereas S. rostratus was described from northern Venezuela, and is thought to occur from Panama to eastern Venezuela, and in the Brazilian state of Pará. A recent study reported a population identified as S. rostratus from the state of Roraima, in northern Brazil. However, this population presented substantial differences in male size and advertisement call in comparison to the described for this species, and apparently it best fits the diagnosis of S. kennedyi instead. In view of this, the present study aimed to clarify the identity of this Brazilian population through a reassessment of its specimens and call recordings, together with the examination of data of S. kennedyi from its type locality, and of S. rostratus from northern Venezuela. Acoustic and morphological analyses revealed that specimens from northern Brazil were indeed misidentified as S. rostratus, and hence they were herein reassigned to S. kennedyi. The study therefore demonstrates the occurrence of S. kennedyi in Brazil, extending its distribution ca. 1,120 km east by south from its type locality, and ca. 844 km east-southeast from its easternmost previous record. With this reassessment, a clearer acoustic diagnosis between S. kennedyi and S. rostratus was provided, as well as further data on fine-scale temporal traits of their calls.(AU)

The advertisement call of Scinax funereus (Cope, 1874) (Anura: Hylidae) from Ecuadorian Amazon.

Scinax Wagler currently harbors 72 treefrog species distributed throughout the Neotropical region, occurring from Mexico to Argentina and Uruguay, and also in some Caribbean islands (Frost et al. 2020). The genus has a high level of cryptic diversity, with its actual number of species currently considered to be underestimated (Fouquet et al. 2007, Ferrão et al. 2016). Scinax funereus (Cope) is a medium-sized species described from Moyobamba, San Martín Department, northern Peru, with occurrences reported from the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon (Duellman Wiens 1993), southern Colombia (Lynch 2005), and from the Brazilian states of Acre (Bernarde et al. 2011) and Amazonas (Ramalho et al. 2016). Duellman (1978) reported that the advertisement call of S. funereus "consists of a moderately long, rather high-pitched, single note", but as no call recording was obtained at the time, it was not described. Although Read (2000) published the species' call in the audio form in a compact disc (CD), it was not formally described. Given this, herein we provide the first formal description of the advertisement call of S. funereus.