ABSTRACT
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.
Subject(s)
Anura , Vocalization, Animal , Animals , EcuadorABSTRACT
We describe a new species of dendrobatid frog, Leucostethus bilsa sp. nov., using molecular, morphological, and acoustic evidence. We also comment on the taxonomic status of four similar Hyloxalus and Colostethus. We provide an updated phylogeny of Leucostethus that corroborates previous hypotheses of relationships of nine species. Phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial (i.e., 7095 bp of combined data from NADH1, NAHD2, cytochrome c oxidase I, cytochrome b and 12S-16S rRNA) and seven nuclear genes (i.e., 4739 bp) indicate a close relationship of L. bilsa to an undescribed species from Gorgona Island, Colombia, both of which apparently diverged in the Pliocene about 3 million years ago with about 6.25% (i.e., 146/2335 bp) differences for the section of 12S-16S mitochondrial fragment. Leucostethus bilsa is diurnal and riparian, characterized by distinctive bright mustard-yellow flash marks in the axillar and groin regions, posterior belly, and in the hindlimbs, the presence of dark gray lower labial stripe or marks, sexual dimorphism in ventral pattern, and by having male uniparental care. We describe its osteology and the male advertisement call, which is a series of peep notes. Osteological microCT images of representatives of each of the Colostethinae genera reveal a number of intriguing characters that may prove to be useful in phylogenetic studies. In terms of its distribution, Leucostethus bilsa is currently known only from a very small area within the Reserva Biológica Bilsa, located within the Cordillera Mache-Chindul in the Chocoan region of northwestern Ecuador, which was a Pliocene-Pleistocene refugium. This region is highly threatened with habitat degradation and remains as the last surviving refuge for a forest community known for a high proportion of endemic species of both flora and fauna.
