An Examination of Morphometric Variations in a Neotropical Toad Population (Proceratophrys cristiceps, Amphibia, Anura, Cycloramphidae)

The species Proceratophrys cristiceps belongs to the genus Proceratophrys within the family Cycloramphidae. These amphibians are found exclusively in South America in the morphoclimatic domain of the semi-arid depression zones in northeastern Brazil known as the Caatinga. We examined intrapopulational variation using univariate and multivariate statistics with traditional and geometric morphometrics, which supported the existence of two morphotypes of this species. Our results indicated significant degrees of variation in skeletal characteristics between some natural populations of this species. Careful analyses of variability levels are fundamental to avoid taxonomic errors, principally in populations that demonstrate characteristics intimately associated with their area of occurrence, as is the case of Proceratophrys cristiceps

Late Maastrichtian small-sized herpetofauna from Valencia province, eastern Spain

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Historical Biology on 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/08912963.2015.1122004[EN] A Late Maastrichtian microvertebrate assemblage which includes amphibian remains was recovered from continental deposits of the palaeontological site of La Solana, Valencia Province, Spain. This site is composed of variegated mudstones, pedogenically modified, interbedded with fluvial sand bodies and freshwater limestones lenses, and has also yielded plant debris, freshwater and oligohaline invertebrates, abundant fish remains (isolated bones and scales), turtle plates and archosaur bones. This fossil assemblage, dominated by aquatic forms, also includes semiaquatic and terrestrial elements, and may be interpreted as the palaeofauna of a wetland environment with terrestrial environs. The new material described here consists of fragmentary remains of an indeterminate albanerpetontid, a salamandrid and two anuran taxa (an alytid and a palaeobatrachid). The amphibians from La Solana are typical Laurasiatic taxa. This faunal association shows broad similarities to other coeval faunas of the Iberian Peninsula and contrasts with the Upper Campanian¿Lower Maastrichtian sites where Gondwanan elements are frequent.This work was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund [grant number OTKA NF 84193]; the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) [project numbers CGL2013-47521-P and CGL2014-535484].Szentesi, Z.; Company Rodríguez, J. (2017). Late Maastrichtian small-sized herpetofauna from Valencia province, eastern Spain. Historical Biology (Online). 29(1):43-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2015.11220044352291Astibia, H., Buffetaut, E., Buscalioni, A. D., Cappetta, H., Corral, C., Estes, R., … Tong, H. (1990). The fossil vertebrates from Lano (Basque Country, Spain); new evidence on the composition and affinities of the Late Cretaceous continental faunas of Europe. Terra Nova, 2(5), 460-466. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.1990.tb00103.xBao, H., Koch, P. L., & Hepple, R. P. (1998). Hematite and calcite coatings on fossil vertebrates. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 68(5), 727-738. doi:10.2110/jsr.68.727Blain, H.-A., Canudo, J.-I., Cuenca-Bescós, G., & López-Martínez, N. (2010). Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the latest Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of Blasi 2 (Huesca, Spain). Cretaceous Research, 31(4), 433-446. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2010.06.001Blanco, A., Bolet, A., Blain, H.-A., Fondevilla, V., & Marmi, J. (2016). Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) amphibians and squamates from northeastern Iberia. Cretaceous Research, 57, 624-638. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.07.005Böhme, M., Ilg, A., Ossig, A., & Küchenhoff, H. (2006). New method to estimate paleoprecipitation using fossil amphibians and reptiles and the middle and late Miocene precipitation gradients in Europe. Geology, 34(6), 425. doi:10.1130/g22460.1Bown, T. M., & J. Kraus, M. (1981). Vertebrate fossil-bearing paleosol units (Willwood Formation, Lower Eocene, Northwest Wyoming, U.S.A.): Implications for taphonomy, biostratigraphy, and assemblage analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 34, 31-56. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(81)90057-2Codrea, V., Smith, T., Dica, P., Folie, A., Garcia, G., Godefroit, P., & Van Itterbeeck, J. (2002). Dinosaur egg nests, mammals and other vertebrates from a new Maastrichtian site of the Haţeg Basin (Romania). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 1(3), 173-180. doi:10.1016/s1631-0683(02)00021-0Canudo, J. I., Oms, O., Vila, B., Galobart, À., Fondevilla, V., Puértolas-Pascual, E., … Blanco, A. (2016). The upper Maastrichtian dinosaur fossil record from the southern Pyrenees and its contribution to the topic of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction event. Cretaceous Research, 57, 540-551. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.06.013Company J. 2004. Vertebrados continentales del Cretácico superior (Campaniense-Maastrichtiense) de Valencia [Continental vertebrates from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Valencia]. [doctoral thesis]. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia, p. 410 (Unpublished).Company, J., Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I., & Pereda Suberbiola, X. (1999). Geologie en Mijnbouw, 78(3/4), 319-333. doi:10.1023/a:1003851316054Company, J., & Szentesi, Z. (2012). Amphibians from the Late Cretaceous Sierra Perenchiza Formation of the Chera Basin, Valencia Province, Spain. Cretaceous Research, 37, 240-245. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2012.04.003Csiki-Sava, Z., Buffetaut, E., Ősi, A., Pereda-Suberbiola, X., & Brusatte, S. L. (2015). Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. ZooKeys, 469, 1-161. doi:10.3897/zookeys.469.8439Denton, R. K., & O’Neill, R. C. (1998). Parrisia neocesariensis, a new batrachosauroidid salamander and other amphibians from the Campanian of eastern North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18(3), 484-494. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011076Estes, R. (1969). The Batrachosauroididae and Scapherpetontidae, Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic Salamanders. Copeia, 1969(2), 225. doi:10.2307/1442070Estes, R., & Sanchíz, B. (1982). Early Cretaceous Lower Vertebrates from Galve (Teruel), Spain. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2(1), 21-39. doi:10.1080/02724634.1982.10011915Evans, S. E., & Milner, A. R. (1993). Frogs and salamanders from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation (Quarry Nine, Como Bluff) of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 13(1), 24-30. doi:10.1080/02724634.1993.10011485Freeman, E. F. (2010). The large-scale extraction of microvertebrate fossils from sediment residues using Interfacial Methods. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 121(1), 4-12. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2009.12.004Gheerbrant, E., Abrial, C., & Cappetta, H. (1997). Nouveaux sites a microvertébréscontinentaux du crétacé terminal des petites pyrénées (Haute-Garonne et Ariège, France). Geobios, 30, 257-269. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(97)80031-9Grigorescu, D. (2010). The Latest Cretaceous fauna with dinosaurs and mammals from the Haţeg Basin — A historical overview. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 293(3-4), 271-282. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.01.030Grigorescu, D., Venczel, M., Csiki, Z., & Limberea, R. (1999). Geologie en Mijnbouw, 78(3/4), 301-314. doi:10.1023/a:1003890913328Hossini, S., & Rage, J.-C. (2000). Palaeobatrachid frogsfrom the earliest Miocene (Agenian) of France, with description of a new species. Geobios, 33(2), 223-231. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(00)80019-4Laurent, Y., Bilotte, M., & Le Loeuff, J. (2002). Late Maastrichtian continental vertebrates from southwestern France: correlation with marine fauna. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 187(1-2), 121-135. doi:10.1016/s0031-0182(02)00512-6Le Loeuff, J. (1991). The Campano-Maastrichtian vertebrate faunas from southern Europe and their relationships with other faunas in the world; palaeobiogeographical implications. Cretaceous Research, 12(2), 93-114. doi:10.1016/s0195-6671(05)80019-9López-Martı́nez, N., Canudo, J. I., Ardèvol, L., Suberbiola, X. P., Orue-Etxebarria, X., Cuenca-Bescós, G., … Feist, M. (2001). New dinosaur sites correlated with Upper Maastrichtian pelagic deposits in the Spanish Pyrenees: implications for the dinosaur extinction pattern in Europe. Cretaceous Research, 22(1), 41-61. doi:10.1006/cres.2000.0236Martín-Chivelet, J. (s. f.). Cretaceous. The Geology of Spain, 255-292. doi:10.1144/gospp.12Pereda-Suberbiola, X. (2009). Biogeographical affinities of Late Cretaceous continental tetrapods of Europe: a review. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 180(1), 57-71. doi:10.2113/gssgfbull.180.1.57Pereda-Suberbiola, X., Astibia, H., Murelaga, X., Elorza, J. J., & Gómez-Alday, J. J. (2000). Taphonomy of the Late Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing beds of the Laño Quarry (Iberian Peninsula). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 157(3-4), 247-275. doi:10.1016/s0031-0182(99)00169-8Pereda-Suberbiol, X., Corral, J. C., Astibia, H., Badiola, A., Bardet, N., Berreteaga, A., … Torices, A. (2015). Late cretaceous continental and marine vertebrate assemblages from the Laño quarry (Basque-Cantabrian Region, Iberian Peninsula): an update. Journal of Iberian Geology, 41(1). doi:10.5209/rev_jige.2015.v41.n1.48658Richardson, J. L., & Hole, F. D. (1979). Mottling and Iron Distribution in a Glossoboralf-Haplaquoll Hydrosequence on a Glacial Moraine in Northwestern Wisconsin. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 43(3), 552-558. doi:10.2136/sssaj1979.03615995004300030024xRoćek, Z. (1994). Taxonomy and distribution of Tertiary discoglossids (Anura) of the genus Latonia V. Meyer,, 1843. Geobios, 27(6), 717-751. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(94)80058-8Simonson, G. H., & Boersma, L. (1972). Soil Morphology and Water Table Relations: II. Correlation Between Annual Water Table Fluctuations and Profile Features. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 36(4), 649-653. doi:10.2136/sssaj1972.03615995003600040041xSzentesi, Z., & Venczel, M. (2010). An advanced anuran from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen, 256(3), 291-302. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0054Szentesi, Z., & Venczel, M. (2012). A new discoglossid frog from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) of Hungary. Cretaceous Research, 34, 327-333. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.11.012Szentesi, Z., Gardner, J. D., & Venczel, M. (2013). Albanerpetontid amphibians from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) of Iharkút, Hungary, with remarks on regional differences in Late Cretaceous Laurasian amphibian assemblages. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 50(3), 268-281. doi:10.1139/e2012-024Vasile, Ş., Csiki-Sava, Z., & Venczel, M. (2013). A new madtsoiid snake from the Upper Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin, western Romania. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 33(5), 1100-1119. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.764882Venczel, M., Codrea, V., & Fărcaş, C. (2012). A new palaeobatrachid frog from the early Oligocene of Suceag, Romania. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 11(2), 179-189. doi:10.1080/14772019.2012.671790(2005). Palaeontology, 48(6). doi:10.1111/pala.2005.48.issue-6Veneman, P. L. M., Vepraskas, M. J., & Bouma, J. (1976). The physical significance of soil mottling in a Wisconsin toposequence. Geoderma, 15(2), 103-118. doi:10.1016/0016-7061(76)90081-1Vila, B., Sellés, A. G., & Brusatte, S. L. (2016). Diversity and faunal changes in the latest Cretaceous dinosaur communities of southwestern Europe. Cretaceous Research, 57, 552-564. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.07.00