A NEW SPECIES OF BRACHYCEPHALUS (ANURA: BRACHYCEPHALIDAE) FROM THE HIGHLANDS OF THE ATLANTIC FOREST, SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)A new species of brachycephalid frog is described from the highlands of the Atlantic Forest in Serra do Mar, municipality of Cunha, Sao Paulo State, southeastern Brazil. Specimens were collected amidst the leaf litter at approximately 920 m above sea level. The new species is distinguished from all of its congeners by the combination of the following characters: snout-vent length 9.5-15.6 mm; rough dorsum; general background color orange with a variable density of whitish spots on dorsum; skin on head and dorsum granular with dermal ossification; skull, spinal processes of sacral and presacral vertebrae, and process of the fourth vertebra hyperossified; absence of hyperossification in the central portion of the skull; dorsal surface of body covered by osteoderms. The new species was found active by day and is locally abundant. Males hold territories during the reproductive season. Females had few mature oocytes during the same period. The advertisement call of B. crispus is a long and low-intensity buzz with a regular repetition of notes.7018999Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)CNPq [141716/10-0]FAPESP [2011/10230-8

A NEW SPECIES OF MINIATURIZED TOADLET, GENUS BRACHYCEPHALUS (ANURA: BRACHYCEPHALIDAE), FROM THE ATLANTIC FOREST OF SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)A new species of miniaturized froglet (genus Brachycephalus) is described from Morro Prumirim in the municipality of Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil. Specimens were collected from the leaf litter at approximately 800 m above sea level. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by the combination of the following characters: snout-vent length 8.7-13.4 mm; skin on head and dorsum with dermal ossification; general color orange, with a narrow brownish vertebral stripe and belly without spots; and skull, spinal processes of sacral and pre-sacral vertebrae, and process of the fourth vertebra hyperossified. Canonical variates analysis of linear body measurement demonstrates that the new species is easily discriminated from other Brachycephalus species with which it shares an intermediate condition of hyperossification.683365374Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)CNPq [CNPq 473996/03-0, 302341/02-1, 470041/2006-4, 479020/2008-6]FAPESP [2005/55449-6, 2008/50928-1]FAPESP [2011/10230-8]CNPq [141716/10-0]FAPEMIG [CRA-PPM-00204-09

Evidence of auditory insensitivity to vocalisation frequencies in two frogs

The emergence and maintenance of animal communication systems requires the co-evolution of signal and receiver. Frogs and toads rely heavily on acoustic communication for coordinating reproduction and typically have ears tuned to the dominant frequency of their vocalizations, allowing discrimination from background noise and heterospecific calls. However, we present here evidence that two anurans, Brachycephalus ephippium and B. pitanga, are insensitive to the sound of their own calls. Both species produce advertisement calls outside their hearing sensitivity range and the inner ear is partly undeveloped, which accounts for their lack of high-frequency sensitivity. Unheard by the intended receivers, calls are not beneficial to the emitter and should be selected against because of the costs associated with signal production. We suggest that protection against predators conferred by their high toxicity might help to explain why calling has not yet disappeared, and that visual communication may have replaced auditory in these colourful, diurnal frogs