Redescription of the advertisement call of five species of Thoropa (anura, Cycloramphidae), including recordings of rare and endangered species

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Frogs of the genus Thoropa comprise six endemic Brazilian species on the Eastern side of the country. Little is known about their natural history, especially about their acoustic communication. Therefore, aiming to provide an overview of their vocalizations, we analyzed and redescribed male advertisement calls of three living and two possibly extinct species. The Smaller species, T. petropolitana and T. lutzi, produce simple calls (one single note) with a higher frequency range than the remaining larger ones. On the other hand, the larger species present complex calls, with more than one note: T. megatympanum calls have three notes, T. taophora calls have four notes, and T. miliaris calls varies from three to six notes. Population snout-vent length negatively correlated with peak of dominant frequency as expected. However, highlighted differences between two populations of T. lutzi, which could indicate need of further taxonomic evaluation of those lineages. Peculiar morphology, such as the absence of vocal sacs and slits, may have contributed to their call variation and highly banded frequency structure. If the observed population differences reflect species-level differences, T. lutzi may be classified as a critically endangered species, as T. petropolitana. Furthermore, we provided a suggestion to an unusual behavior in frogs: calling with the mouth open in the Smaller species of the genus.Frogs of the genus Thoropa comprise six endemic Brazilian species on the Eastern side of the country. Little is known about their natural history, especially about their acoustic communication. Therefore, aiming to provide an overview of their vocalizatio119112FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNQP - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)2014/23388-72013/09964-2405285/2013-2302589/2013-9306732/2015-7SEM INFORMAÇÃOWe thank to Pedro CarvalhoRocha for helping with the analysis of the calls of T. lutzi, we also thank Rogério P. Bastos and Rafael Márquez for valuable comments in the last version of this manuscript. This work was funded by: São Paulo Research Foundatio

Amphisbaena mertensii (Squamata: Amphis-baenidae): Notes on natural history, distribution, and morphology

Amphisbaena mertensii is a worm lizard species from South America. Because of its subterranean life-style, data on its biology are scarce. In this paper, we present the first record of A. mertensii as prey of a bird, the wood rail Aramides cajaneus. We also review the geographic range of this species, reporting it for 114 localities from west-central Brazil to northeastern Argentina. We update the range of precloacal pores in A. mertensii from 5–8 to 4–8, and report the largest individual of this species with a 458 mm snout-vent length

A new species of Hatchet-faced Treefrog Sphaenorhynchus Tschudi (Anura: Hylidae) from Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil

A new species of Sphaenorhynchus is described from the Municipality of Mariana, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is characterized by the vocal sac moderately developed, single, subgular, with longitudinal folds; white canthal and dorsolateral lines delimited below by a dorsolateral black line from the tip of snout extending beyond the eye to gradually disappearing up to the flanks; and premaxilla and maxilla almost completely edentulous, each bearing 1-5 extremely small teeth. It is most similar with Sphaenorhynchus orophilus, from which it can be distinguished by having a less robust forearm in males; glandular subcloacal dermal fold; premaxilla and maxilla almost completely edentulous; and larvae with large marginal papillae in the oral disc. The new species occurs in natural ponds over ironstone outcrops (known as canga) on flat terrain, where males call from the floating vegetation.Fil: de Araujo Vieira, Katyuscia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Andrade de Lacerda, Joao Victor. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Pezzuti, Tiago L.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Leite, Felipe Sá Fortes. Universidade Federal de Viçosa; BrasilFil: De Assis, Clodoaldo Lopes. Universidade Federal de Viçosa; BrasilFil: Cruz, Carlos Alberto G.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi

Redescription of the Advertisement Call of Five Species of <i>Thoropa</i> (Anura, Cycloramphidae), Including Recordings of Rare and Endangered Species

<div><p>Frogs of the genus <i>Thoropa</i> comprise six endemic Brazilian species on the Eastern side of the country. Little is known about their natural history, especially about their acoustic communication. Therefore, aiming to provide an overview of their vocalizations, we analyzed and redescribed male advertisement calls of three living and two possibly extinct species. The smaller species, <i>T</i>. <i>petropolitana</i> and <i>T</i>. <i>lutzi</i>, produce simple calls (one single note) with a higher frequency range than the remaining larger ones. On the other hand, the larger species present complex calls, with more than one note: <i>T</i>. <i>megatympanum</i> calls have three notes, <i>T</i>. <i>taophora</i> calls have four notes, and <i>T</i>. <i>miliaris</i> calls varies from three to six notes. Population snout-vent length negatively correlated with peak of dominant frequency as expected. However, highlighted differences between two populations of <i>T</i>. <i>lutzi</i>, which could indicate need of further taxonomic evaluation of those lineages. Peculiar morphology, such as the absence of vocal sacs and slits, may have contributed to their call variation and highly banded frequency structure. If the observed population differences reflect species-level differences, <i>T</i>. <i>lutzi</i> may be classified as a critically endangered species, as <i>T</i>. <i>petropolitana</i>. Furthermore, we provided a suggestion to an unusual behavior in frogs: calling with the mouth open in the smaller species of the genus.</p></div

Conservation status of the species of the genus <i>Thoropa</i> in accordance to distinct sources.

<p>The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref029" target="_blank">29</a>], Brazilian official red list [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref032" target="_blank">32</a>], and red lists of the state of Espírito Santo (ES) [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref034" target="_blank">34</a>], Minas Gerais (MG) [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref035" target="_blank">35</a>], Rio de Janeiro (RJ) [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref031" target="_blank">31</a>], Rio Grande do Sul (RS) [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref033" target="_blank">33</a>], and São Paulo (SP) [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162617#pone.0162617.ref036" target="_blank">36</a>]. Categories are least concern (LC); near threatened (NT); vulnerable (VU); endangered (EN); critically endangered (CR); data deficient (DD); and not evaluated (NE).</p

Linear regression between <i>Thoropa</i> snout-vent length (SVL) and peak of dominant frequency.

<p>Horizontal bars represent the SVL range and verticals lines represent the dominant frequency range.</p

Advertisement call parameters and size of species of genus <i>Thoropa</i>.

<p>Values presented as mean ± standard deviation (range; sample size). When only one value is presented the number of calls is equal to 1. Two populations of <i>T</i>. <i>lutzi</i> are present, one from the state of Minas Gerais and another from the type locality in the state of Rio de Janeiro.</p

Equipment and sound analyses settings used for the recordings of six populations of five <i>Thoropa</i> species. n/a = data not available.

<p>Equipment and sound analyses settings used for the recordings of six populations of five <i>Thoropa</i> species. n/a = data not available.</p

Spectrogram (above) and oscillogram (below) of the advertisement calls of five species of <i>Thoropa</i>.

<p>(A) Advertisement calls of <i>T</i>. <i>lutzi</i> from the state of Minas Gerais; (B) <i>T</i>. <i>lutzi</i> from the type locality in the state of Rio de Janeiro; (C) <i>T</i>. <i>petropolitana</i> from state of Rio de Janeiro; (D) <i>T</i>. <i>megatympanum</i> from the state of Minas Gerais; (E) <i>T</i>. <i>taophora</i> from the state of São Paulo; and (F) <i>T</i>. <i>miliaris</i> from the type locality in the state of Rio de Janeiro.</p

The phylogeny of the Casque‐headed Treefrogs (Hylidae: Hylinae: Lophyohylini)

The South American and West Indian Casque-headed Treefrogs (Hylidae: Hylinae: Lophyohylini) include 85 species. These are notably diverse in morphology (e.g. disparate levels of cranial hyperossification) and life history (e.g. different reproductive modes, chemical defences), have a wide distribution, and occupy habitats from the tropical rainforests to semiarid scrubland. In this paper, we present a phylogenetic analysis of this hylid tribe based on sequence fragments of up to five mitochondrial (12S, 16S, ND1, COI, Cytb) and six nuclear genes (POMC, RAG-1, RHOD, SIAH, TNS3, TYR). We included most of its species (&gt; 96%), in addition to a number of new species. Our results indicate: (i) the paraphyly of Trachycephalus with respect to Aparasphenodon venezolanus; (ii) the nonmonophyly of Aparasphenodon, with Argenteohyla siemersi, Corythomantis galeata and Nyctimantis rugiceps nested within it, and Ap. venezolanus nested within Trachycephalus; (iii) the polyphyly of Corythomantis; (iv) the nonmonophyly of the recognized species groups of Phyllodytes; and (v) a pervasive low support for the deep relationships among the major clades of Lophyohylini, including C. greeningi and the monotypic genera Itapotihyla and Phytotriades. To remedy the nonmonophyly of Aparasphenodon, Corythomantis, and Trachycephalus, we redefined Nyctimantis to include Aparasphenodon (with the exception of Ap. venezolanus, which we transferred to Trachycephalus), Argenteohyla, and C. galeata. Additionally, our results indicate the need for taxonomic work in the following clades: (i) Trachycephalus dibernardoi and Tr. imitatrix; (ii) Tr. atlas, Tr. mambaiensis and Tr. nigromaculatus; and (iii) Phyllodytes. On the basis of our phylogenetic results, we analyzed the evolution of skull hyperossification and reproductive biology, with emphasis on the multiple independent origins of phytotelm breeding, in the context of Anura. We also analyzed the inter-related aspects of chemical defences, venom delivery, phragmotic behaviour, co-ossification, and prevention of evaporative water loss