Evolution in the Genus Rhinella: A Total Evidence Phylogenetic Analysis of Neotropical True Toads (Anura: Bufonidae)

True toads of the genus Rhinella are among the most common and diverse group of Neotropical anurans. These toads are widely distributed throughout South America, inhabiting a great diversity of environments and ecoregions. Currently, however, the genus is defined solely on the basis of molecular characters, and it lacks a proper diagnosis. Although some phenetic species groups have traditionally been recognized within Rhinella, the monophyly of some of them have been rejected in previous phylogenetic analyses, and many species remain unassigned to these poorly defined groups. Additionally, the identity and taxonomy of several species are problematic and hinder the specific recognition and description of undescribed taxa. In this work, we first perform phylogenetic analyses of separate mitochondrial and nuclear datasets to test the possible occurrence of hybridiza-tion and/or genetic introgression in the genus. The comparative analysis of both datasets revealed unidirectional mitochondrial introgressions of an unknown parental species into R . horribilis (“ghost introgression”) and of R . dorbignyi into R . bernardoi; therefore, the mitochondrial and nuclear data-sets of these species were considered separately in subsequent analyses. We performed total-evidence phylogenetic analyses that included revised molecular (four mitochondrial and five nuclear genes) and phenotypic (90 characters) datasets for 83 nominal species of Rhinella, plus several undescribed and problematic species and multiple outgroups. Results demonstrate that Rhinella was nonmono-phyletic due to the position of R . ceratophrys, which was recovered as the sister taxon of Rhaebo nasicus with strong support. Among our outgroups, the strongly supported Anaxyrus + Incilius is the sister clade of all other species of Rhinella. Once R . ceratophrys is excluded, the genus Rhinellais monophyletic, well supported, and composed of two major clades. One of these is moderately supported and includes species of the former R . spinulosa Group (including R . gallardoi); the mono-phyletic R . granulosa, R . crucifer, and R . marina Groups; and a clade composed of the mitochondrial sequences of R . horribilis. The other major clade is strongly supported and composed of all the spe-cies from the non-monophyletic R . veraguensis and R . margaritifera Groups, the former R . acrolophaGroup, and R . sternosignata. Consistent with these results, we define eight species groups of Rhinella that are mostly diagnosed by phenotypic synapomorphies in addition to a combination of morpho-logical character states. Rhinella sternosignata is the only species that remains unassigned to any group. We also synonymize nine species, treat three former subspecies as full species, and suggest that 15 lineages represent putative undescribed species. Lastly, we discuss the apparently frequent occurrence of hybridization, deep mitochondrial divergence, and “ghost introgression”; the incomplete phenotypic evidence (including putative character systems that could be used for future phy-logenetic analyses); and the validity of the known fossil record of Rhinella as a source of calibration points for divergence dating analyses.Peer reviewe

Unveiling species diversity in collared frogs through morphological and bioacoustic evidence: a new Mannophryne (Amphibia, Aromobatidae) from Sierra de Aroa, northwestern Venezuela, and an amended definition and call description of M. herminae (Boettger, 1893)

Rojas-Runjaic, Fernando J.M., Matta-Pereira, Miguel E., Marca, Enrique La (2018): Unveiling species diversity in collared frogs through morphological and bioacoustic evidence: a new Mannophryne (Amphibia, Aromobatidae) from Sierra de Aroa, northwestern Venezuela, and an amended definition and call description of M. herminae (Boettger, 1893). Zootaxa 4461 (4): 451-476, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4461.4.

Nuevos registros del sapo hojarasquero Rhaebo haematiticus Cope, 1862 (Anura, Bufonidae) y ampliación de su distribución en Venezuela

Rhaebo haematiticus es un sapo neotropical ampliamente distribuido desde Honduras enCentroamérica hasta Ecuador en Suramérica. Los registros más orientales de su distribuciónactualmente conocida provienen de la Sierra de Perijá, estado Zulia, en el noroccidente de Venezuela.En esta nota se documenta por primera vez la presencia de esta especie en el estado Mérida, con locual se extiende su distribución unos 195 km al sureste de la localidad más oriental previamenteconocida. Adicionalmente se dan a conocer tres nuevas localidades al sur de la Sierra de Perijá y seincluyen algunos comentarios sobre historia natural y estatus taxonómico. Abstract. Rhaebo haematiticus is a Neotropical toad widely distributed from Honduras in Central America to Ecuador in South America. The easternmost distributional records currently known are from Sierra de Perijá, Zulia state, northwestern Venezuela. In this note we report for the first time the presence of this species in Mérida state, which extend the distribution ca. 195 km SE from the easternmost locality previously known. Additionally, three new localities for the Sierra de Perijá are reported, and some comments on natural history and taxonomic status are included

Discovery of an additional piece of the large gymnophthalmid puzzle: a new genus and species of stream spiny lizard (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae: Cercosaurinae) from the western Guiana Shield in Venezuela

[EN] Gymnophthalmids are a highly diverse group of Neotropical lizards and its species richness is still in process of discovery. The incorporation of molecular evidence and a noticeable increase in taxon and geographic sampling in systematic studies has led to the description of numerous new genera and species of gymnophthalmids (particularly in Cercosaurinae) in recent years. Herein we describe a new genus and species of cercosaurine lizard with crocodile-like morphology, from the Venezuelan Guiana Shield on the basis of molecular phylogenetic and morphological evidence. Kataphraktosaurusgen. nov. can be readily distinguished from all other genera of Cercosaurinae by a unique combination of morphological characters that includes heterogeneous dorsal scalation with enlarged and strongly keeled scales forming two paravertebral rows, ventral and subcaudal scales imbricated and strongly keeled, large and symmetrical cephalic scales, absence of postmental scale, palpebral disc translucent and divided, tail slightly compressed, all digits clawed, and only six femoral pores (three at each hindlimb) inserted in a clump of small scales. This genus is described as monotypic and only contains Kataphraktosaurus ungerhamiltonisp. nov., which is known from one specimen and diagnosed by the same set of aforementioned characters. The secretive habits of this species and the remoteness of the locality may explain its singleton situation. Following the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s criteria, we categorized the new species as Data Deficient.[ES] Gymnophthalmidae es un grupo de lagartos neotropicales muy diverso y su riqueza de especies aún está en proceso de descubrimiento. La incorporación de evidencia molecular y un incremento notable en el muestreo taxonómico y geográfico en estudios sobre su sistemática han resultado en la descripción de un gran número de géneros y especies nuevas de gymnoftálmidos (particularmente en Cercosaurinae) en años recientes. Aquí describimos un nuevo género y especie de lagarto cercosaurino con fenotipo cocodriloide, del Escudo Guayanés venezolano, a partir de análisis filogenéticos moleculares y caracteres morfológicos. Kataphraktosaurusgen. nov. se distingue de todos los demás géneros de Cercosaurinae por su combinación única de caracteres morfológicos que incluye un patrón de folidosis dorsal heterogéneo, con escamas agrandadas y fuertemente aquilladas formando dos filas paravertebrales, escamas ventrales y subcaudales imbricadas y fuertemente aquilladas, escamas cefálicas grandes y simétricas, ausencia de escama postmental, disco palpebral translúcido y dividido, cola ligeramente comprimida, todos los dedos con uñas, y solo seis poros femorales (tres en cada muslo) insertos en medio de una agrupación de pequeñas escamas. Este género, descrito como monotípico, solo incluye a Kataphraktosaurus ungerhamiltonisp. nov., conocida por un espécimen y cuya diagnosis consta del mismo conjunto de caracteres mencionados para el género. Los hábitos crípticos de esta especie y lo remoto de la localidad tipo pueden explicar el hecho de que sólo se conozca un ejemplar. Siguiendo los criterios de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, asignamos a la nueva especie la categoría de Datos Insuficientes.Financial support was provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CNPq, Brazil (SCF, grant #: 312744/ 2017-0), and the PrInt program of Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior, CAPES, Brazil (SCF, grant #: 88887.508359/2020-00).Peer reviewe

Total evidence and sensitivity phylogenetic analyses of egg-brooding frogs (Anura: Hemiphractidae)

We study the phylogenetic relationships of egg-brooding frogs, a group of 118 neotropical species, unique among anurans by having embryos with large bell-shaped gills and females carrying their eggs on the dorsum, exposed or inside a pouch. We assembled a total evidence dataset of published and newly generated data containing 51 phenotypic characters and DNA sequences of 20 loci for 143 hemiphractids and 127 outgroup terminals. We performed six analytical strategies combining different optimality criteria (parsimony and maximum likelihood), alignment methods (tree- and similarity-alignment), and three different indel coding schemes (fifth character state, unknown nucleotide, and presence/absence characters matrix). Furthermore, we analyzed a subset of the total evidence dataset to evaluate the impact of phenotypic characters on hemiphractid phylogenetic relationships. Our main results include: (i) monophyly of Hemiphractidae and its six genera for all our analyses, novel relationships among hemiphractid genera, and non-monophyly of Hemiphractinae according to our preferred phylogenetic hypothesis; (ii) non-monophyly of current supraspecific taxonomies of Gastrotheca, an updated taxonomy is provided; (iii) previous differences among studies were mainly caused by differences in analytical factors, not by differences in character/taxon sampling; (iv) optimality criteria, alignment method, and indel coding caused differences among optimal topologies, in that order of degree; (v) in most cases, parsimony analyses are more sensitive to the addition of phenotypic data than maximum likelihood analyses; (vi) adding phenotypic data resulted in an increase of shared clades for most analyses.Funding for this study was provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientıfico e Tecnologico (CNPq), Brazil to LYE and SC-F (scholarship numbers 830432/1999-0 and 312744/2017-0), Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nıvel Superior (CAPES), Brazil to LYE (scholarship number 88887.179352/2018-00) and projects CGL2014-53523-P and PGC2018-097421-B-100 of the Spanish Government (PI, Ignacio De la Riva)

The performance of protected-area expansions in representing tropical Andean species: past trends and climate change prospects

Abstract Protected area (PA) extent has increased significantly over the last 150 years globally, but it is yet unclear whether progress in expanding coverage has been accompanied by improved performance in ecological representation. Here, we explore temporal trends in the performance of PA networks in representing > 16,000 vertebrate and plant species in tropical Andean countries based on species bioclimatic niche modelling. We use a randomization analysis to assess whether representation gains over time (1937–2015) are the expected consequence of increasing the overall area of the network or the result of better designed networks. We also explore the impact of climate change on protected-area representation based on projected species distributions in 2070. We found that PAs added in the last three to four decades were better at representing species diversity than random additions overall. Threatened species, amphibians and reptiles are the exception. Species representation is projected to decrease across PAs under climate change, although PA expansions over the last decade (2006–2015) better represented species' future bioclimatic niches than did sites selected at random for most evaluated groups. These findings indicate an unbalanced representation across taxa, and raises concern over under-represented groups, including threatened species, and species’ representation under climate change scenarios. However, they also suggest that decisions related to locating protected areas have become more strategic in recent decades and illustrate that indicators tracking representativeness of networks are crucial in PA monitoring frameworks

Integrative taxonomy reveals a new but common Neotropical treefrog, hidden under the name Boana xerophylla

International audienceBoana xerophylla is a common treefrog widely distributed in northern Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. A recent study found molecular, acoustic, and morphometric differences between the populations located on opposite sides of the Orinoco River. Here, we carry out an updated molecular phylogenetic analysis, including new samples from all the countries along the distribution area, and analyzed additional call recordings from Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Our phylogenetic inference reveals three geographically restricted lineages: one in the eastern Guiana Shield (corresponding to B. xerophylla sensu stricto), another in the western Guiana Shield, and a third one north of the Orinoco River. Morphological and acoustic data agree with the differentiation between the populations north of the Orinoco River and the eastern Guiana Shield despite the low genetic p-distances observed (16S rRNA: 0.7–2.2 %). We argue that the populations north of the Orinoco River correspond to a new species, sister of B. xerophylla. We name and describe Boana platanera sp. nov. from the southern versant of the Cordillera de Mérida (08º48’26’’ N, 70º30’46’’ W, WGS 84; 947 m asl), Venezuela, and refer all the populations north of the Orinoco River currently identified as B. xerophylla to this species. The new species can be readily diagnosed from B. xerophylla (characters of the latter in parentheses) by a pale orange-yellow or light brown dorsal coloration (dark brown to green), palpebral membrane with dark pigments (pigments absent); pericloacal region dark brown (cream), advertisement call with shorter first note length than B. xerophylla. This study represents an empirical example regarding false negatives behind genetic thresholds for species discovery, appraising the use of integrative taxonomic approaches