Saturday, May 28, 2016

[Herpetology • 2008] Excidobates captivus • Spotted Poison Frogs: Rediscovery of A Lost Species and A New Genus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from northwestern Peru


Excidobates captivus from type locality, mouth of the Río Santiago, Departamento Amazonas, Peru.
Twomey & Brown, 2008. DOI: 10.1655/07-009.1 dendrobates.org

The Santiago poison frog, Adelphobates captivus, a species not seen in life since 1929, was recently rediscovered on an expedition to its type locality in northwestern Peru. The colors of this species, previously unknown, consist of a black dorsum with bright red-orange spots and yellow spots ventrally. We provide amendments to the original description as well as the first accounts of tadpole morphology, vocalization, and natural history. A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis suggests Adelphobates captivus and a species originally described as Dendrobates mysteriosus are sister species that form a monophyletic clade sister to Ranitomeya. We propose to clarify the taxonomic status of D. mysteriosus incertae sedis by erecting a new genus, Excidobates, to include mysteriosus and its sister taxon captivus. Members of this genus are distinguished from Ranitomeya by 11 site substitutions in their rrnS and rrnL sequences, well-developed first fingers, and pale spots on the ventral surfaces of the thighs.

Keywords: Dendrobatidae, Dendrobatoidea, Excidobates captivus comb. nov, Excidobates gen. nov, Emysteriosus comb. nov, Peru, Poison frogs, Systematics, Taxonomy




Excidobates captivus (Myers, 1982) 
Photo by E. Twomey: dendrobates.org/captivus.html

Evan Twomey and Jason L. Brown. 2008. Spotted Poison Frogs: Rediscovery of A Lost Species and A New Genus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from northwestern Peru.
 Herpetologica. 64(1); 121-137. DOI: 10.1655/07-009.1