Monday, October 5, 2020

[Herpetology • 2020] Systematics and Historical Biogeography of Neotropical Foam-nesting Frogs of the Adenomera heyeri clade (Leptodactylidae), with the Description of Six New Amazonian Species


Adenomera aurantiaca 
 Carvalho, Moraes, Lima, Fouquet, ... et Haddad, 2020


Abstract
A large proportion of the biodiversity of Amazonia, one of the most diverse rainforest areas in the world, is yet to be formally described. One such case is the Neotropical frog genus Adenomera. We here evaluate the species richness and historical biogeography of the Adenomera heyeri clade by integrating molecular phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses with morphological and acoustic data. Our results uncovered ten new candidate species with interfluve-associated distributions across Amazonia. In this study, six of these are formally named and described. The new species partly correspond to previously identified candidate lineages ‘sp. F’ and ‘sp. G’ and also to previously unreported lineages. Because of their rarity and unequal sampling effort of the A. heyeri clade across Amazonia, conservation assessments for the six newly described species are still premature. Regarding the biogeography of the A. heyeri clade, our data support a northern Amazonian origin with two independent dispersals into the South American Dry Diagonal. Although riverine barriers have a relevant role as environmental filters by isolating lineages in interfluves, dispersal rather than vicariance must have played a central role in the diversification of this frog clade.

Keywords: bioacoustics, biodiversity, Brazil, distribution patterns, diversification, Dry Diagonal, riverine barriers, South America

Adenomera kayapo  

Adenomera kayapo, sp. nov. 
Kayapó terrestrial nest-building frog

Etymology: The name kayapo is given as homage to the Kayapó people (sometimes also spelled as Caiapó). The Kayapó is a large group of Jê speaking people living in the south-eastern portion of Brazilian Amazonia. It is thought that the Kayapó, who name themselves mebêngôkre, once inhabited a vast region between the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers, but were pushed westward by the early colonizers in the 19th century (Turner, 1998). The Kayapó are known to be fierce protectors of their rights and lands.


Adenomera amicorum, sp. nov. 
Santarém terrestrial nest-building frog

Etymology: The epithet is derived from Latin amica, friend, as a plural noun in apposition. The name is a reference to the members of the ‘Allobates femoralis project’ led by one of us (Albertina P. Lima) throughout Brazilian Amazonia. The research team was out in the field at the type locality of the species when it was first discovered in the early 2000s.


holotype of Adenomera aurantiaca (INPA-H 40520: SVL = 20.9 mm). 
Photo by José Cassimiro.


Adenomera aurantiaca, sp. nov. 
Orange-legged terrestrial nest-building frog

Etymology: The epithet is derived from the Latin aurantiacus, the colour orange, referring to the brightly orange-coloured limbs of this species. Such a colour appears to be unique in the genus Adenomera.


 holotype of Adenomera inopinata (INPA-H 40517: SVL=23.5 mm).  

Adenomera inopinata, sp. nov. 
Unforeseen terrestrial nest-building frog

Etymology: The epithet is derived from the Latin inopinatus, unexpected, referring to the unexpected discovery of this species in the region of the middle Tapajós River, where two other unnamed Adenomera species described in the present study had already been collected when A. inopinata was discovered (see Fig. 2).


Adenomera tapajonica, sp. nov. 
Tapajós terrestrial nest-building frog

Etymology: The epithet is derived from the Tapajós River. The distribution range of A. tapajonica comprises a swathe of land entailing the west bank of the middle-lower Tapajós River, limited to the south of the Amazon River (Fig. 2A).


Adenomera gridipappi, sp. nov. 
Gridi-Papp’s terrestrial nest-building frog

Etymology: The specific epithet is a patronymic name for Marcos Gridi-Papp for his invaluable research efforts to advance the knowledge on the anuran vocal system from a functional evolutionary perspective. The honoured scientist trained the leading author of this study in acoustics and vocal anatomy during his Ph.D. program and as part of his current project dedicated to understanding the diversity and patterns of evolution of the acoustic mating signals in leptodactylid frogs. The acoustic characterization of Adenomera frogs has been instrumental to elucidate the species diversity of the genus.


Thiago R. D. Carvalho, Leandro J. C. L. Moraes, Albertina P. Lima, Antoine Fouquet, Pedro L. V. Peloso, Dante Pavan, Leandro O. Drummond, Miguel T. Rodrigues, Ariovaldo A. Giaretta, Marcelo Gordo, Selvino Neckel-Oliveira and Célio F. B. Haddad. 2020. Systematics and Historical Biogeography of Neotropical Foam-nesting Frogs of the Adenomera heyeri clade (Leptodactylidae), with the Description of Six New Amazonian Species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. zlaa051. DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa051

Pequeninas rãs recém-descobertas homenageiam indígenas e regiões amazônicas