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| Pristimantis leopardus
Rivera-Correa, Jiménez-Rivillas & Daza, 2017
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Abstract
Pristimantis, distributed throughout the New World tropics, is the most speciose vertebrate genus. Pristimantis presents an enormous morphological diversity and is currently divided into several demonstrably non-monophyletic phenetic species groups. With the purpose of increasing our understanding of Pristimantis systematics, we present the first phylogenetic analysis using molecular evidence to test the monophyly and infer evolutionary relationships within the Pristimantis leptolophus group, an endemic group of frogs from the highlands of the Colombian Andes. Our phylogenetic reconstruction recovers the group as monophyletic with high support, indicating general concordance between molecular data and morphological data. In addition, we describe a new polymorphic species lacking conspicuous tubercles, a regular attribute among species of the P. leptolophus species group and endemic from the Páramo de Sonsón complex (Antioquia, Colombia). The phylogenetic position of the new species is inferred and other systematic implications in the light of our results are discussed.
Keywords: Amphibia, Antioquia, Brachycephaloidea, Cordillera Central, molecular phylogenetics, morphology, Páramo de Sonsón
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| FIGURE 8. Microhabitat, Pristimantis leopardus sp. nov. on the bract of Bromelia sp. |
Etymology. The specific epithet corresponds to the Latin noun leopardus and it refers to the spotted and striped pattern observed in the new species, which resembles color patterns the American felid genus Leopardus, known in Spanish as tigrillos or ocelotes.
Mauricio Rivera-Correa, Carlos Jiménez-Rivillas and Juan M. Daza. 2017. Phylogenetic Analysis of the Neotropical Pristimantis leptolophus Species Group (Anura: Craugastoridae): Molecular Approach and Description of A New Polymorphic Species. Zootaxa. 4242(2); 313–343. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4242.2.6
