Thursday, July 9, 2020

[Herpetology • 2020] Pseudopaludicola coracoralinae • Reassessment of the Taxonomic Status of Pseudopaludicola parnaiba (Anura, Leptodactylidae, Leiuperinae), with the Description of A New Cryptic Species from the Brazilian Cerrado


Pseudopaludicola coracoralinae
 Andrade, Haga, Lyra, Carvalho, Haddad, Giaretta & Toledo, 2020


Abstract
The Neotropical frog genus Pseudopaludicola includes 25 species distributed throughout South America. Herein we review the taxonomic status of P. parnaiba relative to P. canga and the specific identity of the population treated in previous studies as Pseudopaludicola sp. 3 from Barreirinhas in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The lack of differentiation in advertisement call, morphology, and mitochondrial markers from topotypes and different populations rejects the status of P. parnaiba and Pseudopaludicola sp. 3 from Barreirinhas as distinct species. For these reasons, we suggest to formally consider P. parnaiba as a junior synonym of P. canga. We also found that a population previously reported as P. facureae from central Brazil (Palmeiras de Goiás, Goiás) corresponds to a cryptic species that we describe here as a new species. Lastly, we provide for the first time the phylogenetic positions of P. giarettai, P. llanera and P. pusilla.

Keywords: integrative taxonomy; Pseudopaludicola canga; mitochondrial DNA; morphologically cryptic species


Fig. 5. Holotype and five paratypes of Pseudopaludicola coracoralinae sp. nov. in life.
A. ZUEC 24704 (holotype, adult ♂ and call voucher), SVL = 13.1 mm. B. ZUEC 24703 (adult ♂ and call voucher), SVL = 13.2 mm. C. ZUEC 24707 (adult ♂), SVL = 12.5 mm. D. ZUEC 24712 (adult ♀), SVL = 16.0 mm. E. ZUEC 24705 (adult ♀), SVL = 16.8 mm. F. ZUEC 24706 (adult ♀), SVL = 17.0 mm.

Class Amphibia Linnaeus, 1758 
Order Anura Fischer von Waldheim, 1813 
Family Leptodactylidae Werner, 1896 (1838) 
Subfamily Leiuperinae Bonaparte, 1850 

Genus Pseudopaludicola Miranda-Ribeiro, 1926 

Pseudopaludicola coracoralinae sp. nov. 

Pseudopaludicola facureae from Palmeiras de Goiás, GO 
— Carvalho et al. 2015a: 267, 271, table 4, appendix 1–2. 

Diagnosis: Pseudopaludicola coracoralinae sp. nov. is assigned to Pseudopaludicola by having a hypertrophied antebrachial tubercle (see Lynch 1989; Lobo 1995) and by its phylogenetic position within the genus. The new species is characterized by the following combination of characters: (1) upper eyelids smooth, without enlarged palpebral tubercles; (2) heel smooth, without conical tubercle; (3) single, subgular vocal sac, cream-colored with white or off-white warts; (4) terminal phalanges knobbed, without T-shaped terminal phalanges or expanded toe tips; (5) relative short hind limbs (tibio-tarsal articulation just reaching the corner of the mouth); (6) trilled advertisement call pattern, composed of 2–6 welldefined series of tonal notes, having each series of 7–116 notes, emitted at rates of 1485–2077 notes per minute. 


Etymology: The specific name honors Anna Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto Bretas, better known by her pseudonym Cora Coralina. She was a simple woman, a Brazilian candy maker, writer and poetess. She was born and raised on the banks of the Vermelho River, in the municipality of Goiás, GO, and lived apart from urban centers. Cora Coralina studied until the third year of elementary school and did a typing course at the age of 70, due to a requirement of the publisher that would publish her first book. She is considered one of the most influential Brazilian writers. Although Cora Coralina wrote her first verses during her adolescence, she had her first book (Poemas dos Becos de Goiás e Estórias Mais) published in June 1965, when she was 75 years old. In 1984, the Brazilian Union of Writers awarded her the “literary personality of the year”. Following that honor, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, another distinguished Brazilian poet, said: “I admire Cora Coralina and her mastery of living in a state of grace with her poetry. Her verse is like running waters, her lyricism has the power and delicacy of the natural world.”


Felipe Silva de Andrade, Isabelle Aquemi Haga, Mariana Lúcio Lyra, Thiago Ribeiro de Carvalho, Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad, Ariovaldo Antonio Giaretta and Luís Felipe Toledo. 2020. Reassessment of the Taxonomic Status of Pseudopaludicola parnaiba (Anura, Leptodactylidae, Leiuperinae), with the Description of A New Cryptic Species from the Brazilian Cerrado. European Journal of Taxonomy.  679; 1-36. DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.679