 |
| Atelopus manauensis Jorge, Ferrão & Lima, 2020 DOI: 10.3390/d12080310 photo: Leandro Moraes |
Abstract
We used integrative taxonomy to describe a new species of Atelopus from the lowlands of Central Amazonia in the region of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The new species is geographically isolated from the southernmost species of Atelopus of the Guiana Shield. Atelopus manauensis species nova (sp. nov.) is characterized by the combination of the following characteristics: male snout-vent length range (SVL = 19.1–26.4 mm; n = 11); dorsal and lateral skin smooth; ventral surface entirely white or white with cream-colored gular region; fingers and toes lacking subarticular tubercles and fringes. The advertisement call of the new species has a call duration of 689–840 ms, contains 15–26 pulses, is emitted at an average pulse rate of 25.5 pulses per second, and has a dominant frequency ranging 3088–3610 Hz. The genetic divergence between the new species and its morphologically most similar congeners (A. spumarius and A. pulcher) is greater than 4%. Atelopus manauensis sp. nov. is closely related to species of the A. hoogmoedi complex inhabiting the Guiana Shield. The new species has a small geographic distribution (approximately 4500 km2) in a landscape that is strongly threatened by the growth of Manaus, the largest city in Brazilian Amazonia. The new species is considered critically endangered and in need of urgent conservation measures.
We used integrative taxonomy to describe a new species of Atelopus from the lowlands of Central Amazonia in the region of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The new species is geographically isolated from the southernmost species of Atelopus of the Guiana Shield. Atelopus manauensis species nova (sp. nov.) is characterized by the combination of the following characteristics: male snout-vent length range (SVL = 19.1–26.4 mm; n = 11); dorsal and lateral skin smooth; ventral surface entirely white or white with cream-colored gular region; fingers and toes lacking subarticular tubercles and fringes. The advertisement call of the new species has a call duration of 689–840 ms, contains 15–26 pulses, is emitted at an average pulse rate of 25.5 pulses per second, and has a dominant frequency ranging 3088–3610 Hz. The genetic divergence between the new species and its morphologically most similar congeners (A. spumarius and A. pulcher) is greater than 4%. Atelopus manauensis sp. nov. is closely related to species of the A. hoogmoedi complex inhabiting the Guiana Shield. The new species has a small geographic distribution (approximately 4500 km2) in a landscape that is strongly threatened by the growth of Manaus, the largest city in Brazilian Amazonia. The new species is considered critically endangered and in need of urgent conservation measures.
Keywords: conservation; genetics; integrative taxonomy; morphology; vocalization
Atelopus manauensis sp. nov.
Diagnosis: A small species of Atelopus; adult males SVL 19.1–26.4 mm (n = 11), adult females 27.9–28.8 mm (n = 2); interdigital webbing covering all of Finger I and a phalange of Finger II and rudimentary between other fingers; absence of serrated fringe on the sides of Finger III (Figure 4A,B); first phalange of Toe I atrophied, completely hidden in skin of the foot (similar to a callus), with no visible phalanges (Figure 5A,B); subarticular tubercles absent from hand and foot; palmar tubercles round and visible and plantar tubercles oval and poorly defined; the interdigital webbing reaches half of the third phalange of Toe IV and half of the first phalange of Toe V; in life, dorsum light brown to reddish brown with light yellow or light green reticulation network (Figure 6A–D); ventral surface of feet, hands, half of the posteroventral portion of thighs and half or all of the posteroventral portion of the cloacal region red (Figure 6E–H); throat, chest, and central portion of belly white or whitish cream without spots in males, spotted in females; advertisement call consisting of a single multipulsed note with a call duration of 689–840 ms consisting of 15–26 pulses, with a dominant frequency of 3088–3610 Hz and bandwidth of 633–915 Hz (Figure 7A,B). Morphometric measurements of the holotype and type series are shown in Table 4.
Etymology: The specific epithet manauensis refers to the location of the occurrence of the new species, municipality of Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil.
 |
| Distribution map for species of Atelopus used in the calculations of genetic distances and phylogenetic inferences, with colored circles representing species distributed to the west of Amazonia, on eastern and western versants of the Andes and Andean highlands; the squares representing species distributed in the Guiana Shield, and the green diamond a candidate species distributed on the south bank of the Amazon River, municipality of Anapu, state of Pará, Brazil. ... |
Rafael F. Jorge, Miquéias Ferrão and Albertina P. Lima. 2020. Out of Bound: A New Threatened Harlequin Toad (Bufonidae, Atelopus) from the Outer Borders of the Guiana Shield in Central Amazonia Described through Integrative Taxonomy. Diversity. 12(8), 310. DOI: 10.3390/d12080310
