Monday, May 10, 2021

[Herpetology • 2021] Odontophrynus reigi • A New Burrowing Frog of the Odontophrynus americanus Species Group (Anura, Odontophrynidae) from Subtropical Regions of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay


Odontophrynus reigi 
Rosset, Fadel, Guimarães, Carvalho, Ceron, Pedrozo, Serejo, Souza, Baldo & Mângia, 2021


Abstract
A new species of frog of the genus Odontophrynus is described from grassland of the subtropical regions of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay based on morphological, osteological, bioacoustical, cytogenetic, and molecular evidence. The new species is characterized by having medium size; rostral and eye-nostril glandular warts well developed; several long glandular ridges, longitudinally oriented, on dorsum; several medium-sized, nearly rounded, dark-brown dorsal blotches; light mid-dorsal stripe continuous and well defined or restricted to the head and the urostyle regions; and mid-dorsal stripe, interorbital, and dorsolateral bands with a moderately whitish highlight, light brown, or reddish coloration. Additionally, the new species has a skull with nasals slightly separated both from each other and frontoparietals, and frontoparietal fontanelle not exposed. The advertisement call consists of a single multipulsed note with a dominant frequency of 820–1,121 Hz and a pulse rate of 99.3–140.7 pulses/s. The chromosomal complement is diploid with 2N = 2X = 22 chromosomes and nucleolar organizer regions on the interstitial regions of the short arm of chromosome pair 4. The phylogenetic analysis allowed us to recover the new species belonging to the O. americanus species group with genetic distances from its congeners ranging from 2.11 to 4.82% in a partial sequence of 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The new species is geographically isolated from the other currently known diploid species of the group, but in some localities is found in sympatry or syntopy with the tetraploid O. americanus.


Coloration patterns and variation in glandular warts from adult males of Odontophrynus reigi in life.
 (A) Holotype, LGE 19810, (B) paratype, LGE 19878, Candelaria, Misiones, (C) paratype, LGE 19848, Capital, Misiones, (D) paratype, ZUFMS-AMP 09655, Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, (E) nontype specimen, LGE 19875, Iguazu, Misiones, and (F) unvouchered specimen, Capital, Misiones.



Odontophrynus reigi, new species

Etymology.—The specific epithet honors Osvaldo Alfredo Reig (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1929–1992) for his noteworthy contributions to the biological sciences of South America (Reig and Fontdevila, 1989; Boido and Tenner, 1991; Fontanals, 2012). He published more than 200 studies on morphology, anatomy, cytogenetics, paleontology, and systematics of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. Regarding amphibians, Reig proposed the suborder Neobatrachia, and described two of the oldest known species of frogs, Notobatrachus degiustoi and Vieraella herbsti, from the Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina. He worked at Universidad de Buenos Aires and Instituto Miguel Lillo (Argentina), Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela), and Universidad Austral (Chile), among other academic centers, where he was strongly committed to scientific development, education of young researchers, and consolidation of working groups. Sadly, he had to go into exile from Argentina and Chile due to coups d’etat. In 1973, Reig received his Ph.D. in Zoology and ´ Paleontology from the University of London. In 1989, the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona named him as Doctor ´ Honoris Causa.


Sergio D. Rosset, Renata Moleiro Fadel, Carla da Silva Guimarães, Priscila Santos Carvalho, Karoline Ceron, Mariana Pedrozo, Renata Serejo, Victória dos Santos Souza, Diego Baldo and Sarah Mângia. 2021. A New Burrowing Frog of the Odontophrynus americanus Species Group (Anura, Odontophrynidae) from Subtropical Regions of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Ichthyology & Herpetology. 109(1); 228-244. DOI 10.1643/h2020056