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| Dendropsophus cannatellai Aguirre, Apunte & Ron, 2025 |
Abstract
The Dendropsophus leucophyllatus group is composed by 19 species distributed from Central America to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Only one species is known from the Chocó region, D. ebraccatus, which is also distributed in Central America. Previous studies suggested the existence of two species masked under “D. ebraccatus”. The only other species of Dendropsophus in the Chocó lowlands of Ecuador is D. gryllatus, an elusive species never included in phylogenetic analyses. In the present study, we review the systematics of both species based on morphological, genetic, and bioacoustic data. For phylogenetic analyses, we sequenced four mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S, COI, ND1, including flanking tRNAs) and two nuclear genes (TYR, POMC). Our results indicate that the populations of “D. ebraccatus” from the Chocó of Ecuador represent a new species, not most closely related to D. ebraccatus from Central America, but to D. gryllatus. The new species inhabits tropical rainforest and piedmont evergreen forest of NW Ecuador and SW Colombia. Populations of the new species differ from D. gryllatus by having larger body size and by the presence of an hourglass-shaped dorsal mark. The new species differs from D. ebraccatus from Central America by the absence of a clear band under the eye, by having well defined dorsal spots and by having a distinct advertisement call. Both species appear to be allopatric and, according to our time-tree, diverged from each other during the late Pliocene.
Key Words: Advertisement calls, Chocó rainforest, Colombia, Dendropsophus cannatellai sp. nov., Dendropsophus gryllatus, phylogeny
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| Life coloration of Dendropsophus cannatellai sp. nov. First and third rows, dorsolateral views; second and fourth, ventral views. From left to right, first and second rows: QCAZ 51877 (SVL = 22.26 mm, male); QCAZ 78809 (SVL = 33.61 mm, female); QCAZ 55558 (SVL = 21.96 mm, male); third and fourth rows: QCAZ 40847 (holotype; SVL = 22.32 mm, male); QCAZ 78812 (SVL = 25.86 mm, male); QCAZ 78813 (SVL = 24.94 mm, male). See type series for locality data. All specimens are shown at the same scale. |
Dendropsophus cannatellai sp. nov.
Common names: English: Cannatella’s treefrog.
Spanish: Ranita de Cannatella.
Definition: (Figs 8, 9). In this section, we describe coloration in life. We assign the new species to the genus Dendropsophus based on the phylogeny (Fig. 1). The new species is characterized by: (1) mean SVL 23.4 mm in males (range 21–26; n = 115); 30.7 mm in females (range 28–33; n = 14); (2) axillary membrane reaching arm halfway to elbow; (3) reduced webbing on fingers; (4) webbing on feet; (5) palmar tubercle single; (6) pectoral glands present; (7) dorsal background coloration brown with white to bright yellow dorsolateral bands, extending to the eyes and top of head; white or bright yellow well defined sacral mark, fused with dorsolateral bands in some individuals; (8) absence of a light labial stripe in contact with the orbit; (9) dorsal surfaces of the limbs brown, with white to bright yellow ovoid marks, with the forearm typically bearing one to two marks, and the shank one to three; (10) webbing and ventral surfaces vary from orange to yellow; (11) iris dull bronze to coppery bronze, and (12) advertisement call pulsed with a mean dominant frequency = 3274.7 Hz (range 3169.0–3498.7) and mean pulse rate of the primary note = 95 pulses/s (range 87–100).
Etymology: The specific name cannatellai is a noun in the genitive case and is a patronym for David C. Cannatella, who collected type specimens of the new species. Moreover, during his career he has contributed extensively to the study of systematics and evolution of neotropical amphibians. He has been integral part of scientific societies, exemplified by his presidencies of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2002–2003) and the Society of Systematic Biologists (2004–2005). Currently he is Dean of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
P. Doménica Aguirre, Katherine Apunte and Santiago R. Ron. 2025. Systematics of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species group (Anura, Hylidae) from the Chocó region of Ecuador, with Description of a new species. Evolutionary Systematics. 9(1): 7-31. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.9.135431
