[Herpetology • 2021] Rhinella moralesi • A New Species of Toad (Anura: Bufonidae: Rhinella) from Northern Peru

Rhinella moralesi

Lehr, Cusi, Rodrigues, Venegas, García-Ayachi and Catenazzi, 2021

DOI: 10.3390/taxonomy1030015

 Abstract

We describe a new species of Rhinella from montane forests between 1788 and 2305 m a.s.l. in the Departamentos Amazonas and San Martín, Peru. We tentatively assign the new species to the Rhinella festae species Group based on morphological similarities with its other 19 members. It is characterised by large size (maximum SVL 91.6 mm in females), a pointed and protruding snout that is posteroventrally inclined, absence of a visible tympanic annulus and tympanic membrane, long parotoid glands in contact with upper eyelid, presence of a dorsolateral row of enlarged tubercles, outer dorsolateral tarsus surface with a subconical ridge of fused tubercles, and absence of subgular vocal sac and vocal slits in males. One specimen from Departamento Amazonas tested positive for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

Keywords: amphibia; Rhinella festae species Group; earless; cloud forest; Departamento Amazonas; Departamento San Martín; Río Abiseo National Park; chytrid fungus

Figure 3. Life specimens in dorsolateral views of

(A) Rhinella moralesi sp. nov. (holotype, MUSM 15959, SVL 67.6 mm, male),

(B) R. chavin (MUSM 20027, SVL 64.9, female)

(C) R. yanachaga (MUSM 31100, juvenile), and

(D) R. multiverrucosa (MTD 44749, SVL 68.9 mm, female).

Photos by A. Catenazzi, (A) E. Lehr (B,C), and M. Lundberg (D).

  

Figure 6. Adult females and juveniles of Rhinella moralesi sp. nov.

Female (CORBIDI 20372, SVL 91.6 mm) in dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views,

female (CORBIDI 713, SVL 90.6 mm) in dorsal (E) and ventral (F) views.

Juvenile (CORBIDI 20301, SVL 26.9 mm) in lateral (C) and ventral (D) views, and

juvenile (CORBIDI 18862, SVL 41.3 mm) in lateral (G) and ventral (H) views.

Photos by P.J. Venegas (E–H) and L.A. García-Ayachi (A–D).

   

Systematics

Family Bufonidae Gray, 1825

Genus Rhinella Fitzinger, 1826

Rhinella moralesi sp. nov. 

Lehr, Cusi, Rodrigues, Venegas, García-Ayachi and Catenazzi, 2021

Etymology: We dedicate the new species to our late colleague and friend Professor Victor Morales in recognition of his contributions to Neotropical herpetology.

 Edgar Lehr, Juan C. Cusi, Lily O. Rodriguez, Pablo J. Venegas, Luis A. García-Ayachi and Alessandro Catenazzi. 2021. A New Species of Toad (Anura: Bufonidae: Rhinella) from Northern Peru. Taxonomy. 1(3); 210-225. DOI: 10.3390/taxonomy1030015

[Herpetology • 2015] Hyloscirtus mashpi • Molecular Phylogeny of Stream Treefrogs (Hylidae: Hyloscirtus bogotensis Group), with A New Species from the Andes of Ecuador

Hyloscirtus mashpi   Guayasamin, Rivera-Correa, Arteaga, Culebras, 

Bustamante, Pyron, Peñafiel, Morochz & Hutter, 2015

Figure 7. Colour variation in life of Hyloscirtus mashpi n. sp. at Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi, Ecuador. (A–D) Metamorphs. (E–G) Adult males. (H) Adult female.

DOI: 10.1080/23766808.2015.1074407 || 10.13140/RG.2.1.4731.8248

Abstract

We present a new molecular phylogeny of the stream treefrog genus Hyloscirtus, with an improved taxon sampling in the Hyloscirtus bogotensis group. The tree supports the existence of three clades within the genus (Hyloscirtus armatus group, H. bogotensis group and Hyloscirtus larinopygion group) in congruence with previous studies, and suggests the presence of at least three new species in the H. bogotensis group. Herein, we describe one of these species, Hyloscirtus mashpi n. sp. from the Pacific slope of the Ecuadorian Andes. The validity of the latter is supported by molecular, morphological and acoustic data. We also tested individuals of the new species for the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, finding a prevalence of 17.6% (6 positives and 28 negatives). However, at sampled streams, frog densities were high, suggesting that H. mashpi n. sp. may be tolerant to the infection.

Keywords: amphibia, chytrid fungus, cryptic diversity, phylogeny, taxonomy,

Systematics

Hyloscirtus mashpi n sp.

http://zoobank.org/A943A79F-FACA-4B42-991E-FE610071461C

Suggested common name in English: Mashpi Stream Treefrog

Suggested common name in Spanish: Rana torrentícola de Mashpi

Figure 7. Colour variation in life of Hyloscirtus mashpi n. sp. at Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi, Ecuador.
(A–D) Metamorphs. (E–G) Adult males. (H) Adult female.

Figure 5. Hyloscirtus species, in life, from Ecuador.
(A) Hyloscirtus mashpi n. sp., MZUTI 3097, from Milpe. (B) H. mashpi n. sp., MZUTI 3518, from Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi. (C) H. mashpi n. sp., MZUTI 3096, from Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi. (D) H. mashpi n. sp., not collected, from Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi. (E and F) H. alytolylax, not collected, from Mindo. (G) H. alytolylax, MZUTI 1921, from San Francisco de las Pampas. (H) Hyloscirtus sp., MZUTI 3262, from Reserva Buenaventura. (I) H. palmeri, not collected, from Milpe. (J) H. phyllognathus, not collected, from Maycu.

DOI: 10.1080/23766808.2015.1074407 || 10.13140/RG.2.1.4731.8248

Etymology. The specific epithet mashpi is used as a noun in apposition and refers to one of the localities where the species is found, Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi, a protected area where research and conservation efforts are carried out by Reserva de Biodiversidad Mashpi S.A., Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Tropical Herping and other institutions. The word mashpi is a Yumbo word that means ‘friend of water’, which is a precise description of this treefrog, which is always found along pristine streams.

Juan M. Guayasamin, Mauricio Rivera-Correa, Alejandro Arteaga, Jaime Culebras, Lucas Bustamante, R. Alexander Pyron, Nicolás Peñafiel, Carlos Morochz and Carl R. Hutter. 2015. Molecular Phylogeny of Stream Treefrogs (Hylidae: Hyloscirtus bogotensis Group), with  A New Species from the Andes of Ecuador. Neotropical Biodiversity. 1(1);  DOI: 10.1080/23766808.2015.1074407 || 10.13140/RG.2.1.4731.8248

ResearchGate.net/publication/281293080_Molecular_phylogeny_of_stream_treefrogs_(Hylidae_Hyloscirtus_bogotensis_Group)_with_a_new_species_from_the_Andes_of_Ecuador

http://home.gwu.edu/~rpyron/publications/Guayasamin_et_al_2015.pdf

http://www.welt.de/reise/Fern/article112361892/Im-Nebelwald-tauchen-immer-neue-Arten-auf.html

Se presenta una nueva filogenia de las ranas torrentícolas del género Hyloscirtus, la cual incluye un muestreo ampliado del grupo H. bogotensis. El árbol apoya la presencia de tres clados dentro del género (Grupo H. armatus, Grupo H. bogotensis, Grupo H. larinopygion) y sugiere la existencia de tres especies nuevas. En el presente estudio describimos una de estas especies, Hyloscirtus mashpi n. sp., distribuida en la vertiente pacífica de los Andes del Ecuador. La validez de la nueva especie se sustenta en datos moleculares, morfológicos y acústicos. Nuestro estudio también demuestra que la nueva especie está infectada por el quítrido Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; sin embargo, las poblaciones son abundantes, sugiriendo que H. mashpi n. sp. tolera la infección.

|| Amphibia, diversidad críptica, filogenia, hongo quítrido, taxonomía

[Herpetology • 2013] Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) Infection and Lethal Chytridiomycosis in Caecilian Amphibians (Gymnophiona)

This Cameroon caecilian species, Geotrypetes seraphini, tested positive for the fungus that can cause the deadly chytrid disease chytridiomycosis in frogs, toads, newts and salamanders.

Abstract

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is commonly termed the ‘amphibian chytrid fungus’ but thus far has been documented to be a pathogen of only batrachian amphibians (anurans and caudatans). It is not proven to infect the limbless, generally poorly known, and mostly soil-dwelling caecilians (Gymnophiona). We conducted the largest qPCR survey of Bd in caecilians to date, for more than 200 field-swabbed specimens from five countries in Africa and South America, representing nearly 20 species, 12 genera, and 8 families. Positive results were recovered for 58 specimens from Tanzania and Cameroon (4 families, 6 genera, 6+ species). Quantities of Bd were not exceptionally high, with genomic equivalent (GE) values of 0.052–17.339. In addition, we report the first evidence of lethal chytridiomycosis in caecilians. Mortality in captive (wild-caught, commercial pet trade) Geotrypetes seraphini was associated with GE scores similar to those we detected for field-swabbed, wild animals.

Keywords: Africa, Anura, Batrachia, Caudata, chytrid, pet trade, South America

Fatal fungus found in third major amphibian group, caecilians

It is known as the amphibian chytrid fungus and can cause a deadly disease that is decimating some of the world's frogs, toads, newts and salamanders. However, the fungus had not been detected in the other lesser-known major group of amphibians, the caecilians, until now.

An international team led by scientists at the Natural History Museum and Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have found the first cases of chytrid fungus infections in caecilians. They report their findings today in the journal EcoHealth.

More than 200 caecilians caught from the wild had DNA tests carried out on swabs of their skin to check for the amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. The study included 29 caecilian species from 5 countries in Africa and South America, which is the largest genetic survey of this fungus in caecilians to date. 

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http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2013/may/fatal-fungus-found-in-third-major-amphibian-group-caecilians121208.html

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-fatal-fungus-major-amphibian-group.html

2013. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Infection and Lethal Chytridiomycosis in Caecilian Amphibians (Gymnophiona). EcoHealth. DOI: 10.1007/s10393-013-0831-9

[Herpetology • 2013] Prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Xenopus Collected in Africa (1871–2000) and in California (2001–2010)

This is an African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis). These frogs, originally imported for early 20th century pregnancy tests, carried a deadly amphibian disease to the US, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. San Francisco State University biologist Vance Vredenburg and colleagues have found the first evidence of the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus among introduced feral populations in the US.

(Credit: Photo credit: Adam Bewick)

Abstract

International trade of the invasive South African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), a subclinical carrier of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatis (Bd) has been proposed as a major means of introduction of Bd into naïve, susceptible amphibian populations. The historical presence of Bd in the indigenous African population of Xenopus is well documented. However, there are no reports documenting the presence of Bd in wild Xenopus populations in the US, particularly in California where introduced populations are well-established after intentional or accidental release. In this report, a survey was conducted on 178 archived specimens of 6 species of Xenopus collected in Africa from 1871–2000 and on 23 archived specimens (all wild-caught Xenopus laevis) collected in California, USA between 2001 and 2010. The overall prevalence rate of Bd in the tested Xenopus was 2.8%. The earliest positive specimen was X. borealis collected in Kenya in 1934. The overall prevalence of Bd in the X. laevis collected in California was 13% with 2 positive specimens from 2001 and one positive specimen from 2003. The positive Xenopus (3/23) collected in California were collected in 2001 (2/3) and 2003 (1/3). These data document the presence of Bd-infected wild Xenopus laevis in California. The findings reported here support the prevailing hypothesis that Bd was present as a stable, endemic infection in Xenopus populations in Africa prior to their worldwide distribution likely via international live-amphibian trade.

Frog Once Used in Pregnancy Tests Spread Deadly Fungus 

A species of frog that was used from the 1930s to the 1950s in human pregnancy tests is a carrier of a deadly amphibian disease that is now threatening hundreds of other species of frogs and salamanders.

http://nyti.ms/10Yt0F8

The species, the African clawed frog, was shipped across the world for use in human pregnancy tests, until a different method evolved for determining whether a woman is pregnant. Released to the wild, the frogs are now proving to be a threat to other animals on multiple continents.

“There are populations here in Golden Gate Park, in San Diego, Los Angeles, Europe, China, nearly everywhere,” said Vance Vredenburg, a conservation biologist at San Francisco State University and one of the researchers involved in the study, which was published on Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.

The pathogen the frogs are spreading is a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd. It has led to the recent decline or extinction of 200 frog species worldwide, the researchers report. Researchers in 2004 found Bd in a museum specimen of an African clawed frog that dated to 1934. But the frog itself appears to be unaffected by the fungus.

“Evolution has run its course,” Dr. Vredenburg said. “The species probably at some point suffered, but the survivors have figured out ways to survive.”

For other species, the pathogen is “the worst disease in vertebrate history,” Dr. Vredenburg said. The disease infects the skin of frogs and salamanders and causes it to thicken 40 times greater than normal, Dr. Vredenburg said. Within a couple of weeks, the disease causes an electrolyte imbalance and the amphibians die of heart attacks, he said.

Dr. Vredenburg and his colleagues tested museum specimens of the clawed frog at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and found evidence in swabbed DNA of the fungus in the preserved frogs’ skin. They also tested specimens in Africa collected between 1871 and 2010 and found that the disease was present in populations of the clawed frog before they were exported worldwide.

Thousands of African clawed frogs were shipped from South Africa to labs and hospitals around the world before the middle of the 20th century. In those days, some pregnancy tests involved injecting a woman’s urine into a female frog. If the frog began ovulating within about 10 hours, there was a high likelihood that the woman was pregnant.

The frogs are no longer imported to the United States for pregnancy testing, though they are still used for scientific research.

Vance T. Vredenburg, Stephen A. Felt, Erica C. Morgan, Samuel V. G. McNally, Sabrina Wilson, Sherril L. Green. 2013. Prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Xenopus Collected in Africa (1871–2000) and in California (2001–2010). PLoS ONE. 8 (5): e63791 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063791

[Herpetology • 2013] Hot bodies protect amphibians against chytrid infection in nature

Green Eyed Tree Frog with radio-transmitter

photo: Jodi J L Rowley
http://australianmuseum.net.au

Environmental context strongly affects many host-pathogen interactions, but the underlying causes of these effects at the individual level are usually poorly understood. The amphibian chytrid fungus has caused amphibian population declines and extinctions in many parts of the world. Many amphibian species that have declined or have been extirpated by the pathogen in some environments coexist with it in others. Here we show that in three species of rainforest frogs in nature, individuals' probability of infection by the amphibian chytrid fungus was strongly related to their thermal history. Individuals' probability of infection declined rapidly as they spent more time above the pathogen's upper optimum temperature. This relationship can explain population-level patterns of prevalence in nature, and suggests that natural or artificial selection for higher thermal preferences could reduce susceptibility to this pathogen. Similar individual-level insights could improve our understanding of environmental context-dependence in other diseases.

Subject terms: Ecological epidemiology, Herpetology, Tropical ecology, Behavioural ecology

Rowley, J.J.L. & Alford, R.A. 2013. Hot bodies protect amphibians against chytrid infection in nature. Scientific Reports 3, 1515: DOI:10.1038/srep01515 

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Hot bodies protect frogs from disease

http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/

The amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is responsible for the often fatal amphibian disease chytridiomycosis. This disease has now been associated with declines and extinctions in hundreds of species of amphibians worldwide, and is a serious threat to global amphibian biodiversity.

However, not all amphibian species decline from chytridiomycosis, and many amphibians that have declined from the disease in some environments coexist with it in others. Why might this be?

One such reason is temperature. In the lab, the amphibian chytrid fungus grows best between 17-25°C and infected captive frogs can be cured by simply raising the temperature. Natural populations of frogs also appear to be affected by temperature, with infected frogs more often detected in cooler months and at higher (and therefore cooler) altitudes. So there’s reason to suspect that temperature may play an important role in determining whether individual frogs are infected with the amphibian chytrid fungus in nature.

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http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/Science/Hot-bodies-protect-frogs-from-disease