Males of Crossodactylus gaudichaudii call from stream edges, and they regularly dive and excavate oviposition places under stones and rocks. A female ready to spawn visits a male, and both animals dive and dig themselves under a stone to lay eggs. Oviposition takes only 1 to 2 minutes. The male visits the eggs again after the female has left, and afterwards carefully closes and conceals the entrance to the oviposition crevice. After hatching, the larvae remain in their crevice for about 2 more weeks, until they are fully pigmented and able to swim in the current. The implications of the observations are discussed. The behaviour observed is compatible with the idea of hylodine-dendrobatid relationships although not sufficient to support this hypothesis.

The oviposition behaviour of the egg brooding hylid frog, Fritziana goeldii, is essentially similar to that seen in the genera Gastrotheca and Flectonotus. At the beginning of oviposition, the female extrudes a mucous secretion which is beaten into a foam surrounding all eggs. This later hardens and forms an egg sac which is firmly glued onto the female's back. If it is removed, the lateral partitions which form between embryos disappear immediately. Intracapsular development on the female's back takes 17 days, larval development takes 21 to 24 days. The larvae hatch at stages 30 to 33 and feed on dead conspecific larvae and undeveloped eggs. The observations are discussed with regard to the hypothesis that direct development is the plesiomorphic reproductive mode in hemiphractine frogs and that development through free living larvae is derived. It is our opinion that, as far as Fritziana and Flectonotus are concerend, the evidence in favour of the above hypothesis is not sufficient.

ABSTRACT. Description of the larva of Scinax similis (Cochran) with comparative notes on the Scinax ruber group in Southeastern Brazil (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae). The larva of Scinax similis (Cochran, 1952) is described [rom Ilha do Fundão (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil). Comparisons with other species ofthe group that occur in Southeastern Brazil are added. The larva of S. similis can be distinguished by the following diagnostic features: (1) eyes large in relation to body length (17,3%), body height (26,8%), and body width (29,7%), interocular distance three times larger than eye diameter; (2) lower beak with two transverse stripes, proximal half white and distal half black.

Os anfíbios anuros da RPPN Campo Escoteiro Geraldo Hugo Nunes, localizado no Município de Guapimirim, Estado do Rio de Janeiro, foram inventariados e estudados. A região é um remanescente de Mata Atlântica de Baixada que ocupa 45,2 ha e está situada sobre um solo hidromórfico que favorece a ocorrência de áreas alagadas permanentes e temporárias. Para o inventário, realizamos excursões para coleta e registro de anfíbios desde a década de 80, estando este material tombado na coleção zoológica do Instituto de Biologia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Um total de 40 espécies de anfíbios da ordem Anura foi encontrado na região, distribuídas em 10 famílias: Hylidae (N = 23), Bufonidae (4), Leptodactylidae (4), Cycloramphidae (2), Microhylidae (2), Brachycephalidae, Craugastoridae, Hemiphractidae, Leiuperidae e Strabomantidae com uma espécie cada.

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The genus Sphaenorhynchus Tschudi, 1838 can be characterized by the following morphological synapomorphies: posterior ramus of pterygoid absent; zygomatic ramus of squamosal absent or reduced to small knob; pars facialis of maxilla and alary process of premaxilla reduced; postorbital process of maxilla reduced, not in contact with quadratojugal; neopalatine reduced to sliver or absent; pars externi plectri entering tympanic ring posteriorly; pars externa plectri round; hyale curved medially; coracoids and clavicles elongate; transverse process of presacral vertebra IV elongate, oriented posteriorly; prepollex ossified, bladelike (Duellman and Wiens 1992).The genus Sphaenorhynchus is composed of fourteen species, three with distribution in the Amazon basin [S. carneus (Cope, 1868); S. dorisae (Goin, 1957); and S. lacteus (Daudin, 1800)], ten in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest [S.

Scinax tripui is a medium sized frog that belongs to the Scinax catharinae clade. We provide a new record of Scinax tripui from Serra de Torres, Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil. This is the first record outside the specie's type locality (Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais) and the first record from the state of Espírito Santo.

No abstract