The recognition of Dendropsophus minusculus () (Hylidae, Dendropsophini) as a highly polymorphic, multi-domain distributed species

Abstract

Herein we present new occurrences of sites of Dendropsophus minusculus in Brazil adding information about reproductive biology and colour patterns of the species. Such information is fundamental for characterising the species that we believe has been neglected due to its morphological similarity with other congeneric species. Dendropsophus minusculus may be found in different morphoclimatic domains, being one of the most generalist species of the genus in this aspect. The species plasticity is not restricted to its occurrence, but also related to aspects of its reproductive biology, and we hypothesised that the latter feature could explain the wide geographical range of the species. We highlight the importance of further in-depth studies and the use of D. minusculus as a model to understand the historical events responsible for the current geographical distribution of the morphoclimatic domains in Brazil.Keywords: reproductive plasticity, polymorphism, taxonomy, Dendropsophus microcephalus species group. , 1971) (Hylidae, Dendropsophini) como espécie polimórfica e de ocorrência em distintos domínios morfoclimáticos O reconhecimento de Dendropsophus minusculus (Rivero ResumoNo presente estudo relatamos novos locais de ocorrência para Dendropsophus minusculus no Brasil e acrescentamos informações sobre a biologia reprodutiva e padrões de coloração da espécie. Essas informações são de fundamental importância para a caracterização da espécie, que acreditamos ter sido negligênciada em virtude de sua semelhança morfológica com outras espécies congenéricas. Dendropsophus minusculus pode ser encontrada em diversos domínios morfoclimáticos, sendo, neste aspecto, uma das espécies mais generalistas de seu gênero. A plasticidade da espécie não se restringe a sua ocupação territorial, mas também a aspectos relativos a sua biologia reprodutiva e especulamos que esta seja a razão de sua amplitude territorial. Destacamos ainda a importância de estudos mais aprofundados e o uso da espécie como modelo para o entendimento de eventos pretéritos responsáveis pela distribuição de domínios morfoclimáticos no Brasil.Palavras-chave: plasticidade reprodutiva, polimorfismo, taxonomia, grupo de espécies de Dendropsophus microcephalus.

Composition and diversity of anurans in the Restinga of the Conde municipality, northern coast of the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil

“…The specimen identified here as D. oliveirai was putatively attributed to this species because it also resembles D. decipiens and D. minusculus. These species are highly polymorphic to external morphology and color patterns (Zina et al 2014) and their specific limits remain unclear. The species accumulation curves tended to asymptotes for FWZ and the overall study area, but not for SVZ (Figure 8), which suggests that not all anuran species that potentially inhabit the latter physiognomy were recorded.…”

Anurans (Amphibia: Anura) of the Brazilian state of Amapá, eastern Amazonia: species diversity and knowledge gaps

“…Dendropsophus counani Fouquet, Orrico, Ernst, Blanc, Martinez, Vacher, Rodrigues, Ouboter, Jairam & Ron, 2015 has long been confused with Dendropsophus brevifrons (Duellman & Crump, 1974) (Fouquet et al 2015), and we consider the record of D. brevifrons (Benício & Lima 2017) to be D. counani. Dendropsophus minusculus (Rivero, 1971) is morphologically similar to Dendropsophus branneri (Cochran, 1948), with which D. minusculus has been historically confused (Zina et al 2014).…”

“…Dendropsophus minusculus is distributed in northern Brazil and the Guiana Shield, mainly within Amazonia, with some sparse records in northeastern Brazil in the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, and an isolated record from Bahia, whereas D. branneri inhabits the Atlantic Forest of southeastern and northeastern Brazil (Zina et al 2014;Frost 2022). Both species seem to have a contact zone in northeastern Brazil, but the state of Amapá is within the distribution range of D. minusculus.…”

The tadpole of Dendropsophus branneri (Cochran, 1948) (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae)

“…Dendropsophus branneri is a small treefrog largely distributed throughout the Tropical Atlantic and Caatinga morphoclimatic domains (see Ab'Sáber 1977 for morphoclimatic domains), from northeastern to southeastern Brazil [Lutz 1973, Frost 2014; see Zina et al 2014 for taxonomic comments on D. minusculus (Rivero, 1971) and D. branneri]. This species is currently placed in the D. microcephalus species group according to Bastos & Pombal (1996) and Faivovich et al (2005).…”