The advertisement call of the phytotelm-breeding Melanophryniscus xanthostomus (Anura: Bufonidae)

Abstract

Vocalizations are often useful for understanding taxonomic relationships among anuran species. Despite this usefulness, vocalizations are described in only nine of 29 in Melanophryniscus Gallardo, 1961. Here we describe the advertisement call of Melanophryniscusxanthostomus Baldo, Bornschein, Pie, Ribeiro, Firkowski & Morato, 2015 of a population from Serra Dona Francisca, municipality of Campo Alegre, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The advertisement call (of three males, total of 17 calls) comprises two segments (the first with short and single notes, followed by a multi-pulsed note), with a duration of 12.194–20.986 s, and dominant frequency of 3101–3618 Hz (first and second segments combined). The advertisement call of M.xanthostomus differs from its congeners mostly by the higher number of pulses in the second segment (294–1033; from 16 to 321 in the other Melanophryniscus species), except Melanophryniscuskrauczuki Baldo & Basso, 2004 (1018–1502 pulses in the second segment). This is the first described call of a phytotelm breeding Melanophryniscus, but it presents the same prototype (a compound call formed by two segments, the first composed of short notes followed by a long trill) of its congeners not-phytotelm breedings. This might indicate the advertisement call of Melanophryniscus as a conserved trait and thus can be considered diagnostic for the genus.