A new species of Dendropsophus (Anura, Hylidae) from southwestern Amazonia with a green bilobate vocal sac

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that species diversity of the South American frog genus Dendropsophus is significantly underestimated, especially in Amazonia. Herein, through integrative taxonomy a new species of Dendropsophus from the east bank of the upper Madeira River, Brazil is described. Based on molecular phylogenetic and morphological analyses, the new species is referred to the D. microcephalus species group, where it is differentiated from its congeners mainly by having a green bilobate vocal sac and an advertisement call comprising 1–4 monophasic notes emitted with a dominant frequency of 8,979–9,606 Hz. Based on intensive sampling conducted in the study area over the last ten years, the new species is restricted to the east bank of the upper Madeira River, although its geographic range is expected to include Bolivian forests close to the type locality.

The phylogeny of Dendropsophini (Anura: Hylidae: Hylinae)

“…While this contribution was in proofing stage, Ferrão et al (2020) described a new species of the genus (Dendropsophus bilobatus) and suggested the existence of one or two species more related to D. reichlei. Ferrão et al (2020) highlighted the bluishgreen vocal sac of D. bilobatus as an important diagnostic feature of the species. Although, this coloration is a putative synapomorphy of our D. branneri clade, their phylogenetic tree (that is similar to the one of Jansen et al 2019) does not recover the D. branneri clade.…”

“…Although, this coloration is a putative synapomorphy of our D. branneri clade, their phylogenetic tree (that is similar to the one of Jansen et al 2019) does not recover the D. branneri clade. We downloaded representatives of the species suggested in Ferrão et al (2020) and performed a quick search with the same parameters of our preliminary exploratory searches. We found the unnamed species as sister to D. reichlei and D. bilobatus nested within the D. branneri clade confirming the bluish‐green as a putative morphology of this clade.…”

A new nurse frog of the Allobates tapajos species complex (Anura: Aromobatidae) from the upper Madeira River, Brazilian Amazonia

“…tinae and A. tapajos clade C) await formal description. These candidate species, together with other recently described species ( Ferrão et al, 2017 ; Ferrão et al, 2020a ; Ferrão et al, 2020b ; Fouquet et al, 2021a ; Fouquet et al, 2021b ; Melo-Sampaio, Ferrão & Moraes, 2021 ; Ferrão et al, 2022 ), highlight both the importance of the upper Madeira Basin as a center of regional biodiversity and the need for additional taxonomic studies in this threatened part of Amazonia.…”