First country record of Trachycephalus mesophaeus (Hensel, 1867) (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae) in Argentina

Abstract

We report the first record of the Porto Alegre Golden-eyed Treefrog, Trachycephalus mesophaeus (Hensel, 1867), from Argentina based on a single specimen collected in the 1980s at Las Lomitas, province of Formosa, northeastern Argentina. This new record, within the Chacoan Biogeographical Region, is separated by more than 1300 km from its main range in the Atlantic Forest.

Hylid or microhylid? No evidence for the occurrence of Trachycephalus mesophaeus (Anura, Hylidae) in Argentina

“…1 A-D) is a species known to occur in the Atlantic Forest of Southeastern and Eastern Brazil, from the states of Rio Grande do Sul to Pernambuco (e.g., Kwet et al, 2010;Haddad et al, 2013). Garcia-Marsà et al (2020) identified the specimen explicitly based on color pattern, and, very likely (see below) on the fact that the specimen had a label identifying it as "Trachycephalus sp." The authors pondered the possibility that it could belong to "a still unknown population of the T. typhonius complex".…”

“…indicated that the specimen was accessioned as part of material sporadically donated by the collector. Clearly, at some point, there was a human error, the label was associated with the wrong specimen, and triggered a series of confusions that ended up with Garcia-Marsà et al (2020) wrongly reporting T. mesophaeus for the first time in Argentina. Nevertheless, the fact that the manuscript reporting the "new" record, including illustrations of the remarkably misidentified specimen, found its way through the conventional filters of scientific publication, is worrisome.…”

“…Vocal sacs are paired, lateral, and almost entirely restricted to the posttympanic region, with little subgular development, as evidenced by the lack of dark pigmentation in the area. E-F: Adult male of the microhylid Kaloula pulchra (CFA-An-88), the specimen identified as T. mesophaeus byGarcia-Marsà et al (2020). G-H: Adult male Kaloula pulchra MACN-He 39171 (pet trade), a properly fixed and preserved specimen.…”