Psychrophrynella glaucasp. n., a new species of terrestrial-breeding frogs (Amphibia, Anura, Strabomantidae) from the montane forests of the Amazonian Andes of Puno, Peru

Abstract

We describe a new species of small strabomantid frog (genus Psychrophrynella) from a humid montane forest in the Peruvian Department of Puno. Specimens were collected at 2,225 m a.s.l. in the leaf litter of primary montane forest near Thiuni, along the Macusani–San Gabán road, in the province of Carabaya. The new species is assigned to Psychrophrynella on the basis of morphological similarity, including presence of a tubercle on the inner edge of the tarsus, and call composed of multiple notes. We also include genetic distances for 16S rRNA partial sequences between the new species and other strabomantid frogs. The species with lowest genetic distances are Psychrophrynella chirihampatu and Psychrophrynella usurpator. Psychrophrynella glauca sp. n. is readily distinguished from the three other species of Psychrophrynella (Psychrophrynella bagrecito, P. chirihampatu, and P. usurpator) by its small size, and by having belly and ventral surfaces of legs reddish-brown or red, and chest and throat brown to dark brown with a profusion of bluish-gray flecks. The new species is only known from its type locality. With the discovery of P. glauca, the geographic distribution of Psychrophrynella is extended to the Department of Puno, where it was no longer represented after the description of the genus Microkayla. Furthermore, the Cordillera de Carabaya is the only mountain range known to be home to four of the seven genera of Holoadeninae (Bryophryne, Microkayla, Noblella, and Psychrophrynella), suggesting an intriguing evolutionary history for this group in southern Peru.

Peer Review #1 of "Noblella thiuni sp. n., a new (singleton) species of minute terrestrial-breeding frog (Amphibia, Anura, Strabomantidae) from the montane forest of the Amazonian Andes of Puno, Peru (v0.1)"

“…Noblella thiuni has three phalanges on Finger IV and differs from N. carrascoicola, N. lochites, N. myrmecoides The new species is similar to species of Psychrophrynella, including the sympatric P. glauca (Catenazzi Ttito 2018) and the type species P. bagrecito (Lynch, 1986), which both have a fold-like tubercle on the inner edge of tarsus, small size reaching ∼19 mm, and a prominent ovoid outer metatarsal tubercle (of same or larger size than inner metatarsal tubercle). Furthermore, N. thiuni shares with P. glauca the red coloration on ventral surfaces of legs and venter, and the profusion of silvery or bluish-gray flecks on ventral surfaces of head, body, and legs.…”

“…von May et al 2017). Our short survey at the type locality of Noblella thiuni led to the discovery of another related species, Psychrophrynella glauca (Catenazzi & Ttito 2018). It is likely that additional species of leaf litter terrestrial-breeding frogs will be discovered from the Cordillera de Carabaya and other mountain ranges in southern Peru.…”

“…We also obtained DNA sequences from species of Noblella (Catenazzi et al 2015) and Psychrophrynella (Catenazzi & Ttito 2016;Catenazzi & Ttito 2018;von May et al 2017), and downloaded sequences of closely related genera within Holoadenindae (Barycholos, Bryophryne, Holoaden, and Microkayla) from GenBank (Appendix 2). Our phylogenetic analyses are preliminary, because there is uncertainty concerning the taxonomic position of Noblella and Psychrophrynella, and because genetic sequences of their type species (N. peruviana and P. bagrecito) are not available (Catenazzi & Ttito 2018). We extracted DNA from liver or skin swab samples (N. madreselva) with a commercial extraction kit (IBI Scientific, Peosta, USA).…”

“…Our phylogenetic analysis indicates relatedness of our specimen with species of Noblella from southern Peru (Figure 3), but also with species of Psychrophrynella. As previously discussed (Catenazzi & Ttito 2016;Catenazzi & Ttito 2018;De La Riva et al 2017;De la Riva et al 2008), the type species of both Noblella and Psychrophrynella, N. peruviana and P. bagrecito, respectively, have not been included in phylogenetic analyses due to lack of DNA sequences. Similarity in meristic traits (i.e., presence of tarsal folds or tubercles), and our present phylogeny showing N. thiuni sp.…”

“…The genus Noblella is distributed from Ecuador to Bolivia (Figure 1; Catenazzi et al 2015), but there is uncertainty regarding the monophyly of the genus and the number of species (Catenazzi & Ttito 2016;Catenazzi & Ttito 2018;De La Riva et al 2017). The current taxonomy recognizes 12 species of Noblella (AmphibiaWeb 2019; Catenazzi et al 2015), of which four occur in southern Peru, where several undescribed species have been reported (Figure 2;von May et al 2017).…”