New record of the fringed leaf frog, Cruziohyla craspedopus (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) extends its eastern range limit

Abstract

The fringed leaf frog, Cruziohyla craspedopus is rarely sampled in the Brazilian Amazon, probably due to low detection probability associated with its arboreal habit. The knowledge about the species’ distribution stems from successive additions of occasional occurrence records, which indicate that the species is widely distributed throughout Amazonia. We present new occurrence records to update the geographic range of the species, which is hereby extended 224 km to the northeast. We also present morphological data from collected specimens and discuss the updated range from the geographic and ecological points of view. We show that the range of the leaf frog crosses several main tributaries along the southern bank of the Amazonas River, although the species occurrence is apparently limited by a minimum tree cover of 70%.

The Rush for the Rare: Reptiles and Amphibians in the European Pet Trade

“…Species that have long been known to science and that have evaded commercial collection also become targeted and appear in trade due to the publication of new localities in scientific papers. This issue has been observed, for example, regarding Cruziohyla craspedopus (described in 1957) and Lanthanotus borneensis (described in 1877), after new localities were recently published [20,64,71,72]. Thus, in such cases, access to localities with new or rare species may be facilitated for collectors, and legislation and enforcement in these areas may be weaker due to previous under-ascertainment of population states [17,20].…”