Systematic Revision of the Rare Bromeligenous Genus Crossodactylodes Cochran 1938 (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Paratelmatobiinae)

A New Species of Crossodactylodes from the Espinhaço Mountain Range, Southeastern Brazil (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Paratelmatobiinae)

“…Terminology for morphological characters follows Duellman (1970), Heyer et al (1990), Duellman and Lehr (2009), and Santos et al (2020a). Fingers are numbered preaxially to postaxially from I to IV.…”

“…The genus Crossodactylodes Cochran 1938, one of the four genera of the Brazilian endemic subfamily Paratelmatobiinae Ohler and Dubois 2012, currently comprises five species: C. pintoi Cochran 1938; C. bokermanni Peixoto 1983 “1982”; C. izecksohni Peixoto 1983 “1982”; C. septentrionalis Teixeira, Recoder, Amaro, Damasceno, Cassimiro, and Rodrigues 2013; and C. itambe Barata, Santos, Leite, and Garcia 2013. The genus is supported by DNA sequence data, as well as by several putative synapomorphies, including a life cycle strictly dependent on bromeliads (bromeligenous habit); the nuptial pads formed by few and well-developed keratinized spines; the tympanic middle ear completely lacking; and the presence of expanded discs on Fingers II–IV (Fouquet et al 2013; Santos et al 2020a,b). Additionally, the genus is characterized by a small body size (snout–vent length <20 mm) and by producing complex but low-intensity acoustic signals (Santos et al 2020a, 2022).…”

“…The genus is supported by DNA sequence data, as well as by several putative synapomorphies, including a life cycle strictly dependent on bromeliads (bromeligenous habit); the nuptial pads formed by few and well-developed keratinized spines; the tympanic middle ear completely lacking; and the presence of expanded discs on Fingers II-IV (Fouquet et al 2013;Santos et al 2020a,b). Additionally, the genus is characterized by a small body size (snout-vent length ,20 mm) and by producing complex but low-intensity acoustic signals (Santos et al 2020a(Santos et al , 2022.…”

“…Species of Crossodactylodes are disjunctly distributed across the mountains within the Atlantic Forest domain and the ''campo rupestre'' ecosystem (i.e., rupestrian grasslands; Miola et al 2021), from southern Bahia to the state of Rio de Janeiro (Santos et al 2020b). With the exception of C. bokermanni, which is known from four nearby sites in the municipality of Santa Teresa and two other localities in the state of Espírito Santo, all other species are currently known only from one or a few nearby localities (Santos et al 2020a). Factors such as the small geographic range, the occurrence in remote areas, the use of specific microhabitats, the small body size, the reduced vocal activity, and the production of low-intensity calls hinder the sampling of new populations, indicating that the species diversity of Crossodactylodes is likely underestimated (Santos et al 2020a(Santos et al , 2022.…”

“…With the exception of C. bokermanni, which is known from four nearby sites in the municipality of Santa Teresa and two other localities in the state of Espírito Santo, all other species are currently known only from one or a few nearby localities (Santos et al 2020a). Factors such as the small geographic range, the occurrence in remote areas, the use of specific microhabitats, the small body size, the reduced vocal activity, and the production of low-intensity calls hinder the sampling of new populations, indicating that the species diversity of Crossodactylodes is likely underestimated (Santos et al 2020a(Santos et al , 2022. Indeed, recent surveys in different mountainous areas have resulted in the discovery of new populations and three of them were previously proposed as putatively new species based on nuclear and mitochondrial markers (Santos et al 2020b;Fig.…”