Uncovering the diversity in the Amazophrynella minuta complex: integrative taxonomy reveals a new species of Amazophrynella (Anura, Bufonidae) from southern Peru

Abstract

A new species of the genus Amazophrynella (Anura, Bufonidae) is described from the departments of Madre de Dios, Cusco and Junin in Peru. An integrative taxonomy approach is used. A morphological diagnosis, morphometrics comparisons, description of the advertisement call, and the phylogenetic relationships of the new species are provided. Amazophrynella javierbustamantei sp. n. differs from other species of Amazophrynella by: intermediate body-size (snout-vent length 14.9 mm in males, n = 26 and 19.6 mm in females, n = 20), tuberculate skin texture of body, greatest hand length of the Amazophrynella spp. (3.6 mm in males, n = 26 and 4.6 mm in females, n = 20), venter coloration yellowish, tiny rounded black points covering the venter, and thirteen molecular autapomorphies in the 16S RNA gene. Its distribution varies from 215 to 708 m a.s.l. This discovery highlights the importance of the remnant forest in preserving the biodiversity in Peru, and increase in seven the species formally described in the genus Amazophrynella.

Species limits within the widespread Amazonian treefrog Dendropsophus parviceps with descriptions of two new species (Anura, Hylidae)

“…Differences between D. parviceps , D. kamagarini , and D. kubricki are limited to body size, skin texture, and advertisement calls. This pattern of highly conserved morphology has also been reported in other species complexes in Amazonian amphibians (e.g., Caminer and Ron 2014; Elmer et al 2007; Fouquet et al 2012; Funk et al 2012; Kieswetter and Schneider 2013; Moravec et al 2014; Rojas et al 2016). …”

“…In the last decade, the use of genetic characters in amphibian taxonomy has helped to discover a large number of cryptic species through the upper and lower Amazon Basin (e.g., Almendáriz et al 2014; Brown et al 2008; Brown and Twomey 2009; Caminer and Ron 2014; Elmer and Cannatella 2008; Fouquet et al 2015; Moravec et al 2014; Páez-Vacas et al 2010; Rivera-Correa and Orrico 2013; Rojas et al 2015; Rojas et al 2016; Ron et al 2012; Twomey and Brown 2008). The use of genetic characters in combination with morphological and bioacoustic evidence allows unambiguous delimitation of species under the evolutionary species concept (de Queiroz 1998; de Queiroz 2007; Padial et al 2009).…”

Peer Review #1 of "A Pan-Amazonian species delimitation: high species diversity within the genus Amazophrynella (Anura: Bufonidae) (v0.1)"

“…Kaefer et al, 2012;Ribas et al, 2012;Fouquet et al, 2015;Oliveira et al, 2016). In the case of Amazophrynella species, ecological characteristics such as small body side, being a terra firme species and being restricted to reproducing in puddles (Rojas et al 2016), clearly evidences these species' inability to disperse across rivers. This in turn implies that major Amazonian rivers should limit the distributions of lineages of Amazophrynella, a pattern observed in our phylogeny.…”

“…We examined topotypical material of Amazophrynella minuta deposited at the collection of Amphibians and Reptiles of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia-INPA (INPA-H) and three syntypes (NHMG 462,NHMG 463,NHMG 464) deposited at the Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum, Sweden; five specimens of A. bokermanni (Izecksohn, 1993) from near the type locality (c. 30 Km) deposited at the INPA collection; the type series of A. vote (Ávila et al, 2012) deposited at the Coleção Zoológica de Vertebrados of the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso-UFMT, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil (UFMT-A) and INPA; A. manaos deposited at the INPA; A. amazonicola and A. matses (Rojas et al, 2015) deposited at the Museo de Zoología-Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana-UNAP and A. javierbustamantei (Rojas et al, 2016) deposited at the Museo de Biodiversidad del Peru (MUBI), Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (MHNSM). List of examined specimens is found in Appendix S1.…”

Situación Actual De La Base De Datos Genéticos De Vertebrados De La Región Loreto, Perú

“…Para evaluar los impactos ambientales de los recursos faunísticos es fundamental analizar los patrones de su diversidad genética. Estos análisis representan herramientas poderosas que ayudan a conocer su dinámica poblacional, identificar especies nuevas, inferir procesos biogeográficos y planificar acciones de conservación (Avise et al, 1987;Florio et al, 2012;Cozzuol et al, 2013;Hrbek et al, 2014;Rojas et al, 2016). Estudios de diversidad genética de los recursos faunísticos en la Amazonía peruana y en particular en la región Loreto son escasos, fragmentarios o incompletos, a pesar de ser considerada una región hotspot de la diversidad biológica (Shanee, 2012).…”