Corresponding author: Germán Chávez (
Academic editor: F. Andreone
A new species of
Describimos una nueva especie de rana de la familia
Chávez G, Catenazzi A (2016) A new species of frog of the genus
Frogs of the genus
Although several species of
Tingo María National Park
Format for diagnosis and description of the new species follow those of snout–vent length eye–nostril distance head length head width interorbital distance internarial distance tibia length foot length eye diameter upper eyelid width
Fingers and toes are numbered preaxially to postaxially from I–IV and I–V respectively. We determined comparative lengths of toes III and V by adpressing both toes against Toe IV; lengths of fingers I and II were determined by adpressing the fingers against each other. Specimens were sexed based on external sexual characteristics (e.g., presence of vocal sacs in males), all specimens were collected when they were calling, thus are considered adult males. Photographs were taken in the field and laboratory by GC, and used for descriptions of coloration in life and in preserved condition respectively. In addition to the type series of the new species, specimens examined are listed in Appendix I.
The advertisement calls of a chorus of males ( fast Fourier transform
Genetic distances were estimated to confirm generic placement of the new species within
Map of Peru indicating the type locality of
Dorsolateral and ventral views (
Ventral view of
Paratopotypes. Seven adult males (Fig.
Dorsolateral and ventral views of two paratopotypes of
Paratype. Adult male,
The new species is distinguished by the following combination of characters: (1) skin on dorsum finely shagreen, that on venter areolate, discoidal fold absent, dorsolateral folds absent; (2) tympanic membrane and tympanic annulus distinct, weak supratympanic fold covering dorsal and posterior edges of tympanum, horizontal diameter of eye 3x the diameter of tympanum; (3) snout acuminate in dorsal view, truncated and posteroventrally inclined in lateral view, canthus rostralis weakly concave in dorsal view, angular in lateral view, loreal region concave, rostral papilla absent; (4) upper eyelid lacking tubercles, cranial crests absent; (5) dentigerous process of vomers absent; (6) males with vocal sacs and vocal slits, nuptial excrescences absent; (7) finger I and finger II of equal length, fingers II and III bearing rounded discs about 1.5 times wider than digits, finger IV bearing a rounded disc about twice as wide as its digit; (8) fingers with narrow lateral fringes; (9) antebrachial tubercle absent; (10) ulnar and tarsal tubercles absent (11) inner metatarsal tubercle oval twice as long as round outer metatarsal tubercle, low supernumerary plantar tubercles at the base of toes I, II, and III; (12) toes with narrow lateral fringes, webbing absent, toe V longer than toe III; (13) in life, males with dorsum creamy yellow or yellowish brown with dark blotches; canthal stripe creamy white extending to the orbits; throat yellow; belly creamy white; groins, posterior surfaces of thighs, and shanks bright red; iris cream with brown flecks; (14)
Only eight other species of Peruvian
The uncorrected genetic distances (Table
The new species is also similar to the recently described
An adult male (
At night, dorsum, flanks, and dorsal surface of limbs are yellowish-brown with diagonal brown blotches and tiny brown flecks; dorsal surface of head of the same color and bearing a fine creamy yellow canthal stripe which extends to the medial portion of the upper eyelids. Throat yellow, chest and belly are creamy-white with tiny dark flecks; ventral surface of hands, and exterior portion of the ventral surface of foots yellowish-brown; groins, posterior surface of thighs, posterior surface of shanks, and inner portion of the ventral surface of hands bright red. Anterior surface of thighs are pinkish-gray with irregular red blotches. Iris golden with fine dark flecks. In daytime, yellowish-brown coloration turns into pale yellow.
As described above, but yellowish-brown coloration turns creamy-yellow with tiny dark flecks on dorsum, limbs and ventral surfaces of hands and feet; red coloration turned pinkish-white, and venter creamy-yellow; iris gray.
A chorus of several males (
Oscillogram (above) and spectrogram and of the advertisement call of an uncollected male of
Measurements and proportions of the specimens examined are given in Table
Measurements and morphological proportions of
Snout-vent length |
19.1–21.9 (20.5 ± 0.8) |
Head length |
7.0–8.5 (7.8 ± 0.5) |
Head width |
7.2–8.5 (7.8 ± 0.5) |
Upper-eyelid width |
1.8–1.9 (1.8 ± 0.1) |
Interorbital distance |
2.2–3.1 (2.8 ± 0.3) |
Eye diameter |
2.3–2.7 (2.6 ± 0.1) |
Eye-nostril distance |
2.2–2.5 (2.3 ± 0.1) |
Internarial distance |
1.6–1.9 (1.7 ± 0.1) |
Tibia length |
9.6–10.8 (10.3 ± 0.4) |
Foot length |
7.7 – 9.2 (8.3 ± 0.5) |
0.3–0.4 (0.3 ± 0.1) | |
0.3–0.4 (0.3 ± 0.1) | |
0.3–0.4 (0.3 ± 0.1) | |
0.1 (0.1 ± 0.0) | |
0.7–0.8 (0.8 ± 0.0) | |
0.5–0.8 (0.6 ± 0.0) |
The name is composed of two words in Latin, “pulcher” which means beautiful, and “dormientes” = sleeping, in reference to the chain of mountains located within Tingo María National Park, above the city of Tingo Maria, locally known as Sleeping Beauty (Bella Durmiente), because it looks like a sleeping reclined woman (Figure
Habitat of
The new species is not assigned to any taxonomic group despite the presence of morphological characters (i.e. head and body dorsoventrally compressed; skin on dorsum finely shagreen and that on venter areolate) suggesting a possible inclusion in the
The analysis of genetic distances (uncorrected p-distances) shows that
Uncorrected p-distances of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. Comparisons between
0.00 | |||||||||||||||||||
0.05 | 0.00 | ||||||||||||||||||
0.14 | 0.13 | 0.00 | |||||||||||||||||
0.14 | 0.13 | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||||||||||||
0.15 | 0.13 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.00 | |||||||||||||||
0.11 | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.08 | 0.00 | ||||||||||||||
0.12 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.00 | |||||||||||||
0.12 | 0.12 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||||||||
0.11 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.00 | |||||||||||
0.11 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.05 | 0.00 | ||||||||||
0.14 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.00 | |||||||||
0.14 | 0.14 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.13 | 0.00 | ||||||||
0.14 | 0.14 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.13 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||||||
0.18 | 0.17 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.14 |
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0.00 | ||||||
0.18 | 0.17 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.14 |
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0.00 | 0.00 | |||||
0.15 | 0.13 | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.16 | 0.00 | ||||
0.14 | 0.14 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.06 | 0.06 |
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0.15 | 0.00 | |||
0.14 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.13 | 0.07 | 0.07 |
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0.17 | 0.06 | 0.00 | ||
0.13 | 0.13 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.15 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.00 |
At both localities the new species was found in arboreal microhabitats, frequently calling perched on leaves 2 m above the ground. The only other species sharing a similar microhabitat and presumably ecological niche (also nocturnal) was
With only two known localities, it is difficult to predict the potential distribution range of this species. Although the type locality had a large population and was located inside a protected area, the locality where paratype
We thank J. C. Chaparro and an anonymous reviewer for their comments and suggestions on an earlier version of the manuscript. Furthermore, we are indebted to C. Sanchez Rojas, J. Blas and R. Tamashiro and the Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas (SERNANP) in Tingo María for logistic support in the field. Work within Tingo Maria National Park was made possible through the “Convenio específico de cooperación interinstitucional entre el Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado y la Empresa de Generación Huallaga S.A.” Call recordings were made with equipment donated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. GC thanks D. Vásquez for field assistance. Finally, we thank E. Carrillo Mena, F. Vivanco Villa and A. Alarcón Mays and the staff of Tingo Maria National Park for their support and companionship in the field.
GenBank accession numbers for the taxa and genes sampled in this study. 1
Taxon | Voucher Nbr. | 16S |
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MC 11555 |
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KU 291702 |
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MAV 257 |
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MTD45080 |
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MHUAA 7638 |
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MZUTI 1382 |
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MZUTI 1756 |
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AJC 1860 |
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AJC 1753 |
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QCAZ19664 |
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AJC 1778 |
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ROM 43978 |
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