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Issue: Vol. 5474 No. 2: 26 Jun. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-06-26
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5474.2.1
Page range: 101-126
Abstract views: 87
PDF downloaded: 5

Forty years later: a new Andean stream treefrog of the genus Hyloscirtus (Anura: Hylidae) from Ecuador, with comments on arm hypertrophy in the H. larinopygion group

Grupo Herpetológico de Antioquia; Instituto de Biología; Universidad de Antioquia; Medellín; Colombia
Museo de Zoología; Escuela de Biología; Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; Av. 12 de Octubre y Roca; Apartado 17-01-2184; Quito; Ecuador
Laboratório de Herpetologia (LHERP); Instituto de Biociências; Campus do Litoral Paulista; UNESP; São Vicente; São Paulo; Brazil
Laboratório de Herpetologia; Departamento de Biodiversidade and Centro de Aquicultura (CAUNESP); Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP; Av. 24 A; 1515; Bela Vista; 13506-970; Rio Claro; São Paulo; Brazil
Division of Amphibians & Reptiles; Department of Vertebrate Zoology; National Museum of Natural History; Smithsonian Institution; Washington; D.C.; 20560; U.S.A.
Departamento de Zoologia; Instituto de Biociências; Universidade de São Paulo; Rua do Matão; Trav. 14; no. 101; Cidade Universitária; 05508-090; São Paulo; SP; Brazil
Amphibia Andes Biological Collections Biodiversity Morphology Systematics Taxonomy

Abstract

We present the description of a novel treefrog species inhabiting the Andean streams in southeastern Ecuador that has been erroneously identified as Hyloscirtus lindae for four decades. The new species is closely related to H. tapichalaca and is part of the southern clade of the H. larinopygion group, which comprises five species confined to the southeastern Andes of Ecuador to the northeastern Andes of Peru. It is diagnosed from its close relatives by a unique combination of characteristics, including hypertrophied forelimbs in males, a pronounced, curved, and protruding spine-shaped prepollex, a substantial supracloacal flap, supratympanic fold, digital discs colored in shades of orange-red or bright-red, and the concealed surfaces of limbs displaying a bluish-gray hue and dorsal spicules in males. We briefly explore the implications of this discovery for the evolution of arm morphology in the H. larinopygion group. Our findings underscore the continued importance of periodically reviewing historical specimens, leading to unexpected discoveries; once again confirming the importance of natural history museums and their custodian biological collections.

 

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