Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5693 No. 4: 19 Sept. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-09-19
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.9
Page range: 583-595
Abstract views: 30
PDF downloaded: 3

A recently extinct new species of Dryadobates (Anura: Aromobatidae) from South Brazil: species description and implications for the historical distribution and recent extinction history of the clade

Departamento de Zoologia; Instituto de Biociências; Universidade de São Paulo; Tv. 14 101; Rua do Matão; Cidade Universitária; 05508-090; São Paulo; SP; Brazil.
Department of Vertebrate Zoology; National Museum of Natural History; Smithsonian Institution; 10th St and Constitution Ave NW; 20560; Washington; DC; United States of America.
Amphibia Dendrobatoidea Neotropics Nurse frogs Rocket frogs Systematics Taxonomy

Abstract

We describe a new species of Dryadobates on the basis of a single adult male collected in 1963 in Tarumã, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Although the specimen is badly desiccated and extremely fragile, it can be readily assigned to Dendrobatoidea on the basis of its posterodorsally concealed tympanum, phalangeal swelling on finger IV, and tarsal keel. The new species shares with other species of Dryadobates the same morphology of finger discs II, IV, and V, absence of a metatarsal fold, presence of a complete pale oblique lateral stripe, absence of a pale dorsolateral stripe, presence of basal webbing between toes III–IV (absent between all other toes), presence of pale paracloacal marks, and small size. It is diagnosed from all nominal congeners by possessing a conspicuous pale oblique lateral stripe that is discrete and well defined along its entire length (i.e., not anteriorly indistinct). The type locality lies ca. 550 km south of the nearest congener in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, suggesting the existence of additional Dryadobates populations between these localities. However, despite extensive surveys in suitable habitats at multiple localities in São Paulo and Paraná over the past 50 years, no other specimens of Dryadobates have been collected. Further, the region of the type locality—once characterized by forests, streams, and expansive fields and wetlands—has been transformed into a highly developed residential and commercial area lacking suitable habitat for Dryadobates, leading us to presume this species to be extinct. With the current species, Dryadobates now comprises seven described species, four of which disappeared within a 15–20-year window between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s. The drivers of these recent extinctions remain unclear, underscoring the urgent need to gather data on the natural history, distribution, and population status of extant Dryadobates species to inform effective conservation strategies.

 

References

  1. Andrews, S. (2010) FastQC: A quality control tool for high throughput sequence data [Online]. Available from: http://www.bioinformatics.babraham.ac.uk/projects/fastqc/ (accessed 26 August 2025)
  2. Anganoy-Criollo, M., Viuche-Lozano, A., Enciso-Calle, M.P., Bernal, M.H. & Grant, T. (2022) The enigmatic Hyloxalus edwardsi species group (Anura: Dendrobatidae): Phylogenetic position, a new species, and new putative morphological synapomorphies. Herpetologica, 78 (4), 253–267. https://doi.org/10.1655/Herpetologica-D-21-00015
  3. Becker, C.G., Fonseca, C.R., Haddad, C.F.B., Batista, R.F. & Prado, P.I. (2007) Habitat split and the global decline of amphibians. Science, 318 (5857), 1775–1777. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1149374
  4. Becker, C.G., Greenspan, S.E., Martins, R.A., Lyra, M.L., Prist, P., Metzger, J.P., São Pedro, V., Haddad, C.F.B., Le Sage, E.H., Woodhams, D.C. & Savage, A.E. (2023) Habitat split as a driver of disease in amphibians. Biological Reviews, 98 (3), 727–746. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12927
  5. Belasen, A.M., Amses, K.R., Clemons, R.A., Becker, C.G., Toledo, L.F. & James, T.Y. (2022) Habitat fragmentation in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is associated with erosion of frog immunogenetic diversity and increased fungal infections. Immunogenetics, 74 (4), 431–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-022-01252-x
  6. Bokermann, W.C.A. (1967) Novas espécies de ‘Phyllobates’ do leste e sudeste brasileiro (Anura, Dendrobatidae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia, 27 (4), 349–353.
  7. Carilo Filho, L.M., de Carvalho, B.T., Azevedo, B.K.A., Gutiérrez-Pesquera, L.M., Mira-Mendes, C.V., Solé, M. & Orrico, V.G.D. (2021) Natural history predicts patterns of thermal vulnerability in amphibians from the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil. Ecology and Evolution, 11 (23), 16462–16472. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7961
  8. Carvalho, T., Becker, C.G. & Toledo, L.F. (2017) Historical amphibian declines and extinctions in Brazil linked to chytridiomycosis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1848), 2016–2254. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2254
  9. Cavalcanti, I.R. de S., Luna, M.C., Faivovich, J. & Grant, T. (2022) Structure and evolution of the sexually dimorphic integumentary swelling on the hands of dendrobatid poison frogs and their relatives (Amphibia: Anura: Dendrobatoidea). Journal of Anatomy, 240 (3), 447–465. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13569
  10. Cochran, D.M. (1955) Frogs of southeastern Brazil. Bulletin of the U. S. National Museum, 206, 1423. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.03629236.206.1
  11. Cope, E.D. (1887) Synopsis of the Batrachia and Reptilia obtained by H. H. Smith, in the Province of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 24 (125), 44–60.
  12. Covarrubias, S., González, C. & Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, C. (2021) Effects of natural and anthropogenic features on functional connectivity of anurans: a review of landscape genetics studies in temperate, subtropical and tropical species. Journal of Zoology, 313 (3), 159–171. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12851
  13. Dabney, J., Knapp, M., Glocke, I., Gansauge, M.-T., Weihmann, A., Nickel, B., Valdiosera, C., García, N., Pääbo, S., Arsuaga, J.-L. & Meyer, M. (2013) Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 110 (39), 15758–15763. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1314445110
  14. Davis, M.P.A., Van Dongen, S., Abreu-Goodger, C., Bartonicek, N. & Enright, A.J. (2013) Kraken: A set of tools for quality control and analysis of high-throughput sequence data. Methods, 63 (1), 41–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.06.027
  15. Dorigo, T.A., Vrcibradic, D. & Rocha, C.F.D. (2018) The amphibians of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: an updated and commented list. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 58, e20185805. https://doi.org/10.11606/1807-0205/2018.58.05
  16. Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1841) Erpétologie Genérale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome Huitième. Librarie Enclyclopedique de Roret, Paris, 778 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.45973
  17. Fabrezi, M. & Alberch, P. (1996) The carpal elements of anurans. Herpetologica, 52 (2), 188–204.
  18. Ferrante, L., Baccaro, F.B., Kaefer, I.L., Diele‐Viegas, L.M., Getirana, A., Haddad, C.F.B., Schiesari, L.C. & Fearnside, P.M. (2025) Effects of climate change and El Niño anomalies on historical declines, extinctions, and disease emergence in Brazilian amphibians. Conservation Biology, e70024. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70024
  19. Fitzinger, L.J. (1826) Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschaftstafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. Zoologischen Museums zu Wien. J.G. Heubner, Wien, 66 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.4683
  20. Fulton, T.L. & Shapiro, B. (2019) Setting up an ancient DNA laboratory. In: Shapiro, B., Barlow, A., Heintzman, P.D., Hofreiter, M., Paijmans, J.L.A. & Soares, A.E.R. (Eds.), Ancient DNA. Vol. 1963. Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer New York, New York, pp. 113. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9176-1_1
  21. Gansauge, M.-T., Gerber, T., Glocke, I., Korlević, P., Lippik, L., Nagel, S., Riehl, L.M., Schmidt, A. & Meyer, M. (2017) Single-stranded DNA library preparation from highly degraded DNA using T4 DNA ligase. Nucleic Acids Research, 45, e79. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx033
  22. Grant, T., Frost, D.R., Caldwell, J.P., Gagliardo, R., Haddad, C.F.B., Kok, P.J.R., Means, B.D., Noonan, B.P., Schargel, W.E. & Wheeler, W.C. (2006) Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Anura: Athesphatanura: Dendrobatidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 299, 1–262. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090(2006)299[1:PSODFA]2.0.CO;2
  23. Grant, T., Rada, M., Anganoy-Criollo, M., Batista, A., Dias, P.H., Jeckel, A.M., Machado, D.J. & Rueda-Almonacid, J.V. (2017) Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives revisited (Anura: Dendrobatoidea). South American Journal of Herpetology, 12 (s1), S1S90. https://doi.org/10.2994/SAJH-D-17-00017.1
  24. Grant, T., Lyra, M.L., Hofreiter, M., Preick, M., Barlow, A., Verdade, V.K. & Rodrigues, M.T. (2025) Museomics and the systematics of the Atlantic Forest nurse frogs (Dendrobatoidea: Aromobatidae: Allobatinae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 472, 1–76. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090.472.1.1
  25. Günther, A.C.L.G. (1858) On the systematic arrangement of the tailless batrachians and the structure of Rhinophrynus dorsalis. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1858, 339–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1858.tb06387.x
  26. Hahn, C., Bachmann, L. & Chevreux, B. (2013) Reconstructing mitochondrial genomes directly from genomic next-generation sequencing reads—a baiting and iterative mapping approach. Nucleic Acids Research, 41 (13), e129. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkt371
  27. Heyer, W.R., Rand, A.S., da Cruz, C.A.G. & Peixoto, O.L. (1988) Decimations, extinctions, and colonizations of frog populations in Southeast Brazil and their evolutionary implications. Biotropica, 20 (3), 230235. https://doi.org/10.2307/2388238
  28. IUCN [International Union for Conservation of Nature] (2012) IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. Second edition. IUCN, Gland, 32 pp.
  29. Izecksohn, E. & Carvalho-e-Silva, S.P. (2001) Anfíbios do município do Rio de Janeiro. Editora UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, 148 pp.
  30. Kaplan, M. (1997) A new species of Colostethus from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia) with comments on intergeneric relationships within the Dendrobatidae. Journal of Herpetology, 31 (3), 369–375. https://doi.org/10.2307/1565665
  31. Keyghobadi, N. (2007) The genetic implications of habitat fragmentation for animals. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 85 (10), 1049–1064. https://doi.org/10.1139/Z07-095
  32. Laurance, W.F. & Useche, D.C. (2009) Environmental synergisms and extinctions of tropical species. Conservation Biology, 23 (6), 1427–1437. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01336.x
  33. Llamas, B., Valverde, G., Fehren-Schmitz, L., Weyrich, L.S., Cooper, A. & Haak, W. (2017) From the field to the laboratory: Controlling DNA contamination in human ancient DNA research in the high-throughput sequencing era. STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research, 3 (1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2016.1258824
  34. Lutz, A. (1925a) Batraciens du Brésil. Comptes Rendus et Mémoires Hebdomadaires des Séances de la Société de Biologie et des ses Filiales, 2, 137–139.
  35. Lutz, A. (1925b) Batraciens du Brésil. Comptes Rendus et Mémoires Hebdomadaires des Séances de la Société de Biologie et des ses Filiales, 2, 211–214.
  36. Lutz, A. & Lutz, B. (1939) New Hylidae from Brazil. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 11 (1), 67–89.
  37. Lutz, B. (1973) Brazilian species of Hyla. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, 260 pp.
  38. Lyra, M.L., Lourenço, A.C.C., Pinheiro, P.D.P., Pezzuti, T.L., Baêta, D., Barlow, A., Hofreiter, M., Jr, J.P.P., Haddad, C.F.B. & Faivovich, J. (2020) High-throughput DNA sequencing of museum specimens sheds light on the long-missing species of the Bokermannohyla claresignata group (Anura: Hylidae: Cophomantini). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 190, 1235–1255. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa033
  39. Martin, M. (2011) Cutadapt removes adapter sequences from high-throughput sequencing reads. EMBnetjournal, 17, 10–12. https://doi.org/10.14806/ej.17.1.200
  40. McCallum, H. & Dobson, A. (2002) Disease, habitat fragmentation and conservation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 269 (1504), 2041–2049. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2079
  41. Myers, C.W. & Duellman, W.E. (1982) A new species of Hyla from Cerro Colorado, and other tree frog records and geographical notes from western Panama. American Museum Novitates, 2752, 1–32.
  42. Myers, C.W. & Ford, L.S. (1986) On Atopophrynus, a recently described frog wrongly assigned to the Dendrobatidae. American Museum Novitates, 2843, 1–15.
  43. Nakamura, D.Y.M., Lyra, M.L. & Grant, T. (2024) Procedures for obtaining tissue samples from amphibian and reptile specimens for museomics. Herpetologia Brasileira, 13 (2), 134–144.
  44. Oliver, T.H., Brereton, T. & Roy, D.B. (2013) Population resilience to an extreme drought is influenced by habitat area and fragmentation in the local landscape. Ecography, 36 (5), 579–586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07665.x
  45. Oliver, T.H., Heard, M.S., Isaac, N.J.B., Roy, D.B., Procter, D., Eigenbrod, F., Freckleton, R., Hector, A., Orme, C.D.L., Petchey, O.L., Proença, V., Raffaelli, D., Suttle, K.B., Mace, G.M., Martín-López, B., Woodcock, B.A. & Bullock, J.M. (2015) Biodiversity and resilience of ecosystem functions. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 30 (11), 673–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2015.08.009
  46. Ribeiro, M.C., Metzger, J.P., Martensen, A.C., Ponzoni, F.J. & Hirota, M.M. (2009) The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: How much is left, and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation. Biological Conservation, 142 (6), 1141–1153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.021
  47. Rossa-Feres, D.D.C., Sawaya, R.J., Faivovich, J., Giovanelli, J.G.R., Brasileiro, C.A., Schiesari, L., Alexandrino, J. & Haddad, C.F.B. (2011) Anfíbios do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil: conhecimento atual e perspectivas. Biota Neotropica, 11 (1a), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032011000500004
  48. Rossa-Feres, D.C., Garey, M.V., Caramaschi, U., Napoli, M.F., Nomura, F., Bispo, A.A., Brasileiro, C.A., Thomé, M.T.C., Sawaya, R.J., Conte, C.E., Cruz, C.A.G., Nascimento, L.B., Gasparini, J.L., Almeida, A.D.P. & Haddad, C.F.B. (2018) Anfíbios da Mata Atlântica: Lista de espécies, histórico de estudos, biologia e conservação. In: Monteiro-Filho, E.L.A. & Conte, C.E., Revisões em zoologia: Mata Atlântica. Editora UFPR, Curitiba, pp. 237–314.
  49. Santos-Pereira, M., Pombal Jr., J.P. & Rocha, C.F.D. (2018) Anuran amphibians in state of Paraná, southern Brazil. Biota Neotropica, 18 (3), e20170322. https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2017-0322
  50. Savage, J.M. & Heyer, W.R. (1967) Variation and distribution in the tree-frog genus Phyllomedusa in Costa Rica, Central America. Beiträge zur Neotropischen Fauna, 5 (2), 111–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/01650526709360400
  51. Savage, J.M. & Heyer, W.R. (1997) Digital webbing formulae for anurans: A refinement. Herpetological Review, 28 (3), 131.
  52. Scheele, B.C., Pasmans, F., Skerratt, L.F., Berger, L., Martel, A., Beukema, W., Acevedo, A.A., Burrowes, P.A., Carvalho, T., Catenazzi, A., Riva, I.D. la, Fisher, M.C., Flechas, S.V., Foster, C.N., Frías-Álvarez, P., Garner, T.W.J., Gratwicke, B., Guayasamin, J.M., Hirschfeld, M., Kolby, J.E., Kosch, T.A., Marca, E.L., Lindenmayer, D.B., Lips, K.R., Longo, A.V., Maneyro, R., McDonald, C.A., Mendelson, J., Palacios-Rodriguez, P., Parra-Olea, G., Richards-Zawacki, C.L., Rödel, M.-O., Rovito, S.M., Soto-Azat, C., Toledo, L.F., Voyles, J., Weldon, C., Whitfield, S.M., Wilkinson, M. & Canessa, S. (2019) Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity. Science, 363 (6434), 1459–1463. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav0379
  53. Silva, J.M.C. & Casteletti, C.H.M. (2003) Status of the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. In: Galindo-Leal, C. & de Gusmão Câmara, I. (Eds,), The Atlantic Forest of South America: Biodiversity Status, Threats, and Outlook. Island Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 1488.
  54. Straube, N., Lyra, M.L., Paijmans, J.L.A., Preick, M., Basler, N., Penner, J., Rödel, M., Westbury, M.V., Haddad, C.F.B., Barlow, A. & Hofreiter, M. (2021) Successful application of ancient DNA extraction and library construction protocols to museum wet collection specimens. Molecular Ecology Resources, 21, 2299–2315. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13433
  55. Toledo, L.F., De Carvalho-e-Silva, S.P., De Carvalho-e-Silva, A.M.P.T., Gasparini, J.L., Baêta, D., Rebouças, R., Haddad, C.F.B., Becker, C.G. & Carvalho, T. (2023) A retrospective overview of amphibian declines in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Biological Conservation, 277, 109845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109845
  56. Twomey, E., Sylvester, F., Jourdan, J., Hollert, H. & Schulte, L.M. (2025) Quantifying exposure of amphibian species to heat waves, cold spells, and droughts. Conservation Biology, e70074. [published online] https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70074
  57. Une, M.Y. (1982) An analysis of the effects of frosts on the principal coffee areas of Brazil. GeoJournal, 6 (2), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00185535
  58. Vancine, M.H., Duarte, K.D.S., De Souza, Y.S., Giovanelli, J.G.R., Martins‐Sobrinho, P.M., López, A., Bovo, R.P., Maffei, F., Lion, M.B., Ribeiro Júnior, J.W., Brassaloti, R., Da Costa, C.O.R., Sawakuchi, H.O., Forti, L.R., Cacciali, P., Bertoluci, J., Haddad, C.F.B. & Ribeiro, M.C. (2018) ATLANTIC AMPHIBIANS: a data set of amphibian communities from the Atlantic Forests of South America. Ecology, 99 (7), 1692–1692. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2392
  59. Verdade, V.K. & Rodrigues, M.T. (2007) Taxonomic review of Allobates (Anura , Aromobatidae) from the Atlantic Forest , Brazil. Journal of Herpetology, 41 (4), 566–580. https://doi.org/10.1670/06-094.1
  60. Wingett, S.W. & Andrews, S. (2018) FastQ Screen: A tool for multi-genome mapping and quality control. F1000Research, 7, 13–38. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.15931.2
  61. Zimmermann, H. & Zimmermann, E. (1988) Etho-Taxonomie und zoogeographische artengruppenbildung bei pfeilgiftfröschen (Anura: Dendrobatidae). Salamandra, 24 (2/3), 125–160.

How to Cite

Grant, T. & Pinheiro, P.D.P. (2025) A recently extinct new species of Dryadobates (Anura: Aromobatidae) from South Brazil: species description and implications for the historical distribution and recent extinction history of the clade. Zootaxa, 5693 (4), 583–595. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.9