Rediscovering Cycloramphus bandeirensis (Anura: Cycloramphidae): natural history and breeding biology of a vulnerable species with a variant reproductive mode. We present here data on the breeding biology of Cycloramphus bandeirensis, including descriptions of the advertisement call and tadpole. Males call from beneath rocks in open grasslands above approximately 2,450 m a.s.l. at the Parque Nacional do Caparaó, southeastern Brazil. Breeding occurs from late October–December, when mist and clouds frequently cover the area. The advertisement call consists of a frst note, followed by two or three shorter ones. The spawn is hidden under rocks from which the males call, and the tadpoles are exotrophic and semiterrestrial. This report of a semiterrestrial tadpole that develops in seclusion in a terrestrial habitat is a variant of Reproductive Mode 19. We compared the ontogeny of the semiterrestrial tadpole of C. bandeirensis to that of generalized tadpoles, and a new function is ascribed to the skin fap that is present in larvae of Cycloramphus. It is suggested that C. bandeirensis be transferred to Vulnerable category (VU, d2) of IUCN; the species has a small geographic range (< 20 km2 ), specialized environmental requirements, is vulnerable, has phylogenetic affnities to species that consistently have undergone local population crashes in southeastern Brazil, and is subject to plausible potential threats in its range (e.g., fres and climate change).

The genus Zachaenus Cope is the least specious within Cycloramphidae, including two species: Z. carvalhoi Izecksohn, and Z. parvulus (Girard). Both are leaf litter species distributed across Atlantic forest remnants in Southeastern Brazil. Zachaenus carvalhoi occurs westerly in the states of Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais, and Z. parvulus easterly in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Espírito Santo (Verdade et al. 2009; Motta et al. 2010; Salles & Maciel 2010; Oliveira et al. 2012; Guedes et al. 2019; Frost 2019). Both species build terrestrial nests, and larval development is endotrophic nidicolous (reproductive mode 21 after Haddad & Prado 2005; Lutz 1944; Thibaudeau & Altig 1999; Zocca et al. 2014). In this work, we describe the tadpoles of Z. carvalhoi, and discuss morphological aspects regarding other endotrophic tadpoles.

We describe a new species of dull-colored flea-toad, genus Brachycephalus, from the Atlantic Forest of Caparaó mountains in southeastern Brazil. The new species is characterized by its diminutive size, “leptodactyliform” body, brownish color with an inverted V-shaped dark mark on dorsum, skin smooth, hyperossification and dorsal shield absent, linea masculinea absent, Fingers I and IV vestigial, Toe I externally absent, Toe II reduced but functional, Toes III and IV with pointed tips, Toe V vestigial, and ventral color uniformly brown. It is a leaf litter dweller, known only from type locality in the humid forests on the eastern slopes of Parque Nacional do Caparaó mountains, a protected area in the states of Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the third flea-toad occurring in the state of Espírito Santo recovered as sister to all other Brachycephalus distributed from the state of São Paulo northward in the Atlantic Forest.

Cycloramphus Tschudi is the most speciose genus in the family Cycloramphidae, including 30 species endemic to the Atlantic forest Domain in Brazil (Frost 2022). Species in the genus may be classified as saxicolous and terrestrial based on morphology and reproductive mode. Saxicolous are flat-bodied species, with granular skin, and interdigital web (Heyer 1983a), associated with fast-flowing streams in all life history phases. They lay eggs over humid rocks, logs, or crevices in the splash zone, from which semiterrestrial tadpoles hatch (McDiarmid & Altig 1999; Dias et al. 2021) that feed over humid rocks inside the stream or dripping rocky walls (Lutz 1929; Heyer 1983a, b; Haddad & Sazima 1989; Giaretta & Cardoso 1995; Giaretta & Facure 2003; Lima et al. 2010). The single exception to this pattern is C. bandeirensis Heyer 1983a, which share the morphology of adults and larvae, but lives terrestrially, away from streams, in the rocky fields of open high elevation grasslands of Caparaó National Park (Verdade et al. 2019).