Species of Brachycephalus has been having taxonomical issues due its morphological similarity and genetic conservatism. Herein, we describe a new species of Brachycephalus from the south Mantiqueira mountain range and semidecidual forests in the municipalities of Mogi das Cruzes, Campinas and Jundiaí, state of São Paulo, Brazil, based on an integrative approach. It can be distinguished from all species of the B. ephippium species group based on morphological characters (especially osteology and head shape), advertisement call and divergence in partial mitochondrial DNA gene sequences (16S). The new species is genetically similar to B. margaritatus and morphologically similar to B. ephippium. It can be differentiated from B. ephippium by the presence of dark faded spots on skull and post-cranial plates, presence of black connective tissue connective tissue scattered over dorsal musculature, parotic plate morphology, smaller snout-vent length (adult SVL: males 13.46–15.92 mm; females 16.04–17.69 mm) and 3% genetic distance. We also present natural history data and discuss the robustness of the integrative approach, geographic distribution, genetic data, behaviour, fluorescence in ontogeny, and conservation status.

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Both ostracods and amphibians are able to colonize a wide variety of freshwater environments (Balian et al. 2008, Martens et al. 2008, Ottonelo and Romano 2011). However, unlike amphibians, ostracods also are widely distributed in marine environments (Coimbra and Bergue 2011). The first fossil records of ostracods are dated from the Ordovician Period and, in the Carboniferous Period, these crustaceans began to colonize freshwater environments (Coimbra and Bergue 2011). Ostracods are found in all types of aquatic environments, such as lakes, rivers, and humid soils of tropical forests and phytotelmata (Pinto and Purper 1970). Like ostracods, some species of anurans are associated with phytotelmata. For example, some anurans use bromeliads throughout their

There are many gaps in our biodiversity knowledge, especially in highly diverse regions such as the Neotropics. Basic information on species occurrence and traits are scattered throughout different literature sources, which makes it difficult to access data and ultimately delays advances in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. We provide species occurrence and trait data for amphibian species in the Upper Paraguay River Basin, central South America. The compiled information is made available through two different datasets that hold (i) 17K species occurrence records and (ii) 30 species-level traits for 113 amphibian species. The first dataset includes the species occurrence records and informs specimen id, collection of housing, locality, geographical coordinates, geographic accuracy, collection date, and collector name. The second dataset covers species-level attributes on morphometry, diet, activity, habitat, and breeding strategy. These datasets improve accessibility to spatial and trait data for amphibian species in the Pantanal ecoregion, one of the largest wetlands on Earth.

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