A new cryptic species of the Pristimantis lacrimosus group (Anura, Strabomantidae) from the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract

With 566 species, the neotropical genus Pristimantis is the most speciose vertebrate genus. As a result of its striking diversity, taxonomic reviews remain a challenge. Herein, we present an updated phylogeny of the Pristimantis lacrimosus group and describe a new species from Llanganates and Sangay National Parks. We also report, for the first time, the phylogenetic position of Pristimantis degener, P. eugeniae, P. katoptroides, and P. petersi. Based on our phylogeny, we add two species to the Pristimantis lacrimosus group. Through the integration of molecular and bioacoustic evidence, we describe a new species which was hidden under “Pristimantis petersi”. Pristimantis petersioidessp. nov. is most closely related to Pristimantis petersi and an undescribed species from Peru. It can be distinguished from P. petersi by its advertisement call and large genetic differences (uncorrected p-genetic distances 7.9% to 8.4% for gene 16S). Moreover, the new species and P. petersi are not sister species. We suggest assigning the new species to the Endangered Red List category because it has a small distribution range with deforestation as result of agriculture and other anthropogenic influences.

Six new species of Pristimantis (Anura: Strabomantidae) from Llanganates National Park and Sangay National Park in Amazonian cloud forests of Ecuador

“…The phylogenetic relationships inferred with the concatenated matrix were generally congruent with those of Hedges, Duellman & Heinicke (2008) , the “tree-alignment + parsimony” of Padial, Grant & Frost (2014) , Páez & Ron (2019) , and the phylogeny of Carrión-Olmedo & Ron, 2021 ; topological differences pertain mainly to nodes with low support values (Fig. S1-available at: ).…”

“…Another significant factor in the current discovery of new species seems to be the deployment of a large group of Ecuadorian amphibian taxonomists working on a hot spot of amphibian diversity ( e.g ., Ortega-Andrade et al, 2015 ; Navarrete, Venegas & Ron, 2016 ; Ramírez-Jaramillo et al, 2018 ; Sánchez-Nivicela et al, 2018 ; Szèkely et al, 2018 ; Páez & Ron, 2019 , Reyes-Puig et al, 2019 ; Valencia et al, 2019 ; Yánez-Muñoz et al, 2019 ; Carrión-Olmedo & Ron, 2021 ; Zumel, Buckley & Ron, 2021 ; Guayasamin et al, 2022 ). This large group of taxonomists, working on several Ecuadorian institutions, would explain why Ecuador is the region with the highest density of new amphibian species described in the world between 2016 and 2020 ( Womack et al, 2022 ).…”

“…For all paratypes (113 in total) only SVL was measured. We did not measure other morphometric variables in the type series because previous taxonomic reviews of Pristimantis have shown that most morphometric variables are of low diagnostic value ( Páez & Ron, 2019 ; Carrión-Olmedo & Ron, 2021 ).…”

“…So far, from those collections, six new species of Pristimantis have been discovered ( i.e. , Navarrete, Venegas & Ron, 2016 ; Páez & Ron, 2019 ; Reyes-Puig et al, 2019 ; Carrión-Olmedo & Ron, 2021 ; Zumel, Buckley & Ron, 2021 ). In this publication, we describe six additional species and infer their evolutionary relationships.…”

Rediscovery, redescription and identity of Pristimantis nebulosus (Henle, 1992), and description of a new terrestrial-breeding frog from montane rainforests of central Peru (Anura, Strabomantidae)

“…Nevertheless, the integrative application of molecular genetics, in combination with morphology and bioacoustics, has led to a continuous description of new Pristimantis species at an unrestrained rate (e.g. Hutter and Guayasamin 2015;Páez and Ron 2019;Moravec et al 2020;Carrión-Olmedo and Ron 2021;Ortega-Andrade et al 2021).…”