A new species of flea-toad (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil 

Abstract

We describe a new species of Brachycephalus that is morphologically similar to the flea-toads B. didactylus, B. hermogenesi, and B. pulex. The new species occurs from the sea level up to 1000 m and it is widely distributed throughout southern Atlantic Forest. Brachycephalus sulfuratus sp. nov. is distinguished from all of its congeners by the combination of the following characters: (1) small body size (SVL of adults: 7.4-8.5 mm for males and 9.0-10.8 mm for females); (2) "leptodactyliform" body; (3) pectoral girdle arciferal and less robust compared to the Brachycephalus species with "bufoniform" body; (4) procoracoid and epicoracoid fused with coracoid but separated from the clavicle by a large fenestrae; (5) toe I externally absent; toes II, III, IV, and V distinct; phalanges of toes II and V reduced; (6) skin smooth with no dermal ossifications; (7) in life, general background color brown with small dark-brown spots; skin of throat, chest, arms, and forearms with irregular yellow blotches; in ventral view, cloacal region of alive and preserved specimens surrounded by a dark-brown inverted v-shaped mark outlined with white; (8) advertisement call long, composed of a set of 4-7 high-frequency notes (6.2-7.2 kHz) repeated regularly.

A new species ofBrachycephalus(Anura: Brachycephalidae) from Santa Catarina, southern Brazil

“…Brachycephalus albolineatus is easily distinguished from the remaining species of the pernix group by the general green coloration on dorsum, instead of (1) dark brown in B. brunneus , (2) orange (or orange and yellow), normally with dark spots on the flanks, of B. izecksohni , B. leopardus , B. pombali , and B. tridactylus , and (3) orange on head and on central dorsum with black remaining parts of B. pernix . The bufoniform body shape, white stripe along the vertebral column, and the two shades of green on the dorsum also distinguish the new species from all species of the didactylus group, namely B. didactylus (Izecksohn, 1971), B. hermogenesi (Giaretta & Sawaya, 1998), B. pulex Napoli, Caramaschi, Cruz & Dias, 2011, and B. sulfuratus Condez, Monteiro, Comitti, Garcia, Amaral & Haddad, 2016, accordingly Ribeiro et al (2015) and this study, which have leptodactyliform body shapes and homogeneous dorsal coloration, at times with an “X”-shaped darker mark on their dorsum (Izecksohn, 1971; Giaretta & Sawaya, 1998; Napoli et al, 2011; Condez et al, 2016). Brachycephalus albolineatus is distinguished from all species of the ephippium group whose members show dermal co-ossification, accordingly Ribeiro et al (2015), which is absent in the new species.…”

“…Based on this scenario, one could expect that Brachycephalus is likely to be found in montane regions of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest with similar climatic conditions, including the possibility of new species. Indeed, over the last decade, 16 new Brachycephalus species were described (Alves et al, 2009; Haddad et al, 2010; Pombal Jr & Izecksohn, 2011; Napoli et al, 2011; Clemente-Carvalho et al, 2012; Garey et al, 2012; Condez et al, 2014; Condez et al, 2016; Pie & Ribeiro, 2015; Ribeiro et al, 2015), suggesting that species diversity of the genus may still be underestimated.…”

Redescription of the advertisement call of Brachycephalus tridactylus (Anura: Brachycephalidae)

“…We also have documented the existence of notes with 1-3 pulses, a feature not observed in the original description (Garey et al 2012). Condez et al (2016) mentioned that B. tridactylus has notes with 1-3 pulses based on Garey et al (2012), but this information does not appear in Garey et al (2012). Last, we did not record the gradual decrease in frequency described by Garey et al (2012).…”

“…Pulsed notes are characteristic of all species of Brachycephalus (compilations in Monteiro et al 2018a,b, Pie et al 2018, and this study). Members of the B. ephippium and B. hermogenesi Groups have notes with several pulses, as follow: 5-8 in B. darkside (Guimarães et al 2017); 5-15 in B. ephippium (Pombal Jr. et al 1994); 7-11 in B. sulfuratus (Condez et al 2016); 7-12 in B. crispus (Condez et al 2014); and 7-14 in B. pitanga (Tandel et al 2014). These values are Table 1.…”

“…In the last decade, intensified fieldwork has led to the description of 23 species (Frost 2018), but data on natural history lag behind the rate of new species descriptions. Advertisement calls have been described for 12 of 36 species (33%): B. actaeus Haddad, 2018 (Monteiro et al 2018a); B. ephippium (Spix, 1824) (Pombal et al 1994, Goutte et al 2017; B. albolineatus Bornschein, Ribeiro, Blackburn, Stanley, andPie, 2016 (Bornschein et al 2018); B. crispus Condez, Clemente-Carvalho, Haddad, andReis, 2014 (Condez et al 2014); B. darkside Guimarães, Luz, Rocha, andFeio, 2017 (Guimarães et al 2017); B. hermogenesi (Giaretta and Sawaya, 1998) (Verdade et al 2008); B. mirissimus Pie, Ribeiro, Confetti, Nadaline, andBornschein, 2018 (Pie et al 2018); B. olivaceus Bornschein, Morato, Firkowski, Ribeiro andPie, 2015 (Monteiro et al 2018b); B. pitanga Alves, Sawaya, Reis, and Haddad, 2009(Araújo et al 2012, Tandel et al 2014, Goutte et al 2017; B. quiririensis Ribeiro, 2015 (Monteiro et al 2018b); B. sulfuratus Haddad, 2016 (Condez et al 2016); and B. tridactylus Garey, Lima, Hartmann, andHaddad, 2012 (Garey et al 2012).…”