Amended diagnosis and redescription of Pristimantis marmoratus (Boulenger, 1900) (Amphibia: Craugastoridae), with a description of its advertisement call and notes on its breeding ecology and phylogenetic relationships

Abstract

Abstract. The frog Pristimantis marmoratus was originally described as Hylodes marmoratus by George A. Boulenger in 1900 based on a single specimen reported to have been collected at the foot of Mount Roraima in Guyana in 1898. We herein discuss the exact location of the type locality of P. marmoratus and provide a redescription of the species based on new material from Kaieteur National Park and from the slopes of Maringma-tepui in Guyana. We also describe the previously unknown vocalization and breeding ecology of the species, and conducted an exploratory molecular analysis of the phylogenetic relationships within the genus Pristimantis represented by the members of the "unistrigatus species group" in the Guiana Shield. Pristimantis marmoratus is a small-sized species mainly distinguished from its known Guiana Shield congeners by the combination of F I < II, SVL ≤ 20.4 in males, presence of vocal slits in males, granular/pustulate dorsal skin with well-developed scapular ridges, basal webbing between fingers, fringes on fingers and toes, crossed iris, diffuse yellow or pale green wash on groin, and absence of flashy colour on axillary/pre-axillary region. The advertisement call consists of a single note repeated at a rate of ca 11 calls/min with a dominant frequency ranging from 2756 to 3101 Hz. R e s e a r c h a r t i c l eurn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:783D763E-C553-42B7-954B-BB5CB6DB913A1 Pristimantis marmoratus is primarily arboreal, exclusively active at dusk, and probably restricted to the pristine rainforests of the Pantepui uplands and highlands, east of the Gran Sabana between ca 600 and 1800 m above sea level. Preliminary molecular analyses recovered Pristimantis marmoratus as sister to an unnamed species from the Eastern Guiana Shield. On grounds of the newly established distributional extent we suggest maintaining the IUCN conservation status as Least Concern.

Four new species of Pristimantis Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 (Anura: Craugastoridae) in the eastern Amazon

“…The occurrence of sympatric Pristimantis species has been recorded in several studies [45], [66], [67]. In this study, P. giorgii/P.…”

A new species of terrestrial frog Pristimantis (Strabomantidae) from the upper basin of the Pastaza River, Ecuador

“…Sequences from Diasporus , Eleutherodactylus , Holoaden , Hypodactylus, Ischnocnema , Lynchius , Oreobates , and Strabomantis were also used as external groups. GenBank sequences employed correspond to data previously reported by Darst and Cannatella (2004) , Faivovich et al (2005) , Elmer et al (2007) , Heinicke et al (2007 , 2009 , 2015 ), Hedges et al (2008) , Arteaga-Navarro and Guayasamin (2011) , Fouquet et al (2012) , Kok et al (2012 , 2018 ), Lehr et al (2012 , 2017 ), Lehr and Von May (2017) , Pinto-Sánchez et al (2012) , Arteaga et al (2013 , 2016 ), Barrio-Amorós et al (2013) , Crawford et al (2013) , Zhang et al (2013) , Ortega-Andrade and Venegas (2014) , Rivera-Prieto et al (2014) , Hutter and Guayasamin (2015) , Rivera-Correa and Daza (2015) , Chávez and Catenazzi (2016) , de Oliveira et al (2017) , García-R. et al (2012) , Shepack et al (2016) , Székely et al (2016) , González-Durán et al (2017) , Guayasamin et al 2015 , Guayasamin et al 2017 , Jablonski et al (2017) , von May et al (2017) , Mahecha et al (unpub.).…”

A new species of rain frog (Anura: Strabomantidae: Pristimantis) from the Guiana Shield and amended diagnosis of P. ockendeni (Boulenger, 1912)

“…However, taxonomic acts are not trivial since many Amazonian species have been historically misidentified, often lumped within putatively widespread taxa (e.g., Amazophrynella minuta Rojas-Zamora et al 2014; Dendropsophus brevifrons Fouquet et al 2015;Boana geographica Fouquet et al 2016). Therefore, tackling these taxonomic issues also requires examining types, and topotypical material and often redescribing or redefining these supposedly widespread species (e.g., Pristimantis marmoratus Kok et al 2018;Anomaloglossus baeobatrachus Fouquet et al 2019;Pristimantis grandoculis Fouquet et al 2022b).…”

“…In addition, these two patterns are closely linked to the presence of a W-shaped on scapular region (66% of types), even if not very evident (16% of types). Dorsal skin texture is fairly variable too (probably depending on activity, as observed in many species of the genus (e.g., Guayasamin et al 2015;Kok et al 2018), from shagreened to granular, with or without tubercles. Dark bands and blotches located below the eyes are present in the most specimens of type series, not very evident or absent (91%, 4%, and 5% of types, respectively).…”