Polymorphism in a Neotropical toad species: ontogenetic, populational and geographic approaches to chromatic variation inProceratophrys cristiceps(Müller, 1883) (Amphibia, Anura, Odontophrynidae)

Abstract

Quantifying variability is important for understanding how evolution operates in polymorphic species such as those of the genus Proceratophrys Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920, which is widely distributed in South America. P. cristiceps distribution is limited to the Caatinga biome in Brazil. We examined its chromatic variation from a populational perspective, looking at different phenetic polymorphism levels and probable chromotypic association by applying statistical and GIS tools that could facilitate future taxonomic research regarding this and other species. We characterized P. cristiceps colour patterns and re-evaluated its geographic variation, highlighting potential consequences for the taxonomy of the genus. Our results revealed six principle chromotypes whose frequencies varied among sex and ontogenetic classes. Phenotypic expression appeared to respect defined proportions and evidenced selective value for the species. We conclude that individual variation, together with typological traditionalism may overestimate the polymorphic magnitude at the population level and cause taxonomic inflation. Our data support the usefulness of P. cristiceps as a model for microevolutionary studies.

Posição taxonômica de duas populações relacionadas à >i<Scinax squalirostris>/i< (Lutz, 1925) (Anura: Hylidae)

“…No entanto, também há muitos casos de espécies que têm a morfologia externa altamente polimórfica (e.g. Caminer et al, 2017;Vieira et al, 2022), o que é problemático ao passo que confusões podem surgir acerca da delimitação entre o que constitui variação intraespecífica, e o que na verdade consiste em diferenças interespecíficas. Portanto, abordagens taxonômicas baseadas em uma única linha de evidência tendem a ser ineficazes, sendo necessário abordagens pluralísticas para que hipóteses taxonômicas robustas sejam construídas (Vences et al, 2010;Rojas et al, 2018).…”