The cane or marine toad, Rhinella marina (Anura, Bufonidae): two genetically and morphologically distinct species

Abstract

Rhinella marina is a Neotropical toad that has been introduced widely worldwide. Its toxic effects to frog-eating predators threaten the native and domestic fauna of some regions where it has been introduced. Despite previous studies suggesting two genetically distinct cryptic species within R. marina, one east and one west of the Andes, its taxonomic status remained unresolved due to the absence of morphological complementary evidence. For the first time, data from two mitochondrial genes (ND3 and CR) and 23 morphometric landmarks are combined to evaluate the taxonomic status of this species. Our results support the hypothesis of two separate evolutionary lineages within R. marina and demonstrate that these lineages have significantly diverged in skull shape. We identified two distinct morphotypes, one eastern and one Andean western, with no overlapping morphospaces. The geographic pattern of genetic variation was consistent with a stable structured population with no evidence of recent demographic or geographic expansions. The concordance between the observed geographic patterns in morphometric and genic traits calls for the recognition of two species under R. marina name.

Species limits within the widespread Amazonian treefrog Dendropsophus parviceps with descriptions of two new species (Anura, Hylidae)

“…Genetic divergence usually covaries with size, bioacoustic, and qualitative morphological characters (e.g., skin ornamentation and coloration) while it has low covariation with size-corrected morphometric variables (Caminer et al 2017; dos Santos et al 2015; Fouquet et al 2012; Funk et al 2012; Ortega-Andrade et al 2015; Ron et al 2016, but see Acevedo et al 2016). This suggests that advertisement calls and qualitative morphological characters are among the first components of the phenotype to diverge during speciation.…”

Uso de microhábitat por parte del sapo gigante Rhinella horribilis en pastizales en el municipio de Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia

“…Los resultados coinciden con otras investigaciones donde se menciona que la especie hace uso proporcional de los sustratos disponibles (Martínez 2004). El uso de diferentes tipos de sustratos responde a que estos se constituyen como refugios que determinan las tasas de temperatura corporal y deshidratación de anfibios terrestres, como es el caso de R. marina (Seebacher y Alford 2002), dividida en dos poblaciones geográficamente diferenciadas según estudios genéticos y morfológicos: R. marina localizada para la zona oriental de los Andes y R. horribilis revalidada para las poblaciones de la zona occidental de los Andes (Acevedo et al 2016).…”

“…Rhinella horribilis (Wiegmann 1833) es una especie que presenta amplia distribución a nivel mundial encontrándose desde el oeste de los Andes y México (Acevedo et al 2016). En Colombia se ha registrado desde el nivel del mar hasta zonas de alta montaña al oeste de la cordillera de los Andes (Acevedo et al 2016), predominante en zonas bajas (Ardila-Robayo et al 1996), siendo su registro de mayor altitud (2.200 msnm) en el enclave seco del desierto de la Candelaria en el municipio de Villa de Leyva, Boyacá (Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt 2013, Acosta-Galvis 2012).…”

New record and range extension of the Horned Toad, Rhinella ceratophrys (Boulenger, 1882) (Anura: Bufonidae), in Venezuela, and confirmation of its presence in Brazil

“…It is distributed from southern United States in North America, through Central America southward to Argentina in southernmost South America (Frost 2016). Currently, over ninety species are grouped under this genus (AmphibiaWeb 2016;Frost 2016), nine of which occur in Venezuela: R. ceratophrys (Boulenger, 1882), R. horribilis (Wieggman, 1833), R. humboldti (Gallardo, 1965), R. margaritifera (Laurenti, 1768), R. marina (Linnaeus, 1758), R. merianae (Gallardo, 1965), R. nattereri (Bokermman, 1967), R. sclerocephala (Mijares-Urrutia & Arends, 2001), and R. sternosignata (Günther, 1859) (Barrio-Amorós et al 2009;Acevedo et al 2016).…”