478 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 88 



BRITISH GUIANA: USNM 118179. 



ECUADOR: Alpa-Yacu, near Mera, Napo-Pastaza, USNM 118710. 



Genus Niceforonia Goin and Cochran 



1963. Niceforonia Goin and Cochran, p. 499 (type species, Niceforonia nana). 



Diagnosis. — A leptodactylid with a cartilaginous sternum; terminal 

 phalanges terminating in an expanded knob but not distinctly T- 

 shaped; tips of digits not expanded into distinct disks; no tympanum 

 apparent; pupil horizontal; maxillary teeth present; no odontoids on 

 mandible; vomerine teeth in two small, distinct patches lying well 

 behind the small choanae; tongue elongate, entire and free behind; 

 fingers free of web, toes with but the merest vestige of web at the base; 

 cranial derm free of skull; roof of skull not exostosed. 



Niceforonia nana Goin and Cochran 



Figure 45 



1963. Niceforonia nana Goin and Cochran, p. 499, fig. 1 (type locality, Paramo 

 de La Rusia, Santander, Colombia). 



Description.— USNM 150643 (=MLS 142, holotype), an adult 

 female from Paramo de La Rusia, Santander, Colombia. No bony 

 ridges on top of head. Vomerine teeth in two short, slanting, narrowly 

 separated series far behind the choanae; tongue one-half as wide as 

 mouth opening, elongate, broadly oval, its posterior border free and 

 unnotched; snout moderate in length, rounded when viewed from 

 above, slanting forward in profile, the upper jaw extending very 

 slightly beyond the lower. Nostrils small, scarcely projecting, their 

 distance from end of snout a trifle greater than their distance from 

 eye. Canthus rostralis strong, curved; loreal region weakly concave, 

 slanting outward to the upper lip. Eye rather small, but with very 

 thick lids that give it additional prominence, its diameter about 

 four-fif ths its distance from tip of snout; interorbital diameter 1%. times 

 that of upper eyelid, equal to interval between nostrils. Tympanum 

 concealed. Fingers moderately long, with faint lateral ridges, free, 

 their tips scarcely enlarged, first finger a little shorter than second, 

 which equals the fourth, both of these extending to base of terminal 

 phalanx of third; a distinct oval thumb pad present, also a pad 

 at base of second finger; a rounded palmar callus; metacarpal tubercles 

 well developed. Toes fairly long, with little trace of web, third toe 

 longer than fifth, its tips reaching to middle of antepenultimate 

 phalanx of fourth, the tips of all toes slightly enlarged and flattened 

 above; a distinct, oval inner metatarsal tubercle and a smaller, 

 rounded outer one; no apparent tarsal ridge; a series of heavy skin- 

 folds on heel and knee. Body very stout, in postaxillary region much 

 wider than greatest width of head. When hind leg is adpressed, heel 



