A new species of the Rhinella margaritifera species group (Anura, Bufonidae) from the montane forest of the Selva Central, Peru

By

Moravec, Jiří 1958-
Lehr, Edgar 1969-
Cusi, Juan Carlos
Córdova, Jesús H.
Gvoždík, Václav, 1979-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2014

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

371

Pages

35-56

Subjects

Amphibia , Andes , new species , new species group , Rhinella festae , Rhinella yunga

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.371.6580

 

Abstract

We describe a new species of the bufonid toad genus Rhinella from transition montane forest of the buffer zones of the Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park and the Pui Pui Protected Forest (eastern slopes of Andes, Selva Central, Peru). The new species belongs to the Rhinella margaritifera species group (confirmed by mtDNA data) and differs from all its members by the absence of tympanic membrane and tympanic annulus. It is characterized by medium size (SVL 57.5–65.5 mm, n = 5), moderately developed cranial crests, absence of neural crest of vertebrae, absence of bone protrusion at angle of jaw, presence of lateral rows of enlarged tubercles, and absence of subgular vocal sac and vocal slits in males. In addition, based on the molecular phylogenetic analyses of selected Rhinella species we propose the monophylum containing R. chavin, R. festae, R. macrorhina, R. manu, R. nesiotes, R. rostrata, and R. yanachaga as a new species group under the name Rhinella festae species group.