A new polyploid species of Pleurodema (Anura: Leiuperidae) from Sierra de Comechingones, Córdoba, Argentina and redescription of Pleurodema kriegi (Müller, 1926)
Author
Valetti, Julián A.
Author
Salas, Nancy E.
Author
Martino, Adolfo L.
text
Zootaxa
2009
2073
1
21
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.187133
7f5b4ed0-37cc-434d-bb43-7003d9e8a151
1175-5326
187133
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
Fig. 10
Material.
Holotype
.
FML
20490, adult male (
Fig. 11
) from Estancia Los Tabaquillos (
32º23'58.4'' S
,
64º55'35.1'' W
, approximately
2105 m
elevation), Sierra de Comechingones, Córdoba province,
Argentina
(
Fig. 1
), collected during the night of 0
5 February 2006
by Adolfo L. Martino and Julián A. Valetti.
Paratypes
(
9 specimens
).
FML
20492, adult female and
FML
20484–20489, 20491, eight adult males, all collected with the
holotype
.
Diagnosis.
A small species of
Pleurodema
(
35.41 mm
SVL) with lumbar glands and chromosomic complement octoploid. The new species is distinguished from other species of the genus
Pleurodema
by the following combination of characters: (1) relatively small size; (2) snout short, canthus rostralis rounded in dorsal view and truncate in lateral view; (3) lumbar glands present, 1 ½ eye diameter; (4) round tympanic annulus, almost concealed; (5) tympanum length half of the eye diameter; (6) vomerine teeth absent, (7) comissural gland prominent; (8) brilliant red-orange spots on the groin and around lumbar glands; (9) ploid level 2n=
8x
=88; (10) axillary amplexus; (11) egg deposition in gelatinous nest attached to vegetation; (12) compound advertisement call with tri-pulsed pulse groups, average dominant frequency 1787 Hz.
According to external morphology,
Pleurodema kriegi
,
Pleurodema bibroni
and
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
are cryptic and the properties of their advertisement calls are very similar.
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
is the only octoploid species of the genus (
P. k r i e g i
and
P. bibroni
are tetraploid and the rest of species are diploid;
Brum-Zorrilla & Sáez, 1968
; Barrio & Rinaldi de
Chieri, 1970
;
Veloso
et al
., 1972
;
Duellman & Veloso, 1977
;
Schmid
et al.
, 1993
;
Lourenço
et al.
, 2006
). Morphometric comparisons indicate differences between
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
and
P. k r i e g i
(
Table 1
). However, there are no morphometric measures that allow a precise identification between both
taxa
. The temporal variables of the advertisement call differ from
P. k r i e g i
(
Table 2
) and the pulse rate is higher than
P. k r i e g i
. The erythrocyte size of
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
is significantly bigger than
P. k r i e g i
(Table 4) near 100 µm2.
FIGURE 10
. Adult male of
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
from Estancia Los Tabaquillos, Sierra de Comechingones, Córdoba province, Argentina. Photograph by A. Martino and J. Valetti.
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
is distinguished markedly from
P. tucumanum
,
P. nebulosum
,
P. guayapae
,
P. marmoratum
and
P. diplolister
by the presence of lumbar glands; from
P. bufoninum
,
P. borellii
,
P. cinereum
and
P. thaul
by the presence of advertisement call compound by tri-pulsed pulse groups (absent in
P. bufoninum,
Duellman & Veloso 1977
; formed by a single pulse group in
P. borellii
and
P. cinereum
,
McLister
et al
. 1991
; and formed by pulse groups of 5-6 pulses in
P. thaul
,
Barrio, 1977
); from
P. brachyops
by having lumbar glands bigger than eye diameter (smaller in
P. brachyops
), yellow lumbar glands with black central ocellus (black lumbar glands with whitish central blotchs in
P. brachyops
), tympanum size half of the eye diameter (smaller than half eye diameter in
P. brachyops
).
Sixteen morphometric distances of the
type
series describe the quantitative morphological features of the new species (Table 5).
Description of the
holotype
.
The
holotype
(FML 20490,
Fig. 11
) is an adult male of
35.2 mm
(Table 5), body robust; head triangular slightly wider than long; snout short, canthus rostralis rounded in dorsal view and truncated in lateral view. Eyes protuberant; eye diameter equal to interocular distance; interocular distance larger than internarinal interval. Round tympanic annulus almost concealed, approximately half the size of eye diameter. Commissural glands present, oval, approximately the same size of eye diameter. Vomerine teeth absent. Dark vocal sac. Fingers free; relative length of fingers: 3>4>1>2; two not-darkened palmar tubercles (
Fig. 11
). Femur length less than tibia length; sum of femur length and tibia length longer than foot length.
Toes free with cutaneous edge and rudimentary interdigital basal membrane; two metatarsal tubercles (
Fig. 11
); relative length of toes: 4>5=3>2>1. Lumbar glands large, oval, one and a half times the size of eye diameter. Vocal sacs single, median and subgular. In life, dorsally brownish with large almost symmetrical dark spots. Dark transverse bands on upper surface of arms and legs. Yellow lumbar glands with a black central ocellus covering 60% of the gland. Brilliant red-orange spots on the groin and around lumbar glands. Dark palms and soles, with whitish palmar tubercles. Dark vocal sac, with the rest of ventral body surface being whitish and mild dotted dark. Iris gold with black reticulations.
FIGURE 11
.
Pleurodema cordobae
sp nov., holotype (FML 20490, SVL 32.22 mm), (A) dorsal view of specimen; ventral views of (B) hand and (C) foot. Photograph by J. Valetti.
FIGURE 12
. Type locality of
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
Estancia Los Tabaquillos, Sierra de Comechingones. Córdoba province, Argentina. Photograph by J. Valetti and A. Martino.
TABLE 5.
Morphometric features of the
type
series of
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
which were collected at Est. Los Tabaquillos, Córdoba. All data are given in [mm]. (1) snout-vent length (SVL); (2) maximal head width; (3) head length; (4) snout-eye distance; (5) internarinal distance; (6) interocular distance; (7) eye-narinal distance; (8) rostronarinal distance; (9) eye diameter; (10) arm length; (11) length of 3rd finger; (12) femur length; (13) tibia length; (14) foot length; (15) length of 3rd toe; (16) length of 4th toe. FML = Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán,
Argentina
. M= male; F= female.
| sex |
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
(6) |
(7) |
(8) |
| Holotype |
| FML 20490 |
M |
35.2 |
13.1 |
12.8 |
5.7 |
2.1 |
3.5 |
3.0 |
3.5 |
| Paratype |
| FML 20492 |
F |
42.9 |
15.5 |
15.5 |
6.7 |
2.6 |
3.9 |
3.5 |
4.4 |
| FML 20483 |
M |
34.3 |
12.7 |
13.5 |
5.2 |
2.0 |
2.9 |
2.8 |
3.3 |
| FML 20484 |
M |
35.1 |
14.0 |
14.4 |
5.4 |
2.3 |
2.6 |
2.8 |
3.1 |
| FML 20485 |
M |
37.5 |
13.5 |
14.4 |
5.3 |
2.0 |
3.3 |
3.2 |
3.1 |
| FML 20486 |
M |
34.0 |
12.0 |
13.2 |
5.0 |
2.0 |
2.9 |
2.7 |
2.9 |
| FML 20487 |
M |
35.1 |
13.8 |
13.0 |
5.2 |
2.0 |
3.6 |
2.6 |
3.1 |
| FML 20488 |
M |
35.0 |
12.6 |
13.0 |
5.7 |
2.0 |
3.1 |
2.5 |
2.8 |
| FML 20489 |
M |
32.7 |
12.2 |
12.8 |
5.4 |
2.4 |
2.9 |
2.7 |
3.3 |
| FML 20491 |
M |
35.2 |
13.7 |
11.7 |
5.6 |
2.2 |
3.1 |
2.7 |
3.3 |
| continued. |
| sex |
(9) |
(10) |
(11) |
(12) |
(13) |
(14) |
(15) |
(16) |
| Holotype |
| FML 20490 |
M |
3.6 |
16.0 |
4.5 |
13.6 |
15.0 |
22.5 |
5.6 |
9.1 |
| Paratype |
| FML 20492 |
F |
4.0 |
20.5 |
6.6 |
18.3 |
19.9 |
30.0 |
6.5 |
12.1 |
| FML 20483 |
M |
3.8 |
16.0 |
5.2 |
16.1 |
16.6 |
25.0 |
5.5 |
9.8 |
| FML 20484 |
M |
3.7 |
15.0 |
5.0 |
15.3 |
16.6 |
25.0 |
5.4 |
10.3 |
| FML 20485 |
M |
3.6 |
18.1 |
5.9 |
16.6 |
17.1 |
27.3 |
5.6 |
10.8 |
| FML 20486 |
M |
3.3 |
16.2 |
5.2 |
14.7 |
15.3 |
23.8 |
5.1 |
8.4 |
| FML 20487 |
M |
3.6 |
16.3 |
5.4 |
14.1 |
13.3 |
24.9 |
5.7 |
10.5 |
| FML 20488 |
M |
2.5 |
16.2 |
4.6 |
15.5 |
15.7 |
23.5 |
5.0 |
9.5 |
| FML 20489 |
M |
3.5 |
16.3 |
5.4 |
14.8 |
15.7 |
23.8 |
5.5 |
9.6 |
| FML 20491 |
M |
3.6 |
15.8 |
5.3 |
15.6 |
16.5 |
25.0 |
5.5 |
10.3 |
FIGURE 13
. Typical localization of calling male of
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
Type locality, Estancia Los Tabaquillos, Córdoba province, Argentina. Photograph by A. Martino and J. Valetti.
Distribution.
The species is currently known from
Terra typica
, Estancia Los Tabaquillos
(
Fig. 1
) and two temporary ponds located 5 kilometers away from the former.
Ecology.
Pleurodema cordobae
sp. nov.
males were acoustically active from December to March (Austral summer) from 21.00 hs. to 4.00 hr. (sunset time: 21.00 – 21.30 hr)
Pleurodema cordobae
breeds in temporary and semipermanent ponds with vegetation at the edges and a depth of
20 to 30 cm
(
Fig. 12
). The males emit their calls floating on the surface of the water near the edge of ponds (
Fig. 13
). The eggs are deposited in semisubmerged eggs-masses and adhered to the vegetation (
Fig. 14
). The amplexus is axillary. This species was observed in syntopy with
Rhinella achalensis
,
R. arenarum
,
Odontophrynus achalensis
and
Hypsiboas cordobae
.
Etymology.
The specific name (a noun in the genitive case) refers to the currently known geographical distribution of the new species.