A new Chiasmocleis (Anura: Microhylidae) from the eastern Guiana Shield with an amended definition of C. haddadi Peloso, Sturaro, Forlani, Gaucher, Motta, & Wheeler, 2014
Author
Fouquet, Antoine
Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174, CNRS, IRD, Université Paul Sabatier, Bâtiment 4 R 1 31062 cedex 9, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31077 Toulouse, France.
Author
Rodrigues, Miguel T.
Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Zoologia, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Author
Peloso, Pedro
0000-0003-0127-8293
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Avenida Perimetral, 1.901, Terra Firme, CEP 66077 - 530, Belém, PA, Brazil. & California State University, Cal Poly Humboldt, Department of Biological Sciences, 1 Harpst St., Arcata, CA 95521 pedropeloso @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 0127 - 8293
pedropeloso@gmail.com
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-10-26
5200
1
1
23
journal article
172791
10.11646/zootaxa.5200.1.1
d58d3e99-45ae-400b-8166-44409ea9afc6
1175-5326
7251946
A1E1951B-EB55-4A20-9582-B169C2797E59
Chiasmocleis jacki
sp. nov.
Chiasmocleis hudsoni
Lescure & Marty 2000
Chiasmocleis hudsoni
Fouquet
et al
. 2007
Chiasmocleis haddadi
Peloso
et al
. 2014
(part)
Chiasmocleis
aff.
haddadi
Fouquet
et al
. 2019
Chiasmocleis
cf.
haddadi
Vacher
et al
. 2020
Holotype
.
MNHN-RA-2020.0026 (field n° AF2716), an adult male collected at
Alikéné
,
French Guiana
(
3.21873
,
-52.3964
) by
J.P. Vacher
and
S. Cally
on the
17/02/2015
(
Fig. 5
,
6
).
Paratypes
.
MNHN-RA-2020.0030–31 (field n°
AF2714–5
),
two males
and MNHN-RA-2020.0029 (field n° AF2669) a female collected with the
holotype
; MNHN-RA-2020.0033 (field n° AF5405)
a male collected at
Savane
roche
Dachine
,
French Guiana
(
3.469583
,
-53.229783
) by
M. Dewynter
and
E. Courtois
on the
03/06/2019
;
MNHN-RA-2020.0028 (field n° AF1547) a female collected at
Saul
,
French Guiana
(
3.615576
,
-53.227093
) by M.
Berroneau
,
M. Berroneau
, L.
Barthe
and
P.O. Cochard
on the
22/01/2014
;
MNHN-RA-2020.0027 (field n° PG717) a female collected at
Saut Maripa
,
French Guiana
(
3.806111
,
-51.893389
) by
M. Dewynter
and
K. Pineau
on the
01/02/2012
;
MNHN-RA-2020.0032 (field n° AF5489), an adult male, collected at
Montagne Takulu
,
French Guiana
(
2.20963
,
-52.98903
) by
Elodie Courtois
and
Maël Dewynter
on the
30 April 2019
;
MNHN 1997.2272
a female collected at
Saint Eugene
,
French Guiana
(
4.82167
,
-53.06766
) by
J.-C. De Massary
on the
31 March 1997
.
Etymology.
The specific epithet, a patronym formed as a noun in the genitive case, refers to Jack Dalton, the second tallest brother of the Dalton gang, the outlaw characters of Morris and Goscinny comic books Lucky Luke, reminding the different in size of the four species of
Chiasmocleis
co-occurring in the Guiana Shield, the new species being intermediary in body size.
Definition.
The
new species is characterized by the following unique combination of characters: SVL small, mean SVL in adult males
15.4 mm
(range
14.8–16.3 mm
, n = 5) and mean SVL in adult females
18.8 mm
(range
19.2–20.2 mm
, n = 4) (
Table 1
); body ovoid, robust; head much narrower than body, snout rounded in dorsal and lateral views; four distinctive fingers;
Fingers I
, II and III fringed proximally, particularly
Finger
III; fingers not webbed; FI developed but small with a rounded or slightly pointed tip, subarticular tubercle large two tubercules on FIII and FIV and only one on FI and II; rounded or slightly pointed and slightly swollen tips of FIII and IV; adpressed FI reaches the base of subarticular tubercle of FII; adpressed FIV reaches the base of distal tubercle of FIII; thenar and palmar tubercle present in all individuals; relative finger lengths I<II<IV<III.
Upper
surface of arms with brick-coloured blotches in life, grey in preservative.
Dorsolateral
stripes enlarging posteriorly and illdefined dorsally.
Eyes
with a copper iris.
Five
distinctive toes, first very small; toes slightly fringed except
Toe
V and distally on FIV, more pronounced proximally on TI–III; toes not webbed; TI with without subarticular tubercle; adpressed TI does not reach subarticular tubercle of TII; adpressed TV does not reach or reaches only the middle of the middle subarticular tubercle of TIV; TII–IV with terminal discs.
Thigh
with ventral surface dark brown with blueish speckles in life, whitish in preservative.
Some
males with few small dermal spines on chin.
Advertisement
call with 7–8 notes, intercall silences
0.14 s
and dominant frequency 3.84 kHz (
Fig. 3
).
Morphological comparisons with other
Chiasmocleis
.
Phylogenetically the new species is part of the
Chiasmocleis hudsoni
species group, as defined by
Peloso
et al
. (2014)
. We focus our comparisons to the known species in the group.
Chiasmocleis jacki
is most similar to
C. haddadi
and
C. hudsoni
, three species that co-occur in the Guiana Shield, for which we provide more detailed comparisons.
Chiasmocleis jacki
sp. nov.
can mainly be distinguished from its closest relative
C. haddadi
(in parentheses) by its larger body size (SVL range =
14.8–16.3 mm
vs.
12.9–14.7 in
males;
18.5–20.2 mm
vs.
17.2 in
the female); dorsolateral stripes ill-defined dorsally (well defined); smaller eyes (7.4–8.9 % vs. 8.9–9.7% of SVL) (
Fig. 6
); its advertisement call with shorter calls (0.09 vs
0.32s
), longer silences among calls (0.14 vs
0.06 s
) and lower dominant frequency (3.84 vs 4.57 kHz) (
Fig. 3
).
Chiasmocleis jacki
sp. nov.
can mainly be distinguished from
C. hudsoni
(in parentheses) by its dorsolateral stripes ill-defined dorsally (absent or poorly defined); upper surface of arms with brick-coloured blotches sometimes entirely brick coloured (dark brown sometimes with clear speckles); ventral surface of thigh with blueish speckles cream in preservative over a dark brown background (no speckles and light brown background in preservative to orange in life); an advertisement call with more notes (7–8 vs 5 notes), longer silences among calls (0.14 vs
0.013 s
) and lower dominant frequency (3.84 vs 4.94 kHz).
Chiasmocleis jacki
differs from
C. antenori
,
C. carvalhoi
,
C. magnova
,
C. parkeri
C. tridactyla
in having four fully developed fingers, although FI is small (FI not evident externally in
C. antenori
,
C. carvalhoi
,
C. tridactyla
; FI and FIV much reduced in
C. parkeri
; FVI much reduced in
C. magnova
) and by its reticulated ventral colour pattern (dark with scattered light spots in
C. antenori
,
C. magnova
and
C. parkeri
; beige with white spots or blotches in
C. carvalhoi
).
Description of the
holotype
.
An adult male, SVL
15.9 mm
. Body ovoid, relatively robust. Head wider than long (1.2X), much narrower than body trunk; nostrils not protuberant, positioned anterolaterally, directed laterally; snout rounded in dorsal and in lateral views;
canthus rostralis
indistinct; interorbital region flat. Eyes small; tympanum not visible; pupil round; supratympanic fold indistinct. Tongue large, elongate, with free lateral and posterior edges, extended beyond the extent of the jaw; vocal slits present, one on each side of the tongue; choanae small, rounded, widely separated, anterior to eye; vomerine teeth absent. Vocal sac not externally evident, many small white dermal spines on the chin. Arms slender, FI reduced, FII, FIII, and FIV well developed; tips of FII and FIII rounded and of FI and FIV slightly pointed; no webbing between fingers; Fingers I, II and III fringed proximally, particularly Finger III; relative finger lengths I<II<IV<III. Subarticular tubercles well developed on all fingers; one subarticular tubercle on FI and FII, two on FIII and FIV; no supernumerary tubercles; thenar tubercle present, rounded; palmar (metacarpal) tubercle divided, not prominent. No dermal spines visible on arms, hands, or fingers. Legs short (combined THL, TBL, and FL 1.7 X the SVL), relatively robust, lacking tubercles, tibial and tarsal ridges; toes not webbed; TI weakly developed (tip fails to reach subarticular tubercle on TII); relative toe lengths I<II<V<III<IV; toes slightly fringed except Toe V and distally on FIV, more pronounced proximally on TI–III; toe tips rounded with small discs on all except TI. Inner metatarsal tubercle present. Subarticular tubercles present on all toes except TI; no outer metatarsal tubercle; toes without dermal spines. Skin smooth dorsally and ventrally.
Colour of
holotype
in life.
Dorsum uniform dark brown or mostly dark brown with a few scattered small white dots. Poorly defined dorsolateral stripes clearer than dorsum enlarging posteriorly; canthus rostralis and border of eyelid yellowish-cream. Upper surface of arms brick-coloured with brown blotches; upper surface of legs from thighs to feet reddish-brown with dark brown vermiculations; eye iris copper; throat, chest, ventral sides of flanks and ventral surfaces of limbs dark brown with blueish coloured speckles denser on the belly and forming a marbled pattern.
FIGURE 5.
Pictures of in life specimens of the three species of the
Chiasmocleis hudsoni
clade of the Guiana Shield; and dorsal, ventral, palmar and plantar view of preserved holotype of
C. jacki
sp. nov.
FIGURE 6.
Comparison of living specimens of the three species of the
Chiasmocleis hudsoni
clade occurring in the Guiana Shield (left:
C. jacki
sp. nov.
; middle:
C. haddadi
; right:
C. hudsoni
).
Colour of
holotype
in preservative.
After seven years in 70 % ethanol, colours of the specimen faded, dorsum became brown, arms became light brown and ventral speckles became cream coloured; the throat appears darker than the other ventral surface (
Fig. 5
).
Variation in the
type
series.
Proportions vary little among the
types
. Males are smaller than females (
14.8–16.3 mm
vs. 18.5–20.2). Dermal spines on the throat can be completely absent. Dorsal coulour pattern varies little except the number and position of the small white dots and the extent of brick colouration on the arms. Ventral colouration varies extensively from large blotches to a dense marbled pattern (
Fig. 6
).
Advertisement call.
A single specimen calling from the under the leaf litter was recorded from about
2 m
away at air temperatures between 23‒25°C and 90‒100% relative humidity. Descriptive statistics of call parameters are presented in
Table 2
.
Chiasmocleis jacki
emits series of short calls of 7–8 pulsed notes. These calls last
0.092 s
on average (range
0.078
–0.105
) between silence lasting
0.138 s
on average (range
0.109
–0.166
s). The notes are very short and fused (note length mean =
0.010 s
; range
0.009
–0.011
s). These notes are emitted with an upward and then downward amplitude within the call. The dominant frequency is 3.84 kHz on average (range 3.82–3.86 kHz) (
Fig. 3
,
Table 2
).
TABLE 2.
Mean, minimum and maximum values of acoustic variables.
CL (s) |
SC (s) |
NL (s) |
SL (s) |
NN |
DF (kHz) |
C. haddadi
(n=6)
|
0.320 |
0.060 |
0.015 |
0.035 |
6.8 |
4.573 |
Min |
0.259 |
0.046 |
0.013 |
0.031 |
6.0 |
4.167 |
Max |
0.353 |
0.091 |
0.019 |
0.040 |
7.3 |
4.748 |
C.
aff.
haddadi
(n=1)
|
0.093 |
0.138 |
0.01 |
0 |
7.5 |
3.845 |
C. hudsoni
(n=4)
|
0.083 |
0.013 |
0.011 |
0.007 |
5.0 |
4.943 |
Min |
0.077 |
0.009 |
0.008 |
0.005 |
5.0 |
4.829 |
Max |
0.093 |
0.018 |
0.014 |
0.012 |
5.0 |
5.127 |
Natural history and distribution.
Chiasmocleis jacki
is found in
terra firme
primary forest and seemingly calls far from any water body. An imago (AF2880 Mitaraka) has been found nearby the unique calling male (not collected) observed so far, but other imagos have been found (AF2595—St Eugene) at considerable distance from water as well as nearby water (Saut Richard). Moreover, gravid females with large sized eggs have been examined. Its sister species,
C. haddadi
, lays large terrestrial eggs that hatch nearby the water that the exotrophic tadpoles reach after hatching, which is similar to what has been observed in
C. hudsoni
(
Lima
et al
. 2006
; pers. obs. in FG). We therefore suspect that its mode of development is endotrophic, like several closely related species in western Amazonia such as
C. antenori
(
Krugel & Richter 1995
)
.
This species is only known from a few localities east of the Approuague river, French Guiana (Savane Virginie, Noussiri, Armontabo, Alikéné, Mont Bakra, Roche Dachine, Trois Saut) and in
Amapá
,
Brazil
(Lourenço, Porto Grande, Rio Vila Nova) but also in Saül, in the Mitaraka massif and in the northern half of French Guiana as far as Saint-Eugène (
Fig. 1
). It is probably more widely distributed in the interior of the Guianas region but most likely remains endemic to the easternmost part of the
Guiana
region. It probably coexists in syntopy with
C. haddadi
since their ranges overlap at least in central French Guiana, although they have not yet been observed in syntopy.