Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae, Leptodactylus furnarius Sazima and Bokermann, 1978: Geographic distribution extension in Brazil

The geographic distribution of Leptodactylus furnarius Sazima and Bokermann, 1978 comprises Argentina, Brazil (southern, southeastern, and west-central regions), Paraguay, and Uruguay. Herein, we report for the first time the occurrence of L. furnarius in northeastern and north regions of Brazil, at the states of Bahia and Tocantins, respectively. © 2010 Check List and Authors.

Amphibia, Anura, Centrolenidae, Hyalinobatrachium crurifasciatum Myers and Donnelly, 1997: First record from Brazil and geographic distribution map

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Amphibia, Anura, Brachycephalidae, Ischnocnema verrucosa Reinhardt and Lütken, 1862: Distribution extension to northeastern Brazil

Herein I present a new geographical record of Ischnocnema verrucosa Reinhardt and Lütken, 1862 for northeastern Brazil and briefly discuss the new record with a previous record of similar characteristics. © 2010 Check List and Authors.

Amphibia, anura, hylidae, hypsiboas raniceps cope, 1862: Distribution extension

Hypsiboas raniceps is a large treefrog typically found in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. Here we provide information about new records of this species in the Atlantic Forest and raise some hypotheses that could explain the late record of this species in this biome. © 2010 Check List and Authors.

Molecular phylogenetic relationships and phenotypic diversity in miniaturized toadlets, genus Brachycephalus (Amphibia: Anura: Brachycephalidae)

Toadlets of the genus Brachycephalus are endemic to the Atlantic rainforests of southeastern and southern Brazil. The 14 species currently described have snout-vent lengths less than 18. mm and are thought to have evolved through miniaturization: an evolutionary process leading to an extremely small adult body size. Here, we present the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis for Brachycephalus, using a multilocus approach based on two nuclear (Rag-1 and Tyr) and three mitochondrial (Cyt b, 12S, and 16S rRNA) gene regions. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using a partitioned Bayesian analysis of concatenated sequences and the hierarchical Bayesian method (BEST) that estimates species trees based on the multispecies coalescent model. Individual gene trees showed conflict and also varied in resolution. With the exception of the mitochondrial gene tree, no gene tree was completely resolved. The concatenated gene tree was completely resolved and is identical in topology and degree of statistical support to the individual mtDNA gene tree. On the other hand, the BEST species tree showed reduced significant node support relative to the concatenate tree and recovered a basal trichotomy, although some bipartitions were significantly supported at the tips of the species tree. Comparison of the log likelihoods for the concatenated and BEST trees suggests that the method implemented in BEST explains the multilocus data for Brachycephalus better than the Bayesian analysis of concatenated data. Landmark-based geometric morphometrics revealed marked variation in cranial shape between the species of Brachycephalus. In addition, a statistically significant association was demonstrated between variation in cranial shape and genetic distances estimated from the mtDNA and nuclear loci. Notably, B. ephippium and B. garbeana that are predicted to be sister-species in the individual and concatenated gene trees and the BEST species tree share an evolutionary novelty, the hyperossified dorsal plate. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Helminth parasites of hypsiboas prasinus (Anura: Hylidae) from two atlantic forest fragments, São Paulo State, Brazil

Seventy-seven males of Hypsiboas prasinus from 2 Atlantic forest fragments in the municipalities of Botucatu and Jundiaí, São Paulo State, Brazil, were examined for endoparasites. The frogs were captured in summer (January until March) and winter (July/August) of 2008 and 2009. Thirty-three males (75) from Botucatu were infected with Rhabdias cf. fuelleborni, cosmocerciid nematodes, and Cylindrotaenia americana. Twenty-five tree frogs (78.5) from Jundiaí were infected by Rhabdias cf. fuelleborni, Physaloptera sp., and cosmocerciid nematodes. Only cosmocerciid nematodes presented a statistically significance difference in prevalence (z 4.345; P < 0.001) and mean abundance (t 562.0; P < 0.001) between Botucatu and Jundiaí during the winter. Also, the cosmocerciids exhibited higher mean abundance (t 196.0; P 0.034) in winter when compared with summer at the Jundiaí site. Moreover, to our knowledge, this is the first report of C. americana in the Brazilian Hylidae. This study presents 4 new records of nematodes in H. prasinus. © 2012 American Society of Parasitologists.

A new species of miniaturized toadlet, genus Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae), from the atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil

A new species of miniaturized froglet (genus Brachycephalus) is described from Morro Prumirim in the municipality of Ubatuba, São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. Specimens were collected from the leaf litter at approximately 800 m above sea level. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by the combination of the following characters: snout-vent length 8.7-13.4 mm; skin on head and dorsum with dermal ossification; general color orange, with a narrow brownish vertebral stripe and belly without spots; and skull, spinal processes of sacral and pre-sacral vertebrae, and process of the fourth vertebra hyperossified. Canonical variates analysis of linear body measurement demonstrates that the new species is easily discriminated from other Brachycephalus species with which it shares an intermediate condition of hyperossification. © 2012 by The Herpetologists League, Inc.

Phenotypic variation of leptodactylus cupreus caramaschi, são-pedro and feio, 2008 (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

This study describes for the first time the female of Leptodactylus cupreus and provides new information concerning its geographical distribution, male's morphology and bioacustics. Leptodactylus cupreus, a poorly known species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, was originally allocated in the L. mystaceus complex of the L. fuscus species group. Based on morphological observations, we infer that L. cupreus should be in fact related to L. mystacinus, a species that, although assigned to the L. fuscus species group, is not assigned to the L. mystaceus complex. Therefore, we comment the phylogenetic relationships concerning L. cupreus, L. mystaceus and L. mystacinus. © 2013 Magnolia Press.

Lepidobatrachus asper Budgett,1899 (Amphibia: Anura: Ceratophryidae): New country record, distribution map and natural history notes

Lepidobatrachus asper is a large to medium frog known from the Chaco lowlands of Paraguay and Argentina. We provide the first species record for the Brazilian Chaco, which extends the species geographical distribution ca. 73 km northeast from Puerto Casado, Alto Paraguay Departament, Paraguay. We also provide a distribution map and information about the species habitat conditions and diet. The Brazilian Chaco is still poorly surveyed, and the rapid environmental degradation can lead to local extinctions of certain species. © 2013 Check List and Authors.

Morphometric and bioacoustic data on three species of Pseudopaludicola Miranda-Ribeiro, 1926 (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Leiuperinae) described from chapada dos guimarães, mato Grosso, Brazil, with the revalidation of pseudopaludicola ameghini (Cope, 1887)

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Occurrence of Ochoterenella digiticauda (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) infecting the gladiator frog Hypsiboas lundii (Anura: Hylidae) in Brazil

Hypsiboas lundii is a gladiator frog endemic to the Cerrado of central and southeastern Brazil. This species in reproductive period inhabits streams in primary and secondary forests. Despite its wide distribution, the helminth fauna of this species has not been studied yet. Fourteen individuals were sampled and examined for helminth parasites. Three males were infected with Ochoterenella digiticauda (Onchocercidade). The mean abundance and mean intensity of infection were 0.7 ± 0.5 and 3.3 ± 1.9, respectively. All parasites were found in the body cavity of H. lundii, which represents a new host record for O. digiticauda.

The advertisement call of dendropsophus tritaeniatus (Bokermann, 1965) (Anura: Hylidae)

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