Centrolene muelleri Duellman and Schulte 1993
Creators: name: Twomey, Evan
name: Delia, Jesse
name: Castroviejo-Fisher, Santiago
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Centrolenidae
Centrolene
Centrolene muelleri

description: Centrolene muelleri Duellman and Schulte 1993
Figure 9
Background information. Centrolene muelleri was described on the basis of a single adult male from “ 14 km (by road) W of Venceremos, Provincia Rioja, Departamento San Martín, Perú ” (Duellman & Schulte 1993). Catenazzi et al. (2012) presented a phylogenetic tree including a sample of a frog identified as Ce. muelleri (collected by P. Venegas, but see “Taxonomic remarks” section for comments on this specimen) and found this species as sister of Ce. lynchi, a species from the western Cordillera of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes. Aside from this sequence data, no new information has become available regarding this species since the original description.
New data. We add two new occurrence records (Fig. 7) and natural history observations. On two separate occasions this species was registered at the base of Gocta waterfall, Amazonas, Peru (6°1'37.80"S, 77°53'15.15"W, 1830 m,) by P. Venegas (six specimens, CORBIDI-HE-2010-0481 through 0487) in 2007 and M. Pepper in January 2011. On the first occasion (P. Venegas pers. comm.), these frogs were found at night after a heavy rainfall, with males calling 2–2.5 m above the water from the upper surfaces of leaves. Males were seen in combat while dangling from the edge of leaves. One clutch of eggs was found on the upper surface of a leaf that consisted of 46 white eggs surrounded in clear jelly. On the second occasion, several individuals were found in a small rivulet flowing into Gocta stream near the spray zone, where males were seen calling from the upper surfaces of leaves approximately 0.5 m above the water (M. Pepper pers. comm.). We (JD and ET) captured a single individual (CORBIDI 14667, Fig. 9) in a stream 7.4 km SE from Puente Vilcaniza along the Vilcaniza/Jumbilla road, Amazonas (5°48'52.25" S, 77°50'6.19"W, 1858 m) on 16 June 2011. This individual was calling from atop a leaf approximately 1.5 m above the water in a torrential cloud forest stream. This particular stream flowed through what appeared to be undisturbed highland forest, and was full of large rocks and deep pools with a strong current. On numerous occasions we have searched the type locality, but have been unable to find this species. However, the Vilcaniza locality is only 15 km airline from the type locality and the two sites are not separated by any barriers, thus the specimen from this locality may be a good representation of type material.
Distribution and ecology. In Peru, this species has been registered from three sites spanning the divide between the Huallaga and Marañón drainages. All three sites are located in the southern section of Departamento Amazonas between 1830 and 2050 m.
Little is known regarding the natural history of this species. As mentioned above, male combat has been witnessed, and all males seen calling were on the upper surfaces of leaves. A single egg clutch, presumably belonging to this species, was found on the upper surface of a leaf. This species appears to be associated with undisturbed habitats with relatively dense canopy cover; however, the Gocta site is open, although this site lies deep in a ravine. Centrolene muelleri is sympatric with Ce. lemniscatum and Hyalinobatrachium anachoretus new species in the Alto Mayo drainage, and has been found in close proximity (<4 km at equal elevation) to Rulyrana mcdiarmidi populations in Gocta.
Taxonomic remarks. In the original description, Centrolene muelleri was diagnosed primarily on the basis of large conical tubercles present on the dorsal surfaces of the head, body, and limbs (Duellman & Schulte 1993). Its body color in life was described as “green with dark greenish-black spots and pale yellow tubercles”. Two years later, Ruiz-Carranza and Lynch (1995) described Ce. huilense, a species whose dorsal coloration was described as “green with abundant dark green and cream flecks”. This species was not diagnosed against Ce. muelleri in the original description. Although these two species look similar (for example, both species are nearly identical with respect to snout shape in lateral profile, skin texture, dorsal coloration, absence of vomerine teeth, extent of hand webbing, and adult male SVL), Catenazzi et al. (2012) presented a molecular phylogeny supporting the status of both species. In their analysis Centrolene muelleri was sister to Ce. lynchi, while an individual of Ce. huilense from Yanayacu, Ecuador was sister to Ce. heloderma. However, our topology conflicts somewhat with the findings of Catenazzi et al. (2012). First, the Ce. muelleri from Gocta waterfall may represent an undescribed species as it is part of a larger clade containing several species (following our topology, Fig. 2b). Second, our sequence of Ce. muelleri from Vilcaniza (15 km airline from the type locality) is sister to Ce. huilense. However, the latter sequence is from Yanayacu, Ecuador, and may not be representative of Ce. huilense sensu stricto. As we have not reviewed the specimens from Gocta, and molecular data from topotypic Ce. huilense remains unavailable, we refrain from taking any taxonomic actions at this time.
description: Published as part of Twomey, Evan, Delia, Jesse & Castroviejo-Fisher, Santiago, 2014, A review of Northern Peruvian glassfrogs (Centrolenidae), with the description of four new remarkable species, pp. 1-87 in Zootaxa 3851 (1) on pages 17-18, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3851.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/286921