Proceratophrys vielliardi Martins & Giaretta, 2011, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Martins, Lucas Borges
name: Giaretta, Ariovaldo Antonio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Cycloramphidae
Proceratophrys
Proceratophrys vielliardi

description: Proceratophrys vielliardi sp. nov.
Figures 1–3
Holotype (ZUEC 16239): an adult male, collected at the Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas (PESCAN), Municipality of Caldas Novas, State of Goiás, Brazil (17°46’S – 48°42’W, 990 m above sea level) on 12 November 2008 by A. A. Giaretta.
Paratopotypes. Eight adult males (ZUEC 16240, AAG-UFU 3206–3207, 4312–4314, 4360, 4362) and one adult female (AAG-UFU 4361); collected from November 2004 to December 2008, by A. A. Giaretta. AAG-UFU 4312–4313 are vouchers of acoustic recordings.
Diagnosis. In the genus Proceratophrys by lacking nuptial pads on thumb, body without enlarged glands, toes not webbed and fringed laterally, supernumerary tubercles present on hands and feet, dorsal surfaces of fingers and toes wrinkled, zygomatic ramus of squamosal bone in sutural contact with maxilla and cervical cotylar arrangement type II (cotyles closely approximated). In the P. cristiceps group by lacking palpebral appendages and postocular swellings. This species is characterized by: (i) medium size (SVL = 39.1–41.9 mm in males); (ii) lack of a pair of tubercular sagittal crests from eyelids to coccyx; (iii) dorsum and flanks with scattered dark brown rounded marks, somewhat anastomosed to each other, and covered by irregularly arranged and sized warts; (iv) advertisement call consisting of 3–20 notes, each one with 4–9 pulses and lasting 40.2–84.7 ms; the last note is longer (83.9–304.2 ms) and with more pulses (9–30) than the others; dominant frequency around 1022–1291 Hz.
Comparison with other species. In size, males of the new species (SVL = 39.1–41.9 mm), differ from Proceratophrys avelinoi (23.9–29.2 mm), P. boiei (39.8–61.9 mm), P. brauni (30.0– 34.6 mm), P. laticeps (59.5–78.0 mm), P. moehringi (59.2–62.6 mm), P. moratoi from the Municipality of Botucatu (25.8–31 mm) and Municipality of Itirapina (24.7–30.9 mm), P. palustris (27.3–33.8 mm), P. paviotti (41.9–53.2 mm), P. phyllostoma (55.4 mm), P. rondonae (62.9 mm) and P. tupinamba (52.6–63.4 mm).
The new species differs from all congeneric species (except P. m o r at oi) by lacking a pair of sagittal crests of tubercles on dorsum (also absent in P. moratoi; present, but interrupted in the sacral region in P. cururu, and present from eyelids to coccyx in the other species). Proceratophrys vielliardi sp. nov. also differs from the members of the P. boiei species group (P. appendiculata, P. b o i e i, P. laticeps, P. melanopogon, P. moehringi, P. paviotii, P. phyllostoma, P. renalis, P. rondonae, P. sanctaritae, P. subguttata and P. tupinamba), by lacking palpebral appendages (short, multicuspidate in P. rondonae and long, horn-like in the other species of the group; also present, short, in P. schirchi) and from the members of the P. bigibbosa species group (P. avelinoi, P. bigibbosa, P. brauni and P. palustris) by lacking postocular swellings (well-developed and bulbous in P. bigibbosa, and more restrained in the other species of the group). From the members of its own group (Proceratophrys cristiceps species group), besides the features cited above in this section, the species described herein also differs from P. concavitympanum by the absence of a skin depression defining the tympanic region (present in P. concavitympanum), from P. goyana by having rounded eyelids (triangular in P. goyana) and from P. moratoi by lacking a X-shaped stripe on dorsum (present in this species) and by having the zygomatic ramus of squamosal in sutural contact with maxilla (elongated, but not in contact with maxilla in P. m o r a t o i).
The advertisement calls of Proceratophrys vielliardi sp. nov. differ from all calls described for the genus (P. avelinoi, P. bigibbosa, P. boiei, P. brauni, P. convavitympanum, P. cristiceps, P. cururu, P. melanopogon, P. m o e h - ringi, P. m o r a t o i, P. paviotii and P. sanctaritae) by its unique structure: it consist of 9.1 (3–20) notes, each lasting 59.2 ms (40.2–84.7) and with 4–9 pulses; the last note is longer (170.2 ms; 83.9–304.2) and with more pulses (9– 30) than the others. Calls described for all other species of the genus consist of a single note, longer and with more pulses than those of the new species; the most similar in duration are those of P. moratoi from Botucatu (State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil), with duration of 206.8 ms (146–238) and 17.5 (12–20) pulses per note, almost 350% longer than the common notes of the new species, but similar to its last (longer) notes (nevertheless, these long notes are only emitted in the end of short-note sequences; the advertisement calls of P. moratoi have only one note type, which are not grouped in a multi-noted call structure). The dominant frequency of the calls of P. v i e l - liardi sp. nov. presents an intermediate value for the genus (mean 1133.8 Hz; 1022–1291), the lower in P. m o e h - ringi (mean 450 Hz; 200–700) and the higher in P. avelinoi (mean 1600 Hz; 1050–2300); it is not distinguishable in frequency from the calls of P. melanopogon (mean 1179 Hz; 999–1274) and P. sanctaritae (mean 1130 Hz; 950– 1290), probably due to their similarity in size; it is also not distinguishable from the dominant frequency of the calls of P. moratoi from Botucatu (mean 1348.7 Hz; 1153–1420) and Itirapina (mean 1342 Hz; 1174–1444), despite this species being around 30% smaller than P. vielliardi sp. nov. (nevertheless, the expected variation in frequency between the vocalizations of these species is observed in their lower frequency limit, around 900 Hz in P. m o r a t o i versus 643.5 Hz in the new species).
Description of holotype. General aspect of body ovoid, stout and warty. Head wider than long, its length 33% and width 48% the SVL (descriptive statistics in table 1); snout rounded viewed from above, obtuse in profile; canthus rostralis barely distinct; loreal region slightly convex, almost plan; nostrils elliptic, slightly elevated, directed dorsolaterally, about midway between eyes and tip of snout; eyes large (39% head length), prominent, directed anterolaterally; eyelids oval and short, bordered by warts and without a horn-like appendage; interorbital distance about double of eye-nostril distance; a tubercular ridge present between eyes and nostrils; tympanum indistinct; no postocular swellings; vocal sac median, subgular. Dorsum and flanks covered by spherical or elliptical tubercles (each one covered by tiny horny granules), irregularly arranged and sized (0.2–2.0 mm), mainly along dorsum; no enlarged glands (temporal and/or parotoid); tubercular crests or ridges absent on dorsum; ventral surfaces also warty, tubercles circular and uniform in size. Forelimbs relatively short, stout; a ridge of 5–7 aligned and enlarged tubercles on ventrolateral surface of forearms; fingers with tubercular fringes on sides and dorsal surfaces wrinkled; webbing absent; no finger disks; inner and outer metacarpal tubercles well-developed; outer divided lengthwise; subarticular tubercles well-developed, nearly squared; supernumerary tubercles present, conical; no nuptial pad on thumb; lengths of fingers: IV<II<I<III. Hind limbs relatively short, stout; shank length 38.7% and thigh length 42.8% SVL; foot and thigh similar in size, slightly larger than shank; tibial gland absent; inner metatarsal tubercle enlarged, sickle-shaped, strongly keratinized, with a warty crest along its inner basis, extending to tarsus (3 enlarged tubercles just behind the inner metatarsal tubercle); outer metatarsal tubercle rounded, small; subarticular tubercles conical; supernumerary tubercles present, smaller and fewer than on hand; no enlarged disks on toes; webbing poorly developed; sides of toes fringed, dorsal surfaces wrinkled; lengths of toes: I<II<V<III<IV.
Internal oral features (paratype AAG-UFU 3207): toothed maxilla; tongue large, approximately half length free and notched posteriorly; vomerine teeth in two patches median to choanae; vocal slits present.
Color of holotype. In preservative (70% ethanol), dorsal background light brown, tending to gray in the flanks and to beige in the eyelids and behind head, with dark brown rounded marks, somewhat anastomosed to each other, scattered along the dorsum, flanks and top of head. Belly homogeneously light brown, almost beige. Throat with the same color pattern of belly in its proximal region; blackish brown in its distal portion. Alternated blackish brown and light brown bars on the sides of head and snout (below the nostrils). Dorsal surfaces of limbs with alternated light brown and blackish brown bars, the former tending to be duplicated; ventral surfaces with the same color pattern of belly. In life, the pattern was the same, but the background of dorsum and flanks were reddish brown. Eyes with golden, tending to bronze, iris; pupil black.
Variation. In addition to a few morphometric differences (table 1), the only variation found within the typeseries is in the adult female (AAG-UFU 4361), which is 11% larger than the holotype and 13% larger than the male paratopotypes and also lacks vocal slits and black pigmentation on throat.
Advertisement call (table 2; figure 4): vocalizations were recorded from the type locality. Recorded males and other males heard (N> 30) called alone or in chorus, sometimes superposing their calls with those of the neighbors. Recorded advertisement calls (N = 35 calls; 4 males) are composed by 3–20 pulsed notes (one-noted calls were never heard), each note lasting 40.2–84.7 ms and with 4–9 pulses; the last note is longer (83.9–304.2 ms) and with more pulses (9–30) than the others. Within a note, pulses are not completely separated from each other; those in the beginning and ending are weaker in intensity than the pulses in the middle of the note. Only one frequency band is visible, ranging from 588–772 to 1468–1665 Hz, with dominant frequency around 1022–1291 Hz.
Temperatures: air = 20.8–23.8 o C; water = 24.0–24.7 o C.
FIGURE 4. A. waveform section (15s) showing four advertisement calls (plus two calls of a background male) of Proceratophrys vielliardi sp. nov., from the Municipality of Caldas Novas, State of Goiás, Brazil; the call marked with the square is detailed in B (audiospectrogram) and C (waveform). Air temperature = 20.8o C; water temperature = 24.7o C. 22:00h; 10 December 2004.
Natural history. The new species occurs in open areas of the Cerrado biome (Brazilian savannahs); specimens were found calling at night after rains in summer months (November/December), along small (30 cm wide, 0–40 cm deep) seasonal rocky brooks. Four pairs were observed (3:00h) while egg laying. The couples moved around scattering egg groups in an area of about 30 cm diameter. With half body submerged, the females prepared the place of egg-laying by digging sandy mud of the bottom. Egg groups were completely buried after the couple leaved the egg releasing point. Syntopic species include Leptodactylus syphax Bokermann, L. furnarius Sazima and Bokermann, L. labyrinthicus (Spix), Pseudopaludicola aff. saltica (Cope) and Ameerega flavopicta (Lutz). Other Proceratophrys species known in the area (PESCAN) is P. goyana, which is restricted to forested environments.
Geographic distribution. Proceratophrys vielliardi sp. nov. is only known from its type locality, the Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas (PESCAN), Municipality of Caldas Novas, State of Goiás, Brazil.
Etymology. The new species is named in honor to the recently deceased ornithologist Dr. Jacques Marie Edme Vielliard (1944–2010), who worked extensively on the bioacoustics of Brazilian fauna, including frogs (e.g. Cardoso & Vielliard 1990; Vielliard & Cardoso 1996). Ariovaldo A. Giaretta is especially sorry for his death, by the loss of his former teacher and a friend.
description: Published as part of Martins, Lucas Borges & Giaretta, Ariovaldo Antonio, 2011, A new species of Proceratophrys Miranda-Ribeiro (Amphibia: Anura: Cycloramphidae) from central Brazil, pp. 41-50 in Zootaxa 2880 on pages 42-48, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.205888