Craugastor candelariensis Jameson &amp; Streicher &amp; Manuelli &amp; Head &amp; Smith 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Jameson, Tom J. M.
name: Streicher, Jeffrey W.
name: Manuelli, Luigi
name: Head, Jason J.
name: Smith, Eric N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Craugastoridae
Craugastor
Craugastor candelariensis

description: <i>Craugastor <i>candelariensis</i> sp. nov.</i> <b>Holotype.</b> — UTA A-64253 (field ID: JAC 21885), male collected by E.N. Smith and colleagues Nof Candelaria on the road to Oaxaca; Sierra Madre del Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico, 15.94960°N, 96.47110°W, 668 m, on 21 January 2002 between 1130 and 1200 h, near stream bordering coffee plantation and secondary forest. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Paratypes (3).</b> —MZFC-HE-35617 (formerly UTA A-64252; field ID: JAC 21873; Fig. 23), male with heavily pigmented testes, same data as holotype except collected 1.2 mi on rough road toward Pluma Hidalgo on the Candelaria – Portillo road, 15.95610°N, 96.44930°W, 1051 m, on 21 January 2002 at 1000 h in leaf litter of coffee plantation. UTA A- 66116 (Field ID: JAC 21851), male with pigmented testes collected by E.N. Smith and colleagues from San Gabriel Mixtepec, Puente de Hamaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, 16.10510°N, 97.06310°W, 710 m, on 20 January 2002 at 1520 h on forest floor. UTA A- 55247 (Field ID: ENS 9698), female with unpigmented gonads and extended oviducts collected by Karin S. Castaneda along the Carretera San Gabriel Mixtepec–Miahuatlán of the Sierra Madre del Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico, 16.160556°N, 97.00111°W, 1270–1350 m, on 15 March 1998 at 1630 h from pine forest habitat. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Diagnosis.</b> —A species of <i>Craugastor</i> distinguished by the following combination of characters: (1) small adult size (maximum SVL <i>¼</i> 18.6 mm); (2) full ossification of most skeletal elements in adults, lacking ossification only of Stage 6 (Table 3); (3) absence of posterolateral projection of frontoparietal; (4) presence of vomerine odontophores; (5) absence of raised tubercles on eyelids; (6) supratympanic fold absent or poorly developed; (7) face flank with nostril– canthal–supratympanic stripe, lips colored as dorsum; (8) two postrictal tubercles; (9) gular region uniformly pale to slightly evenly peppered with melanocytes; (10) dorsal surface unicolored pale; (11) pale middorsal ridge, sometimes with few tiny spots; (12) evenly fine tubercles on dorsum; (13) body flank unicolored pale, shagreened with fine tuberculation; (14) inguinal glands present and axillary glands absent in adults; (15) when leg adpressed to body, heel reaches between eye and tip of snout; (16) outer tarsal ridge with 3–8 tiny and pointed tubercles on slightly raised fringe; (17) finger and toe tips lanceolate to mucronate (toes and outer two fingers); (18) similar sizes of inner and outer metatarsal tubercles. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Comparisons.</b> — <i>Craugastor candelariensis</i> can be differentiated from <i>C. bitonium, C. mexicanus, C. montanus, C. omiltemanus, C. polaclavus, C. pygmaeus, C. rubinus,</i> and <i>C. saltator</i> by a larger innermetatarsal tubercle (inner and outer metatarsal tubercles are similar sizes in <i>C. candelariensis</i>). <i>Craugastor candelariensis</i> can be differentiated from <i>C. cueyatl</i> and <i>C. hobartsmithi</i> by the absence of vomerine odontophores (present in <i>C. candelariensis</i>). It can be differentiated from <i>C. portilloensis</i> by the presence of posterolateral projections of the frontoparietal (absent in <i>C. candelariensis</i>). <b>Description of holotype.</b> — Holotype small male (SVL <i>¼</i> 13.3 mm); snout rounded and short (0.5 mm naris–snout; 4% SVL); long eye–nostril distance (1.7 mm; 13% SVL); tympanum 1.2 mm (7.6% SVL); no supratympanic fold and no shoulder tubercle; finger length formula III &lt;IV &lt;II <i>¼</i> I; single palmar tubercle; single prepollical tubercle; subarticular tubercles present on all fingers; supernumerary tubercles present on Finger III; toe length formula IV &lt;III &lt;V &lt;II &lt;I; inner metatarsal tubercle and outer metatarsal tubercle equal size; subarticular tubercles present on all toes; supernumerary tubercles present on plantar surface; unable to verify supracloacal fold state because posterior end damaged when removing leg for genetic analysis; entire body lightly colored in preservative (appears some saponification may have occurred). Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Variations in paratypes.</b> —Body sizes (SVL) 12.4 mm (MZFC-HE-35617), 14.3 mm (UTA A-66116), 18.6 mm (UTA A-55247); eye–nostril distance 10–13% SVL (males), 9% SVL (female); tympanic ratios 7–10%. <b>Etymology.</b> —The name is an abbreviated allusion to the municipality of Candelaria Loxicha (near the type locality) and the Latin suffix - <i>ensis</i> meaning place. It is simultaneously a reference to the Latin noun <i>cand&amp;emacr;la</i> meaning a fire or light made of wax, given the translucent yellow appearance of several type specimens in preservative, as if someone were shining a candle through them. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Distribution.</b> —This species is known from intermediate elevations of southern Oaxaca (668–1350 m), an area that mostly consists of Sierra Madre del Sur pine–oak forest habitat. <b>Phylogenetics.</b> — <i>Craugastor candelariensis</i> was strongly supported as monophyletic in the concatenated analysis (ML <i>¼</i> 100; BAYES <i>¼</i> 1.0; Fig. 3). In this analysis, the sister taxon of <i>C. candelariensis</i> was inferred to be <i>C. polaclavus</i> (ML <i>¼</i> 80; BAYES <i>¼</i> 0.99). We also observed this sister relationship in the nDNA-only analysis (Fig. 5); however, in the mtDNAonly analysis <i>C. candelariensis</i> was inferred to be the sister taxon of a clade containing <i>C. bitonium þ C. pygmaeus</i> (Fig. 4). In terms of genetic distances, <i>Craugastor candelariensis</i> is most similar to <i>C. polaclavus</i> and <i>C. pygmaeus</i> (both 6.4%; Table 4). Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Remarks.</b> —The skull of <i>C. candelariensis</i> is similar to <i>C. bitonium, C. hobartsmithi, C. montanus,</i> and <i>C. pygmaeus,</i> with more posteriorly placed anterior suture of the frontoparietal and prootic than in other species. Two type specimens appear white-yellowish in preservative (possibly having been saponified). This species likely co-occurs with <i>C. pygmaeus, C. polaclavus,</i> and <i>C. portilloensis</i> in southcentral Oaxaca (Figs. 6 and 8). In terms of body size and ossification level it is the smallest member of the <i>C. mexicanus</i> series to complete Stage 5 of our ontogenetic sequence.
description: Published as part of <i>Jameson, Tom J. M., Streicher, Jeffrey W., Manuelli, Luigi, Head, Jason J. &amp; Smith, Eric N., 2022, Miniaturization in Direct-Developing Frogs from Mexico with the Description of Six New Species, pp. 1-48 in Herpetological Monographs 36 (1)</i> on pages 17-23, DOI: 10.1655/0733-1347-36.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6518587