Phyllonastes Heyer 1977
Creators: name: Ortega, Jhael A.
name: Cisneros-Heredia, Diego F.
name: Camper, Jeffrey D.
name: Romero-Carvajal, Andrés
name: Negrete, Leonardo
name: Ron, Santiago R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Craugastoridae
Phyllonastes

description: Phyllonastes Heyer, 1977
(Fig. 4)
Type species: Euparkerella myrmecoides Lynch, 1976, by original designation.
Definition (Tables 2 and 3): (1) Adult female average SVL <17.5 mm, adult male <15.6 mm, Table 4; (2) head narrower than body, wide body; (3) tympanic annulus present; (4) cranial crest absent; (5) finger I <finger II; (6) distal phalanges of fingers and toes narrowly T-shaped; (7) knees and heels without tubercles; (8) presence of inner tarsal tubercle; (9) toes bearing circumferential grooves; (10) toe V <toe III; (11) foot phalangeal formula 2-2-3-4-3; (12) dark facial mask extending at least to the middle of the flanks, triangular cloacal blotch present; (13) frontoparietals longer than wide, narrower at the anterior end; (14) premaxillary and maxillary teeth present; (15) nasal bones small, separate from maxilla; (16) zygomatic branch of squamosal much shorter than otic branch; (17) vomers reduced, broadly separated from each other, vomerine teeth absent; (18) occipital condyles widely separated from each other; (19) medial ridges present at least on presacral vertebrae III–IV; (20) urostyle crest very prominent; (21) expanded to broadly expanded sacral diapophyses; and (22) small prepollex and prehallux present.
Content (15 species): Phyllonastes cerrogolondrinas, Phyllonastes coloma (Guayasamin & Terán-Valdez, 2009) comb. nov., Phyllonastes ecuadoriensis, Phyllonastes dicaprioi, Phyllonastes heyeri Lynch, 1986, Phyllonastes lynchi Duellman, 1991, Phyllonastes lochites (Lynch, 1976), Phyllonastes mindo (Reyes-Puig et al., 2021) comb. nov., Phyllonastes macuma, Phyllonastes myrmecoides (Lynch, 1976); Phyllonastes naturetrekii (Reyes-Puig et al., 2019) comb. nov., Phyllonastes personinus (Harvey et al., 2013) comb. nov., Phyllonastes plateadensis, Phyllonastes sardinayacu, and Phyllonastes worleyae (Reyes-Puig et al., 2020) comb. nov.
Distribution: Pacific foothills and western slopes of the Andes of Ecuador, in Western Foothill Forest and Western Montane Forest between 1100 and 2554 m a.s.l.; on the western Amazon Basin, eastern Andean slopes of Ecuador, in Eastern Montane Forest, Eastern Foothill Forest ≤ 2400 m.a.s.l. in Ecuador and Amazonian Tropical Rainforest from southeastern Colombia to northern and central Peru, and northwestern Brazil, ≥ 90 m a.s.l. (Fig. 3).
Remarks: The specific epithet personina is replaced by the specific epithet personinus to match the masculine gender of the genus Phyllonastes. Thus, Noblella personina becomes Phyllonastes personinus. In the new specific epithet, the root person- is maintained, and the diminutive suffix -ina is replaced by the Latin suffix - us. We include P. lynchi in the genus Phyllonastes because it has the synapomorphies of the group: (1) absence of vomerine teeth; (2) subacuminate toe tips; (3) toes distally expanded; and (4) presence of circumferential grooves in toes (Duellman 1991). Additionally, it presents characteristics more frequently found within the northern clade: (1) presence of tympanic membrane; and (2) presence of inner tarsal tubercle. In addition, its distribution range is closer to the northern clade (Fig. 3). It is ~ 218 km in a straight line from the confirmed record of P. lynchi to the nearest confirmed record of the northern clade (P. heyeri) and ~ 490 km to the nearest record of the southern clade (N. duellmani).
description: Published as part of Ortega, Jhael A., Cisneros-Heredia, Diego F., Camper, Jeffrey D., Romero-Carvajal, Andrés, Negrete, Leonardo & Ron, Santiago R., 2025, Systematics of minute strabomantid frogs allocated to the genus Noblella (Amphibia: Anura) with description of a new genus, seven new species, and insights into historical biogeography, pp. 1-60 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 203 (1) on pages 18-20, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae162, http://zenodo.org/record/14832689