Vitreorana assuh Zucchetti & Rojas-Padilla & Dias & Solé & Orrico & Castroviejo-Fisher 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zucchetti, Victor M.
name: Rojas-Padilla, Omar
name: Dias, Iuri R.
name: Solé, Mirco
name: Orrico, Victor G. D.
name: Castroviejo-Fisher, Santiago
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Centrolenidae
Vitreorana
Vitreorana assuh

description: Vitreorana assuh sp. nov.
Vitreorana sp. nov. — Rojas-Padilla et al. (2020: Table 1, Fig. 3G, Appendix 1).
Holotype. MZUESC 18530 (Figs. 1, 2), adult male collected by I.R. Dias and E. Santos on 11 December, 2014, near the base camp (-15.182533, -39.345388, 450 m a.s.l.) in Serra das Lontras National Park, municipality of Arataca, state of Bahia, Brazil.
Paratopotype. MZUESC 21044 (Figs. 1, 2), adult female collected on 01 March, 2018 by O. Rojas-Padilla, V.Q. Menezes, and I. R. Dias.
Generic placement. The new species is assigned to the genus Vitreorana based on the presence of a completely translucent parietal peritoneum, white hepatic peritoneum covering a bulbous liver, gastrointestinal peritoneum translucent, and urinary bladder, kidneys, and gonads with white peritonea (Fig. 3F). This combination of characters is only known for all species of glassfrogs from the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado— V. eurygnatha, V. franciscana, V. parvula, and V. uranoscopa (Guayasamin et al. 2009; Santana et al. 2015)—except for V. baliomma (Pontes et al. 2014).
Etymology. The specific epithet assuh comes from the word açu of the Tupi linguistic trunk, which is an adjective, meaning “large” or “elongated”. Tupi was the main language used by native people on the Atlantic Forest coast before European contact. By naming this species using a Tupi word, we want to pay homage to these residents of the Atlantic Forest and their contribution to shaping current Brazilian culture.
Characterization. (1) dentigerous process of vomer with four to five teeth; (2) snout subovoid in dorsal view and sloping in profile view; (3) tympanum visible, directed upward, rounded, diameter 28.9–34.3% the diameter of eye, tympanic annulus visible except for upper border covered by weak supratympanic fold extending from behind the eye until the shoulder; tympanic membrane differentiated and partially translucent, lower portion enameled with a thick layer of iridophores and upper portion pigmented as surrounding skin; (4) dorsal skin texture shagreen; small spicules present; (5) ventral surface areolate; cloacal ornamentation consisting of a fold above the cloaca, an aggregation of small and thickened tubercles, spiculated, and a pair of tubercular prominences in each side of cloacal opening, giving an aspect of a fold in ventral view; subcloacal warts absent; (6) parietal peritoneum translucent (condition P0), pericardium and hepatic, urinary bladder, kidneys, and gonads peritonea white; gastrointestinal peritoneum translucent (condition V4); (7) bulbous liver, covered by white peritoneum (condition H2); (8) humeral spine absent; (9) webbing absent between fingers II and III, reduced between fingers III and IV, and moderate between fingers IV and V, webbing formula: III (2 –– 2) (32/3) IV (11/4 –2) (2 –) V; (10) webbing between toes moderate, webbing formula: I (1 –– 1) (1 + – 11/3) II (1 –– 1 +) (11/3 – 11/2) III (0 + –1 +) (2 –– 2 +) IV (2 –– 2) (1–1 +) V; (11) low and hardly appreciable outer ulnar and tarsal folds, extending to the base of the Finger V and Toe V, respectively, formed by a thin line of enameled skin visible under magnification; inner tarsal fold present; (12) concealed prepollex; in male, nuptial pad formed by densely packed glands, forming a defined pad, pale colored, on dorsomedial surface of Finger I (Type I); (13) Finger II shorter than Finger III (Finger II length 90.5–90.9% of Finger III); (14) disc of Finger IV moderate, its width 47.4–57.1% of eye diameter; (15) in life, dorsum leaf green with yellow hues and reticulated with dark green punctuations and flecks; bones green (16) in preservative, background coloration cream with melanophores of two types, minute and star-shaped, the latter may be occasional clustered forming larger dark spots; (17) in life, iris light brown with thin golden encircling reticulations and some thick black reticulations, light brown circumpupillary ring, in preservative, silvery white with lavender encircling reticulations; (18) hands and feet yellowish; melanophores present in dorsal side of fingers III, IV, and V and toes III, IV, V, but at lower density in Finger III and Toe III; (19) large body size; adult male SVL 30.9 mm; adult female SVL 34.1 mm. The following traits commonly used to characterize species of glassfrogs are unknown: advertisement call, position of calling males, male fighting behavior, oviposition site, parental care, and tadpole.
Description of the holotype. A well-preserved adult male, with a sample of muscle tissue removed from the right thigh and preserved in 96% ethanol (Fig. 1). Body slender; head distinct, wider than long; HL 33.3% and HW 35.6% of SVL; canthus rostralis indistinct; loreal region slightly concave; upper lip with supralabial line; nostrils ovoid and protuberant, closer to tip of snout than to eye, directed dorsolaterally; internarial area barely depressed; moderate-sized eyes, ED 11% of SVL, directed anterolaterally at an angle of 45°; ED narrower than IOD (Fig. 3A– B); transverse diameter of disc of Finger IV 57.1% of eye diameter. Tympanum of moderate size (TD 35.3% of ED), with tympanic membrane enameled in the lower border (Fig. 3B). Vomerine teeth small, four on both right and left sides; choanae large, around three times the size of the dentigerous process of the vomers, rounded; tongue ovoid, ventral posterior half not attached to floor of mouth; vocal slits extending posterolaterally from the lateral edge of the tongue to the angle of jaws; single median subgular vocal sac. Arm slender, forearms slightly thicker and with minute and star-shaped melanophores; relative finger lengths II <III <V <IV; discs expanded, elliptical and truncate on the distal tip; subarticular tubercles small, round, simple; few fleshy supernumerary tubercles present; palmar tubercle elliptical, elongated, simple; thenar tubercle present, hardly appreciable in the left hand (Fig. 3E). Slender hind limbs, FL 49.2% and TL 61.5% of SVL; relative toe length I <II <III ≈ V <IV; toe discs expanded, elliptical, and truncated on the distal tip; inner metatarsal tubercle large, ovoid, near the base of Toe I; outer metatarsal tubercle not evident; subarticular tubercles small, rounded, simple; few supernumerary tubercles barely visible on plantar surface (Fig. 3D). Dorsal surfaces with small cream spicules along the dorsum, from the nostril to cloaca, spicules larger and at higher density in tympanic area, flanks, arms, and dorsolateral region over supratympanic fold (Fig. 4A, B, D, E); throat and ventral surface of forelimbs smooth; belly and ventral surface of the hindlimbs areolate with small and round granules, all similar in size. Ventral portion and flanks cream, immaculate (Fig. 1). To avoid repetition, we refer the reader to the characterization and Figures 1–5, 10–12 for other characters.
Color of the holotype in preservative. Dorsal background surfaces of body, head, and limbs cream and decorated densely by minute and star-shaped melanophores with occasional clusters forming a slightly reticulated pattern (Fig. 5A–D). Ventral portion and flanks cream, immaculate. Iris background silvery-white with lavender thin and thick encircling reticulations. Parietal peritoneum translucent, peritonea of heart, liver, and urogenital tract (kidneys, urinary bladder, and tests) with white iridophores; peritonea of stomach, intestines, and gall bladder translucent.
Color in life. Based on digital photographs of both specimens (Fig. 2). Dorsal surfaces of body, head, arms, and legs leaf green with yellow hues; male with dark green punctuations and female with dark punctuations and flecks dispersed across dorsal surfaces; flanks, hands, and feet yellowish green. Ventral skin translucent, allowing the visualization of internal organs. Heart, liver, and urinary bladder covered by white iridophores. Green bones. Upper lip, tympanic membrane lower half, ulnar and tarsal folds, cloacal ornamentation, and distal edge of the gular region white due to a layer of iridophores. Iris background light brown, with thin concentric golden reticulations and few thick black reticulations, circumpupillary ring light brown, small evagination in the superior part of the pupil.
Measurements of the holotype (and paratopotype) in mm. SVL 30.9 (34.1); HL 10.3 (11.0); HW 11.0 (11.7); IOD 3.4 (3.5); UE 2.2 (2.4); IN 2.2 (2.1); EN 2.9 (2.7); SE 4.5 (4.8); ED 3.5 (3.8); TD 1.2 (1.1); ET 2.1 (2.1); RUL 7.1 (6.9); HDL 10.4 (10.0); F2L 6.0 (5.7); F3L 6.6 (6.3); 4DW 2.0 (1.8); F4 W 1.1 (1.1); TL 19.0 (18.6); THL 17.9 (17.7); FL 15.2 (14.7).
Variation. The male specimen presents a dorsal coloration pattern with smaller and less clustered melanophores forming punctuations, which creates a less reticulated pattern than in the female, where melanophores form a dorsal pattern of punctuations and flecks (Fig. 5A–D). The male has more prominent and abundant spicules along the body. The female is also larger than the male.
description: Published as part of Zucchetti, Victor M., Rojas-Padilla, Omar, Dias, Iuri R., Solé, Mirco, Orrico, Victor G. D. & Castroviejo-Fisher, Santiago, 2023, An elusive giant: A new species of Vitreorana Guayasamin et al., 2009 (Anura: Centrolenidae) from the northern Atlantic Forest with an osteological description and comments on integumentary spicules, pp. 301-334 in Zootaxa 5249 (3) on pages 304-307, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7691031