Craugastor polaclavus 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 polaclavus

description: <i>Craugastor <i>polaclavus</i> sp. nov.</i> <b>Holotype.</b> — UTA A-62392 (field ID: JAC 21230; Fig. 31), female collected by E.N. Smith and colleagues in Portillo del Rayo, Distrito San Pedro Pochutla, Sierra Madre del Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico, 15.973038N, 96.997118W, 1550–1585 m, 24 September 2001. <b>Paratypes (4).</b> — UTA A- 55246, a recent hatchling collected by E. N. Smith and José Luís Camarillo Rangel from Río Salado, Sierra Madre del Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico, 16.1941678N, 97.09758W, 1245 m, 26 September 1997. UTA A- 66098 and MZFC-HE-35582–83, adult or subadult specimens all collected with the holotype. <b>Referred specimen (1).</b> — UTA A- 66097, female, same data as holotype. <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> 14.7 mm); (2) highly reduced ossification of skeleton in adults relative to other members of series; (3) presence of posterolateral projection of the frontoparietal; (4) absence of vomerine odontophores; (5) presence of raised tubercles on eyelids; (6) supratympanic fold absent or poorly developed; (7) face flank barred with no distinctive canthal stripe, 1–2 particularly dark bars below eye; (8) one or two postrictal tubercles; (9) gular region with pale spotting; (10) dorsal surface blotched; suprascapular chevron, interorbital bar; (11) pale or as background middorsal ridge; (12) dorsum smooth with only large scattered tubercles; (13) body flank darker anteriorly, no sharp delineation of color change, smooth to shagreened; (14) inguinal glands present and axillary glands absent in adults; (15) when leg adpressed to body, heel reaches nostril; (16) outer tarsal ridge with 0–4 extremely small, flat, and round tubercles, no raised fringe; (17) finger and toe pads round, finger tips not expanded, toe tips slightly expanded; (18) inner metatarsal tubercle larger than outer metatarsal tubercle. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Herpetological-Monographs on 04 May 2022 <b>Comparisons.</b> — <i>Craugastor polaclavus</i> can be differentiated from <i>C. candelariensis, C. mexicanus, C. montanus, C. omiltemanus,</i> and <i>C. saltator</i> by the presence of vomerine odontophores (absent in <i>C. polaclavus</i>). It can be differentiated from <i>C. bitonium,</i> and <i>C. cueyatl</i> by the condition of adpressed leg where the heel does not reach the nostril (reaches nostril in <i>C. polaclavus</i>). It can be differentiated from <i>C. hobartsmithi</i> and <i>C. pygmaeus</i> by the absence of a posterolateral projection of the frontoparietal (present in C. <i>polaclavus</i>). It can be differentiated from <i>C. portilloensis</i> by metatarsal tubercles of equal size (unequal in <i>C. polaclavus</i>). It can be differentiated from <i>C. rubinus</i> by relative finger lengths of IV <i>¼</i> II (IV&gt; II in <i>C. polaclavus</i>). <b>Description of holotype.</b> — Holotype small female (SVL <i>¼</i> 14.7 mm); snout rounded and short (0.8 mm naris–snout; 5% SVL); short eye–nostril distance (1.4 mm; 7% SVL); tympanum 1.4 mm (10% SVL); mild supratympanic fold terminating in small shoulder tubercle; finger length formula III &lt;IV <i>¼</i> II &lt;I; single palmar tubercle; single prepollical tubercle; subarticular tubercles present on all fingers; supernumerary tubercles not present on hand; toe length formula IV &lt;III &lt;V &lt;II &lt;I; inner metatarsal tubercle larger than outer metatarsal tubercle; subarticular tubercles present on all toes; supernumerary tubercles present on plantar surface; small supracloacal fold; dark supratympanic fold in life with orange shoulder tubercle (Fig. 25), shoulder tubercle color not visible in preservative; many bands present on arms and legs; left leg removed for genetic analysis. <b>Variations in paratypes.</b> —Body sizes in SVL 8.2 mm (UTA A-55246), 12.3 mm (UTA A-66098), 11.6 mm (MZFC-HE-35582), 13.5 mm (MZFC-HE-35583); eye–nostril distance 11–13% SVL; tympanic ratios 7–8%. <b>Distribution.</b> —Intermediate elevations in the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Oaxaca 1245–1585 m (Fig. 7). These habitats consist of mixed tropical dry and temperate sierra forests. <b>Etymology.</b> —The specific epithet is a combination of the Latin <i>pola</i> meaning small and <i>clavus</i> meaning wart. The name is an allusion to the small size and rugose appearance of several individuals in the type series. <b>Phylogenetics.</b> — <i>Craugastor polaclavus</i> was inferred to be the sister taxon of <i>C. candelariensis</i> with strong support in the concatenated analysis (90 ML; 0.99 BAYES; Fig. 3) and nDNA-only analysis (ML&gt; 90, BAYES&gt; 0.90; Fig. 5). The placement of <i>C. polaclavus</i> was less certain in the mtDNA, where it was found to be the sister taxon of a clade containing <i>C</i>. cf. <i>hobartsmithi</i> <i>þ C. rubinus</i> (ML <i>¼</i> 51, BAYES <i>¼</i> 0.74; Fig. 4). In terms of genetic distances (Table 4), <i>C. polaclavus</i> was most similar to <i>C. portilloensis</i> (5.8%), followed by similarity to <i>C. bitonium</i> (5.9%). <b>Remarks.</b> —The skull of <i>C. polaclavus</i> is similar to <i>C. mexicanus, C. omiltemanus,</i> and <i>C. saltator,</i> with more anteriorly placed anterior suture of the frontoparietal and prootic than in other species. Specimens were dissected; three (UTA A-62392, 66098, and MZFC-HE-35582) seem to be subadult females with unpigmented ovaries and thin undeveloped oviducts, UTA A-66097 is an adult female with a thickened oviduct and also unpigmented ovaries containing yolked eggs, UTA A-66098 adult and MZFC-HE-35582 subadult are males with pigmented testes (smaller on second specimen), and the hatchling (8.2 mm SVL) was not dissected. This species likely co-occurs with <i>C. candelariensis, C. portilloensis,</i> and <i>C. pygmaeus</i> in southcentral Oaxaca (Figs. 6 and 8). It was collected in sympatry with <i>C. portilloensis</i> at Portillo del Rayo, Oaxaca, Mexico (Fig. 8). The hatchling paratype specimen (UTA A-55246) had no evidence of skeletal ossification (Fig. 11).
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 32-33, DOI: 10.1655/0733-1347-36.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6518587