The anuran larynx is an organ of great evolutionary interest because it impacts male reproductive success in courtships. However, little is known about the diversity of the larynx's anatomy, evolutionary history and systematics importance. Here, we describe and compare the anatomy of the larynx of 10 Physalaemus species of the P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe a new species of the Scinax catharinae group from one of the last remaining fragments of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Minas Gerais. The new species is distinguished from most species of the group mainly by having the mucronate snout in dorsal view, the unique light-yellow coloration on the gular surface in life contrasting with its overall color pattern, and the m. depressor mandibulae with an origin on the dorsal fascia at the level of the m.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrachycephalus bufonoides was described as a "variety" of B. ephippium based on two specimens which 90 years later was considered full species. Besides its brief original description, nothing else is known for this species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently a new species of bombyliid fly, Marleyimyia xylocopae, was described by Marshall & Evenhuis (2015) based on two photographs taken during fieldwork in the Republic of South Africa. This species has no preserved holotype. The paper generated some buzz, especially among dipterists, because in most cases photographs taken in the field provide insufficient information for properly diagnosing and documenting species of Diptera.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe a new treefrog species of Dendropsophus collected on rocky outcrops in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Ecologically, the new species can be distinguished from all known congeners by having a larval phase associated with rainwater accumulated in bromeliad phytotelms instead of temporary or lentic water bodies. Phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data confirms that the new species is a member of Dendropsophus; our analysis does not assign it to any recognized species group in the genus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEgg-brooding frogs (Hemiphractidae) are a group of 105 currently recognized Neotropical species, with a remarkable diversity of developmental modes, from direct development to free-living and exotrophic tadpoles. Females carry their eggs on the back and embryos have unique bell-shaped gills. We inferred the evolutionary relationships of these frogs and used the resulting phylogeny to review their taxonomy and test hypotheses on the evolution of developmental modes and bell-shaped gills.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe a new species of the Scinax catharinae Group from Municipality of Porto Seguro, State of Bahia northeastern Brazil. The new species is mainly characterized by its small size, nuptial pad dark colored, and compound pectoral fold. Additionally, we describe the structure of its nuptial pad and compare it with that of S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpecies distributed across vast continental areas and across major biomes provide unique model systems for studies of biotic diversification, yet also constitute daunting financial, logistic and political challenges for data collection across such regions. The tree frog Dendropsophus minutus (Anura: Hylidae) is a nominal species, continentally distributed in South America, that may represent a complex of multiple species, each with a more limited distribution. To understand the spatial pattern of molecular diversity throughout the range of this species complex, we obtained DNA sequence data from two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the 16S rhibosomal gene (16S) for 407 samples of D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRana margaritifera was described by Laurenti in 1768 and currently is associated to the genus Rhinella, under the combination Rhinella margaritifera. Currently, the R. margaritifera species group consists of 16 recognized species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe identity of Scytalopus speluncae (Ménétriés, 1835) (Aves: Passeriformes: Rhinocryptidae), a tapaculo from southeastern Brazil, has been the matter of debate during the last eight years. A group of ornithologists considers that the nomen Scytalopus speluncae should be attributed to a species endemic to coastal mountains of southeastern Brazil, whereas another group considers it a species from the drier environments of another mountain belt in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Both research groups disagree on the identity of the still extant but damaged alleged holotype, deposited at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St.
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