Publications by authors named "Rommel R Rojas"

We describe two new species of Rhinella (Anura: Bufonidae) from the department of Loreto, Peru. We integrate morphological and phylogenetic analyses to provide evidence of new species. R.

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Boana hobbsi is a poorly known hylid frog currently placed within the Boana punctata group. Yet, morphological, ecological and bioacoustic traits do not support this placement, with no molecular data being available to date to test this hypothesis. Based on newly collected mitochondrial DNA sequences, morphological data review and field observations, we provide new insight into the phylogenetic relationships, morphological variations and geographic distribution of B.

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Neotropical toads from the Rhinella margaritifera species group have been considered a taxonomic puzzle for a long time. Because of the high morphological similarity and an unknown number of undescribed taxa among the species of this group, we did an extensive search for character distribution within all nominal taxa. Herein we describe Rhinella parecis sp.

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Here we describe a new species of the toad genus Amazophrynella (Bufonidae) from the south margin of the Amazon River in Santarém, state of Pará, Brazilian Amazonia. The new species can be diagnosed by (1) medium body size for the genus: adult females 19.5-20.

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Amazophrynella comprises 11 small bufonid species with a pan-Amazonian distribution (Fouquet et al. 2012a, b; Rojas et al. 2016, Rojas et al.

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The description of Amazophrynella minuta was published in 1941 by the Swedish naturalist Douglas Melin based on material from Taracuá (Amazonas state, Brazil). This description was very brief and based on the morphology of few specimens with diagnostic characters and color variation not well defined. Moreover, the type series is currently in poor state of conservation.

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Amphibians are probably the most vulnerable group to climate change and climate-change associate diseases. This ongoing biodiversity crisis makes it thus imperative to improve the taxonomy of anurans in biodiverse but understudied areas such as Amazonia. In this study, we applied robust integrative taxonomic methods combining genetic (mitochondrial 16S, 12S and COI genes), morphological and environmental data to delimit species of the genus (Anura: Bufonidae) sampled from throughout their pan-Amazonian distribution.

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The Brazilian mountain ranges from the Guiana Shield highlands are largely unexplored, with an understudied herpetofauna. Here the amphibian and reptile species diversity of the remote Serra da Mocidade mountain range, located in extreme northern Brazil, is reported upon, and biogeographical affinities and taxonomic highlights are discussed. A 22-days expedition to this mountain range was undertaken during which specimens were sampled at four distinct altitudinal levels (600, 960, 1,060 and 1,365 m above sea level) using six complementary methods.

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A new species of the genus Amazophrynella (Anura, Bufonidae) is described from the departments of Madre de Dios, Cusco and Junin in Peru. An integrative taxonomy approach is used. A morphological diagnosis, morphometrics comparisons, description of the advertisement call, and the phylogenetic relationships of the new species are provided.

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Amazophrynella is a taxonomically poorly known bufonid genus with a pan-Amazonian distribution. A large part of this ambiguity comes from taxonomic uncertainties regarding the type species A. minuta.

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The genus Amazophrynella, as currently recognized (Fouquet et al. 2012a, b), is represented by four nominal species (Frost 2014; Rojas et al. 2014) but the tadpoles of only one species, Amazophrynella minuta (Melin) from Ecuador, have been described (Duellman & Lynch 1969; Duellman 1978).

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Amazophrynella is a genus of the family Bufonidae, currently represented by three species. The type species of the genus, Amazophrynella minuta, however, is a complex of species occurring throughout the Amazonian biome. This group remains problematic taxonomically; the difficulty lays principally in the lack of diagnostic characters in the original description of A.

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