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| Melanophryniscus xanthostomus Bornschein, Firkowski, Baldo, Ribeiro, Belmonte-Lopes, Corrêa, Morato & Pie, 2015 |
Abstract
Three new species of Melanophryniscus are described from the Serra do Mar mountain range of the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. All species are found at intermediate to high altitudes and share phytotelm-breeding as their reproductive strategy. The new species are distinguished from other phytotelm-breeding Melanophryniscus based on different combinations of the following traits: snout-vent length, presence of white and/or yellow spots on forearms, mouth, belly and cloaca, pattern and arrangement of warts, and presence and number of corneous spines. The discovery of these species in a rather restricted geographical area suggests that the diversity of phytotelm-breeding species of Melanophryniscus might be severely underestimated. The conservation status of these species is of particular concern, given that one of them is at risk of extinction not only due to its restricted habitat, but also because of anthropogenic disturbances.
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| Melanophryniscus biancae sp. nov. adult males [MHNCI 9809] from the type-locality (Serra do Quiriri, municipality of Garuva) photographs by H. Garcia |
Melanophryniscus biancae sp. nov.
Etymology: The specific epithet honors Bianca Luiza Reinert, ornithologist and environmentalist who dedicated her life to protect wetlands of the state of Paraná, southern Brazil.
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| Melanophryniscus milanoi sp. nov. Adult male [DZUP 460] from Morro do Cachorro. |
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| Melanophryniscus milanoi sp. nov. A = Type-locality (Morro do Baú, municipality of Ilhota), around the foothills of the mountain in the top of the photograph. B = Terrestrial bromeliad where a male was calling at Morro Boa Vista (on the border between the municipalities of Jaraguá do Sul and Massaranduba). C = Epiphytic bromeliad where a male was calling in Morro Azul (on the border between the municipalities of Pomerode and Rio dos Cedros). A = Adult male from Morro do Baú (DZUP 206); B = Adult male from Morro do Baú (DZUP 201); C = Adult male from Morro do Cachorro (DZUP 460). |
Melanophryniscus milanoi sp. nov.
Etymology: The specific epithet honors Miguel S. Milano, an environmentalist who dedicated his life to protect Brazilian nature, such as serving as the director of the “Fundação Grupo O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza” for many years.
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| Melanophryniscus xanthostomus sp. nov. A = Type-locality (Serra do Quiriri, municipality of Campo Alegre)—this forest had a fire a few years before that killed many trees, leading to intense sunlight inside and the occupation of dense vegetation in the understory. B = Cloud forest, habitat of the species at Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Caetezal, top of the Serra Queimada (municipality of Joinville). C = Terrestrial bromeliad (Aechmea distichantha) where a male was calling in the water tank in the center of the photo (municipality of Campo Alegre). A = Holotype, adult male from Serra do Quiriri (DZUP 192); B = Paratype, adult male from Morro do Boi (DZUP 461); C = Paratype, adult male from Serra Queimada (DZUP 368). |
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| Melanophryniscus xanthostomus sp. nov. |
Melanophryniscus xanthostomus sp. nov.
Etymology: The specific epithet stems from the Greek words xanthos (yellow) and stoma (mouth), indicating one of the most obvious diagnostic characters of the new species.
Discussion
Phytotelm-breeding
The life-history strategy of phytotelm-breeding is associated with a variety of differences in relation to its alternatives in Melanophryniscus. For instance, we collected a female of M. alipioi with 16 ovarian eggs (DZUP 344), which is less than half of the observed clutch size of M. moreirae (33–70 eggs; [29, 30]) and considerably fewer than the hundreds of eggs per clutch recorded in other species (56–223 in Melanophryniscus sp., 80–351 in M. stelzneri, 105 in M. dorsalis, 122 in M. montevidensis, and 294–401 in M. krauczuki), possibly indicating an adaptation for phytotelm-breeding. The reduced number of eggs recorded in a water tank (1–9) suggests that a complete clutch is laid in more than one tank. If so, the pair in amplexus might have to move from one tank to another, which might result in eggs being released accidentally. This could be the cause of the records of eggs out of the water and in apparently unusual locations.
The few cases of reproduction by species of Melanophryniscus in epiphytic bromeliads suggest that terrestrial adults have limited access to plants that are high above the ground level. The Melanophryniscus species that reproduce in bromeliads use a large number of plant species, from several genera, suggesting a lack of specificity for the species and even for a given genus of this family. In addition, the use of fallen dead bamboo as a breeding site seems to be an opportunistic strategy, since bamboos die after reproduction, which takes place at an interval of decades. Although we did not see M. xanthostomus sp. nov. calling in a water tank inside of a broken bamboo, we observed males of a population of M. cf. alipioi calling exactly in this condition (MRB pers. obs.).
Conservation:
It is possible that M biancae sp. nov. is widely distributed in marshes associated with grasslands across the entire Serra do Quiriri, where it was recorded, and also in the adjacent region of Serra do Araçatuba, in Paraná. However, these herbaceous habitats encompass a relatively small area in terms of their extent of occurrence (4.742 ha, of which 3.503 ha in the Serra do Quiriri). In addition, this region has experienced increasing anthropogenic impacts, such as the loss of habitat quality as a consequence of regular burning, cattle grazing, and intense invasion of exotic trees of Pinus spp. (Pinaceae). Disturbances also include replacement of natural areas due by Pinus spp. plantations in Paraná, and the construction of small dams and kaolin mining in Santa Catarina. Indeed, there is mining activity only 28 m away from the marsh of the type locality of the species. Burning and grazing by livestock can be particularly critical for the reproduction of the species, given that they eliminate and also damage E. ligulatum, the plant species used by M biancae sp. nov. as a breeding site. Consequently, M. biancae sp. nov. fits the criteria to be considered as “Endangered” (criteria B.1.a.b.(i, ii, iii)).
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We highlight that the montane habitats of the new species are also occupied by three additional frog species potentially under threat of extinction, specifically Brachycephalus quiririensis at Serra do Quiriri (which includes the type localities of M biancae sp. nov. and M. xanthostomus sp. nov.), B. mariaeterezae at Serra Queimada (another locality of occurrence of M. xanthostomus sp. nov.), and B. fuscolineatus at Morro do Baú (type locality of M. milanoi sp. nov.). This reinforces the need for conservation initiatives and additional research on montane regions of the Atlantic Rainforest, whose degree of endemicity can be very high, and yet their biodiversity is still poorly understood.
Marcos R. Bornschein , Carina R. Firkowski, Diego Baldo, Luiz F. Ribeiro, Ricardo Belmonte-Lopes, Leandro Corrêa, Sérgio A. A. Morato and Marcio R. Pie. 2015. Three New Species of Phytotelm-Breeding Melanophryniscus from the Atlantic Rainforest of Southern Brazil (Anura: Bufonidae). PLoS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142791
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