The First Bromeligenous Species of Dendropsophus (Anura: Hylidae) from Brazil's Atlantic Forest

Rodrigo B Ferreira; Julián Faivovich; Karen H Beard; José P Pombal Jr

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142893

The First Bromeligenous Species of Dendropsophus (Anura: Hylidae) from Brazil's Atlantic Forest

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 9;10(12):e0142893. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142893. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Rodrigo B Ferreira^{1

2}, Julián Faivovich^{3

4}, Karen H Beard¹, José P Pombal Jr⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, United States of America.
² Laboratório de Ecologia de Populações e Conservação, Universidade Vila Velha, Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
³ División Herpetología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"- CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁴ Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁵ Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Abstract

We 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. Morphologically, based on comparison with the 96 known congeners, the new species is diagnosed by its small size, framed dorsal color pattern, and short webbing between toes IV-V. The advertisement call is composed of a moderate-pitched two-note call (~5 kHz). The territorial call contains more notes and pulses than the advertisement call. Field observations suggest that this new bromeligenous species uses a variety of bromeliad species to breed in, and may be both territorial and exhibit male parental care.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anura / classification*
Bayes Theorem
Brazil
Bromelia / classification*
Forests
Male
Phylogeny

Grants and funding

RBF received funding from The Herpetologists' League, Ecology Center at Utah State University, Dr. Dinesh and Kalpana Patel Fellowship, IdeaWild, Jack Berryman Institute, the Rufford Foundation and Centro Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; 231020/2013-9). JF thanks Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT; PICTs 2011-1895, 2013-404), the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET; PIP 1112008010 2422), and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; 2012/10000-5 and 2013/50741-7). JPP received financial support from CNPq and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). This research was supported by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah State University, and approved as journal paper number 8807. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.