Three New Species of Phytotelm-Breeding Melanophryniscus from the Atlantic Rainforest of Southern Brazil (Anura: Bufonidae)

Marcos R Bornschein; Carina R Firkowski; Diego Baldo; Luiz F Ribeiro; Ricardo Belmonte-Lopes; Leandro Corrêa; Sérgio A A Morato; Marcio R Pie

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142791

Three New Species of Phytotelm-Breeding Melanophryniscus from the Atlantic Rainforest of Southern Brazil (Anura: Bufonidae)

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 2;10(12):e0142791. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142791. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Marcos R Bornschein^{1

2

3}, Carina R Firkowski², Diego Baldo⁴, Luiz F Ribeiro^{2

3

5}, Ricardo Belmonte-Lopes^{2

6}, Leandro Corrêa³, Sérgio A A Morato⁷, Marcio R Pie^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
² Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
³ Mater Natura-Instituto de Estudos Ambientais, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva, Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Misiones, Argentina.
⁵ Escola de Saúde, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
⁶ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
⁷ STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

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.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Brazil
Breeding*
Bufonidae / anatomy & histology*
Bufonidae / classification*
Bufonidae / physiology
Ecosystem*
Geography
Phylogeny
Rainforest
Reproduction / physiology*
Species Specificity

Grants and funding

MRB received a PRODOC grant from CAPES (project 2599/2010) and currently receives a PNPD grant from CAPES. RBL is supported by fellowships from CNPq/MCT (141823/2011–9). MRP is supported by a grant from CNPq/MCT (571334/2008–3). DB receives financial support for Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and ANPCyT (PIP 112201101– 00875, PICT 2007–2202, 2011-1524, 2011–1895, 2012–2687, and 404–2013). Fieldwork during 2011 and 2012 was partially funded by Fundação Grupo O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza (through the project 0895_20111 conducted by Mater Natura - Instituto de Estudos Ambientais). The additional funds were obtained in the form of the other fellowships indicated to some of the authors. STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda provided support in the form of salaries for one of the authors (SAAM), but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the “author contributions” section.