Abstract
We describe a new species of terrestrial frog of the genus Noblella from the eastern versants of the Ecuadorian Andes in the upper Pastaza watershed. Noblella naturetrekii sp. n. differs from its Ecuadorian congeners by the presence of a differentiated tympanic membrane and a weakly defined tympanic annulus, and eyelids with rounded tubercles. In addition, the new species is characterized by its blackish-dark brown ventral coloration scattered with little white dots and the absence of papillae at the tip of the fingers and toes. We provide a detailed description of the call and osteology of the new species. Finally, we present the most complete phylogeny of the genus, which confirms that Noblella is a non-monophyletic group.
Keywords:
Eastern Andean slopes; MicroCT scans; New species; Phylogeny; Upper basin of the Pastaza river.
Grants and funding
This work was supported by Naturetrek and its founders, David and Maryanne Mills, who financed the creation of two ecological reserves at the study area, through donations to the World Land Trust. Laboratory work was funded by a grant from SENESCYT (Arca de Noé Initiative; Santiago R. Ron and Omar Torres-Carvajal principal investigators) and Dirección General Académica of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Juan Manuel Guayasamin’s research is supported by Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Collaboration Grants 5521, 5467, 5447, 11164, Fondos COCIBA and Fondos Semilla Biosfera). Carolina Reyes-Puig’s research is supported by Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Project ID: 48). The EcoMinga rangers who helped discover this species are funded by the World Land Trust’s “Keepers of the Wild” program. Mario Yánez-Muñoz’s and Claudia Koch’s research is supported by the “Programa de cooperación Trilateral Alemania-Brasil-Ecuador,” financed by international cooperation GIZ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.