Hyloscirtus lindae

Coloma, Luis A., Carvajal-Endara, Sofía, Dueñas, Juan F., Paredes-Recalde, Arturo, Morales-Mite, Manuel, Almeida-Reinoso, Diego, Tapia, Elicio E., Hutter, Carl R., Toral, Eduardo & Guayasamin, Juan M., 2012, 3364, Zootaxa 3364, pp. 1-78 : 34-38

Hyloscirtus lindae

Description. The oral disc of an individual of series QCAZ (sc 31031) is depicted in Figure 15B. It was collected in a stream of Quebrada Negra at 11–12 km E of Papallacta (2600 m, Provincia Napo, Ecuador) by Juan F. Dueñas and Diego Almeida-Reinoso on 20 February 2010. The following description is based on a single specimen in Stage 36 (series QCAZ 23087), from 11 km SE of Papallacta, Provincia de Napo, Ecuador, collected on 1 August 1999 by Luis A. Coloma and Santiago R. Ron. Total length 65.5; body length 20.4 (31.1% of total length). Body ovoid and depressed; body width at spiracle level 10.3, body height 8.0; head width at the eyes level 9.8; anterior margin of snout uniformly rounded in dorsal view and sloping at level of nares in lateral view. Lateral-line system evident, showing supraorbital, infraorbital, posterior supraorbital, posterior infraorbital, longitudinal oral, anterior oral, angular, middle body, dorsal body, and ventral body lines; Longitudinal oral line rises at tip of snout, at middle level of oral disc. Supra ocular and infra ocular lines start at the tip of the head and merge behind the eye. Dorsal body and middle body lines run perpendicularly on the second half of the body, but distance between both lines narrows at the first half of the body, where finally merges above spiracle insertion point. Angular line starts at distal part of the eye level, near post supra orbital line, and runs down perpendicularly to infra ocular and longitudinal oral lines. The nostrils are small, ovoid, not protruding and directed anterolaterally; opening 3.6 from tip of snout; internarial distance (measured between the center of nares) 4.2. Eyes positioned and directed dorsolaterally, eye length 2.8, eye width 1.8; interorbital distance (measured between center of pupils) 7.5. Spiracle sinistral located at midbody level and oriented postero-dorsally; inner wall attached to the body, except for distal half, which is free and rounded in shape; spiracle length 2.5, spiracle width at its base 1.8. Vent tube with apical opening directed posteriorly. Vent tube length 5.7, vent tube width 4.8.

Tail length 42.8, caudal musculature robust, tapering gradually until tail terminus, which includes caudal fins; caudal fins low, rising near tail-body junction; Tail musculature height 6.0, tail musculature width 4.6 (both measured at tail-body junction), maximum tail height 11.1.

Oral disc emarginated and located anteroventrally; width of the oral disc 5.9, completely bordered of small rounded papillae. Labial tooth row formula 5(3–5)/7(1), oral apparatus well preserved, showing complete teeth rows.

Color in life. In dorsal view, body brown, with scattered gold flecks, showing lighter areas around the tip of snout and distal part of the trunk; the lateral line system is evident, in form of creamy white stitches. The tip of spiracle and oral apparatus are cream and translucent. Caudal fins translucent, with an opaque brown shade, and goldish flecks in some specimens. In lateral view, flanks are dark brown to translucent, covered by a suffusion of lighter mottling, from cream to gold hues. Tail musculature is dark brown in two proximal thirds of its extension, the distal third been creamy white; a dark brown, discontinuous stripe is evident in dorsal part of tail musculature, alternating with lighter (cream) areas. A black longitudinal stripe is evident in the first half of the myomeres insertion point. Vent tube translucent, iris dark brown with an extensive gold reticulation.

Variation. Variation of twenty three meristic characters of tadpoles in Stages 25–36 are shown in Table 8. Twenty tadpoles in Stages 25–36 greatly varied in total length that ranged from 33.6 to 74.0 mm; seventeen tadpoles (85.0%) in Stage 25 ranged between 33.6 and 67.1 in body length; body length ranged from 11.6–22.6; tail length ranged from 21.6–51.0.

Variation in LTRF cannot be correctly described, 50.0% of tadpoles (in Stages 25, 35) showed deformed oral apparatus, completely or partially depleted of denticles, with variable number of labial papillae. From the tadpoles that had relatively distinct tooth rows (in Stages 25, 36), oral tooth row formulae varied from 4(3–4)/5(1) to 5(4–5)/ 7(1) in Stage 25 and 5(3–5)/7(1) in Stage 36. Absence of keratinized teeth may be due to chytrid infection. Lateralline system was evident in all individuals examined; however, a difference in the placement and start of lines is observed among individuals. Arrangement of ventral bodyline may be symmetrical or asymmetrical on the left flank of body where spiracle is located.

Overall color patterns as well as arrangement and coloration of blotches in fins varied among individuals in Fig. 17. Individuals of about the same size and Gosner stage show variation in dorsal and lateral color patterns from light brown ( Fig. 17A) to dark brown ( Fig. 17C). Pattern of blotches on dorsal and ventral fins varies from dense stippling ( Fig. 17A) to scattered brown and reddish brown blotches ( Fig 17B) to more numerous blotches ( Fig. 17C). Bold dark brown stripes at the upper tail musculature run parallel to dorsal fin and are nearly straight at the first half of tail and sinuous at the distal portion.

Considerable ontogenetic change occurs in coloration of individuals of Hyloscirtus lindae from tadpoles to adults as illustrated in Figure 18. Approximately at Stage 40, when posterior limbs are fully developed, an overall soles and concealed parts of the limbs are yellow tan. By Stage 45, the entire dorsum is chocolate brown with a fine creamy reticulation, and an orange coloration start to be evident at the upper part of the discs, although some specimens in Stage 46 still have lighter (yellow) coloration at the top of the discs and are finely stippled in yellow. creamy white coloration is especially notorious in dorsum and dorsal part of legs. Approximately at Stage 42, the overall dorsal coloration is cream with dark brown reticulation; a dorsolateral fold is evident in distal part of the body, oral disc is still present; pupil coloration changes from brown with gold reticulations to dark grey. At Stage 46, characteristic color pattern of the adult includes light brown ground coloration, with some irregular darker marking, especially notorious at the shanks level, in form of several transverse bars; the tip of the digits and interdigital membranes are black and the discs are bright orange; the iris is grey with a fine darker reticulation.