Ranitomeya defleri, Twomey & Brown, 2009

Brown, Jason L., Twomey, Evan, Amézquita, Adolfo, Souza, Moisés Barbosa De, Caldwell, Jana- Lee P., Lötters, Stefan, May, Rudolf Von, Melo-Sampaio, Paulo Roberto, Mejía-Vargas, Daniel, Perez-Peña, Pedro, Pepper, Mark, Poelman, Erik H., Sanchez-Rodriguez, Manuel & Summers, Kyle, 2011, A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical poison frog genus Ranitomeya (Amphibia: Dendrobatidae) 3083, Zootaxa 3083 (1), pp. 1-120 : 40

Ranitomeya defleri species group

Figs. 3 , 4 , 9 , 10–14 , Tables 4–7

A monophyletic assemblage of two divergent species: Ranitomeya defleri Twomey & Brown 2009 and R. toraro sp. nov. (this paper).

Definition and diagnosis. Adult SVL 13 – 18 mm; black dorsum; largely complete yellow dorsolateral and middorsal stripes present; cream spots near body on upper surfaces of legs and forearms; limbs and venter black with pale to bright blue reticulation forming round black spots on limbs and irregular spots on venter; large intestine entirely pigmented; LTRF either 2(2)/2(1) ( R. toraro sp. nov.) or 2(2)/3(1) ( R. defleri ), oral disc emarginated ( Table 2); larvae gray; eggs dark (Table 6). Vocalizations known only in R. defleri and consist of a series of short, insect-like buzzes, notes 0.41 – 0.62 sec in length, repeated at approximately 27 notes per minute (Table 5).

Figures

FIGURE 3. A consensus Bayesian phylogeny based on 1011 base pairs of aligned mitochondrial DNA sequences of the 12S (12s rRNA), 16S (16s rRNA) and cytb (cytochrome-b gene) regions. Thickened branches represent nodes with posterior probabilities 90 and greater, other values are shown on nodes. Taxon labels depict current specific epithet, number in tree, the epithet being used prior to this revision (contained in parentheses), and the collection locality. A. Top segment. B. Middle segment. C. Bottom segment of phylogeny.

FIGURE 4. Putative species tree for Andinobates, Excidobates, and Ranitomeya. Placement of species where molecular data were lacking (A. altobueyensis, A. viridis, A. abditus, A. daleswansoni and R. opisthomelas) was based on morphology. Andinobates altobueyensis and A. viridis were placed as sister taxa due to the absence of dark pigmentation on dorsal body and limbs and overall similar dorsal coloration and patterning. These species were placed as sister to A. fulguritus (sequenced) on the basis of similar dorsal coloration (bright green to greenish-yellow). Andinobates opisthomelas was placed in the bombetes group in a polytomy with A. bombetes and A. virolinensis (both sequenced) due to their similar advertisement calls and morphology, particularly their red dorsal pattern and marbled venter. Andinobates daleswansoni was placed as sister to A. dorisswansonae due to the absence of a well-defined first toe in both species. Andinobates abditus was placed in the bombetes group based on a larval synapomorphy which appears to be diagnostic of that group (wide medial gap in the papillae on the posterior labium). However, A. abditus was placed as the sister species to all other members of the bombetes group due to the absence of bright dorsal coloration and isolated geographic distribution. Andinobates abditus is currently the only species of its genus known to occur in the east-Andean versant, thus its placement remains speculative until molecular data become available. Photo credits: Thomas Ostrowski, Karl-Heinz Jungfer, Victor Luna-Mora, Giovanni Chaves-Portilla.

FIGURE 9. Known elevation distributions of Ranitomeya. Dotted line is mean for all samples. Dark boxes display the total elevation range of each species, within each contains a corresponding box plot.

FIGURE 10. Ranitomeya Plate 1. defleri group: A–B: Ranitomeya defleri (all from Vaupés, Colombia); A: Holotype at MCZ (Ω); B: near Estación Biológica Caparú (1 Φ). C–M: Ranitomeya toraro from Brazil; C–D: Careiro da Varzea, Amazonas (A. P. Lima); E: Humaitá, Amazonas (P. I. Simoes); F–G: Cachoiera do Jirau, Rondônia (W. Hödl); H: near Boca do Acre, Amazonas (PRMS and MBS, Ω); I: Host plant of R. toraro: Phenakospermum guyanense near Boca do Acre, Acre (MBS); J: near Boca do Acre, Amazonas (PRMS and MBS); K: Habitat of R. toraro near Boca do Acre, Acre, inset: Aechmea sp. used for tadpole deposition (MBS); L: near Boca do Acre, Amazonas (PRMS and MBS); M: Rio Ituxi, Amazonas (JPC, Ω). (nΦ = number of individual in phylogeny, Ω = population sampled in phylogeny).

FIGURE 11. Ranitomeya Plate 2. defleri group: A–H: Ranitomeya toraro (all from Brazil); A-B: Rio Branco, Acre (T. Grant); C-F: Upper Jurua, Acre (unknown). From Colombia: G: Leticia, Amazonas (Jose Manuel Padial, Ω); H: Axil of Aechmea sp. with two R. toraro embryos, near Boca do Acre, Amazonas, BZ (MBS). I: Adelphobates quinquevittatus, near Boca do Acre, Amazonas, BZ (PRMS); J: R. uakarii near Porto Walter, Acre, BZ (JPC, Ω); K: Tadpole of R. toraro (MBS). (Ω = population sampled in phylogeny).

FIGURE 12. Ranitomeya toraro sp. nov. type series. All specimens from two localities in Brazil: Amazonas state, municipality of Castanho, at km 12 on road to Autazes (ca. 40 km south of Manaus) or Scheffer Madeireira on Rio Ituxi, ca. 170 km southwest of Lábrea (labeled with ‡). Top row, from the collections of MPEG (L-R): 13839, 13838 (holotype), 13841, 13840, 13842 and 13037(‡). Bottom row, from the collections of OMNH (L-R): 37441, 37440, 36666 (‡), 37442, 37439, 36667(‡), 37438. Black bar = 20 mm (5 mm increments). Sequenced individuals (number in phylogeny): OMNH 36666 (7), OMNH 37440 (5), OMNH 36667 (6), MPEG 13841 (4)

FIGURE 13. Known distribution of the defleri group. The inset map displays the geographic extent of distributions (black circles = all other Ranitomeya).

FIGURE 14. Advertisement calls of Ranitomeya species in the variabilis group and defleri group. A. Ranitomeya amazonica from 23 km S Iquitos, Loreto, Peru (type locality), recorded at 26° C; B. Ranitomeya amazonica from French Guiana, unknown temperature (call courtesy Erik Poelman); C. Ranitomeya variabilis from Cainarachi valley, San Martín, Peru, recorded at 22° C. D. Ranitomeya variabilis from Cerro Yupatí, Amazonas, Colombia, recorded at 27° C; E. Ranitomeya variabilis from Saposoa, San Martín, Peru, recorded at 24.5 C; F. Ranitomeya defleri from Rio Apaporis, Vaupés, Colombia, recorded at 26° C.