Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii, Toledo, Luís Felipe, Garcia, Paulo C. A., Lingnau, Rodrigo & Haddad, Célio F. B., 2007

Toledo, Luís Felipe, Garcia, Paulo C. A., Lingnau, Rodrigo & Haddad, Célio F. B., 2007, A new species of Sphaenorhynchus (Anura; Hylidae) from Brazil, Zootaxa 1658, pp. 57-68 : 60-66

Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii sp. nov.

Sphaenorhynchus surdus : BERTOLUCI AND RODRIGUES, 2002; POMBAL JR. AND HADDAD, 2005

Holotype. CFBH 2222, an adult male collected in a permanent pond at the Fazenda São Luís (24º21’30” S, 48º44’35” W; 910 m. altitude), municipality of Ribeirão Branco, state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, by Célio F. B. Haddad and José P. Pombal Jr. on 27 November 1993 ( Figure 4 ).

Paratopotypes. CFBH 2219-21; 2223 adult males collected with the holotype. All the remaining paratypes were collected in the same locality of the holotype (Fazenda São Luís, Ribeirão Branco, São Paulo), but in different dates. CFBH 194 adult male collected on 11 October 1985 by A. J. Cardoso, M. Gordo, M. Martins, J. P. Pombal Jr., and C. F. B. Haddad; CFBH 267 adult male collected on 26 January 1989 by C. F. B. Haddad and J. P. Pombal Jr.; CFBH 370 adult male collected on 27 December 1987 by C. F. B. Haddad, M. Gordo, and J. P. Pombal Jr.; CFBH 1777 adult male collected on 7 December 1992 by C. F. B. Haddad and J. P. Pombal Jr.; CFBH 2210 adult male collected on 8 October 1993 by R. P. Bastos, O. C. Oliveira, and J. P. Pombal Jr.; CFBH 2285- 94 adult males and a female ( CFBH 2287) collected on 8 February 1993 by R. P. Bastos, O. C. Oliveira, and J. P. Pombal Jr.; CFBH 2313 adult male collected on 15 January 1994 by R. P. Bastos and C. F. B. Haddad; CFBH 6875-78; 6933- 37 adult males and one female ( CFBH 6933) collected on 14 January 2004 by C. F. B. Haddad, C. P. A. Prado, and L. O. M. Giasson; CFBH 9583; 11285 adult males collected on 14 January 2005 by C. F. B. Haddad, J. Alexandrino, M. Guimarães, and M. Gridi-Papp. In total there are 31 paratypes, of which 29 are males and two are females.

Diagnosis. Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii is an intermediate size species for the genus ( Figure 5 ) and is characterized by the following combination of characters: (1) absence of external tympanum; (2) snout from truncate to slightly mucronate in dorsal view and protruding in lateral view; (3) presence of a dark line from the snout to the eye; and (4) a long advertisement call, generally with more than 5 seconds of duration and more than 20 notes per call.

Comparison with other species. Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii is distinguished from S. planicola and S. dorisae by presenting a dark line from the snout to the eyes (absent in these former species). From S. carneus it is distinguished by having vomerian teeth and a SVL greater than 20 mm. From S. lacteus and S. pauloalvini it is distinguished by having a concealed tympanum. From S. prasinus it is distinguished by having a dorsolateral white line. From S. bromelicola it is distinguished by having vocal sac well developed, with longitudinal folds in the pectoral region; in S. bromelicola the vocal sac is small without longitudinal folds in the pectoral region. From S. palustris and S. orophilus it is distinguished by lacking dark nuptial asperities in males and by having the tympanum invisible from skin transparency. Finally, from S. surdus it is distinguished by having the snout generally truncate, sometimes slightly mucronate (mucronate in S. surdus ) and, mainly, by having a long advertisement call, generally with more than 5 seconds of duration (usually below 2 seconds in S. surdus ), and by having larger interval between notes, greater than 0.1 seconds (below 0.09 seconds in S. surdus ) (see also Table 1 ).

Description of Holotype. Body elliptic and slender. Head triangular, longer than broad. Snout slightly mucronate in dorsal view and protruding in lateral view ( Figure 6 ). Mouth opening ventral. Internarial distance narrow, shorter than the eye to nostril distance. Canthus rostralis rounded. Choanae rounded. Interorbital distance larger than eye diameter. Tympanum indistinct and concealed, but perceptible beneath skin. Vocal sac single, externally expanded, and large with evident transversal folds. There is one large vocal slit on each side of the tongue. Vomerine teeth in two distinct, short transverse, series, with three teeth each, lying between and just posterior to choanae. Tongue narrow, longer than wide. Thigh slightly longer than tibia; foot shorter than thigh and tibia. Finger length I<IV<II<III. Toe length I<II<V<III<IV. Finger and toes tips with rounded adhesive disks ( Figure 6 ). Thumb with keratinized nuptial pad. Finger webbing reduced and toe webbing moderately developed. Finger and toe subarticular tubercles rounded and single. There are several rounded supernumerary tubercles in the hand between the first subarticular tubercle and the elliptical internal metacarpal tubercle and the heart-shaped external metacarpal tubercle. In the feet there are 13 supernumerary tubercles mostly between the rounded external metacarpal tubercle and the oval internal metacarpal tubercle. Inner metatarsal tubercle large and ovoid. Ventral skin granular and dorsal skin slightly granular, almost smooth. Cloacal region granular and cloacal flap absent. Measurements of the holotype are presented in table 2.

Measurement S. surdus S. caramaschii

Holotype Males (n = 17) Holotype Males (n = 11) Females (n = 2) Color in life. Dorsum and limbs are bright green with brownish dots. Venter smooth green, but lighter than dorsum. Presence of a white dorsolateral line from the snout to the groin; under this line there is a dark line from the snout to the flanks. Dark line from the eye to the snout present. Cloacal region with white spots.

Color in preservative (70% ethanol). Dorsum and limbs of whitish beige with brownish dots. Ventral region whitish yellow. Limbs in ventral view darker than belly. The dark line from the eyes to the snout is present. Clocacal region with white spots. Nuptial pad brown.

Variation. Females larger than males and lacking nuptial pad that is present in males. There is little variation in external morphology within the sexes (see also Table 2 ). Differently from the holotype, some paratypes have the head broader than long, or as broad as long, and the thigh shorter than the tibia, or as long as the tibia. The snout shape varies from truncate to slightly mucronate. In most individuals the dark line from the snout extends to the flanks, in some individuals ends in the edge of the eyes. Dorsal pigmentation varies considerably among individuals, since from totally uniform green to strongly brownish spotted dorsum.

Advertisement call. The advertisement call of the S. caramaschii described here was recorded in the municipality of Piraquara, state of Paraná. It has 22 to 43 notes, frequency ranging from 0.94 ± 0.45 kHz (range: 0.11 – 1.57; n = 30 notes; 1 male) to 4.24 ± 0.40 kHz (range: 3.70 – 5.43; n = 30 notes; 1 male). Mean dominant frequency is 2.62 ± 0.09 kHz (range: 2.50 – 2.76; n = 30 notes; 1 male). The mean duration of the call is 8.49 ± 2.83 seconds (range: 5.23 – 10.21; n = 5 calls; 1 male), but it depends on the number of notes in the call. The mean duration of an individual note is 0.06 ± 0.01 s (range: 0.04 – 0.07; n = 30 notes; 1 male). The notes are pulsed and the mean interval between them is 0.22 ± 0.04 s (range: 0.18 – 0.37; n = 30 notes; 1 male) ( Table 1 ; Figure 7 ). Two adjacent males may call in antiphony.

Tadpole. Unknown.

Natural history. Males breed in the hot and rainy season of the year (September-March) and call from the floating vegetation in temporary or permanent ponds. The reproductive mode is number 1 (sensu Haddad and Prado, 2005): eggs and exotrophic tadpoles in lentic water. The eggs are attached individually to submerged vegetation.

Geographic distribution. Besides the type locality, the species occurs also in the municipalities of Pilar do Sul, Iporanga, Apiaí, and Ribeirão Grande, all in the state of São Paulo, in the municipality of Piraí do Sul and Piraquara, state of Paraná, and in the municipality of Treviso and São Bento do Sul (based on recordings), state of Santa Catarina ( Figure 8 ).

Etymology. The specific name honours Dr. Ulisses Caramaschi, who first recognized this species as new and for his large contribution to the knowledge of Brazilian anurans.

Discussion. Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii is known to occur in the highlands of the states of São Paulo, Paraná, and Santa Catarina. In Santa Catarina it also occurs in a lowland locality (about 150m a.s.l.). In the municipality of São Bento do Sul (state of Santa Catarina) it is sympatric with S. surdus and may be sympatric with this species in the neighborhood of the municipality of Curitiba (state of Paraná) as well, due to the proximity between the municipalities of Piraquara (where we found S. caramaschii ) and Curitiba (the type locality of S. surdus ). The municipality of Piraquara was part of the municipality of Curitiba until 1984 and, therefore, there is a chance that the type series of S. surdus was collected in Piraquara, confirming the sympatry of these two species in the state of Paraná. However, the two species have so far not been observed occurring in the same pond. The status of the populations of the municipalities of Dom Pedro de Alcântara and Torres, both in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and considered as S. surdus ( Garcia & Vinciprova, 2003) , needs to be reevaluated. Both species seem to be abundant, occurring in pristine and degraded areas (such as fish farms: P. C. A. Garcia, pers. obs.). Although, we still lack some information on the geographic distribution, and other natural history traits, of both species ( S. caramaschii and S. surdus ), based on our current knowledge we are able to indicate these species as Least Concern, according to the IUCN criteria. Genetic studies involving both species are being prepared and significant differences among these two species are recognized (J. Faivovich, pers. com.).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Dorsal view of the holotype of Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii sp. nov. (CFBH 2222).

FIGURE 5. Range of snout-vent-length (SVL) of the species of Sphaenorhynchus. In gray are the species treated in the present study.

FIGURE 6. Holotype of Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii sp. nov. (CFBH 2222; adult male) in dorsal (A) and lateral (B) views of head; and ventral views of hand (C) and foot (D).

FIGURE 7. Spectrogram (above) and waveform (below) of the advertisement call of Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii sp. nov. recorded at the municipality of Piraquara, state of Paraná, Brazil.

FIGURE 8. Geographic distribution of Sphaenorhynchus surdus (squares) and Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii sp. nov. (circles). The open symbols indicate the type localities of the two species. The gray triangle indicates the sympatric occurrence of both species. The abbreviations refer to the Brazilian states of São Paulo (SP), Paraná (PR), Santa Catarina (SC), and Rio Grande do Sul (RS).

Tables

TABLE 2. External morphometry of Sphaenorhynchus surdus (holotype and other males) and S. caramaschii sp. nov. (holotype and paratypes). Values presented in mm as mean ± standard deviation (range). “ NM ” means “ not measured ” because of the individual was damaged. Holotype of S. surdus based on data in Cochran (1953).

Snout-vent-length	28	25.78 ± 2.29 24.33 (22.85 – 29.32)	24.67 ± 0.98 26.45 – 28.89 (23.25 – 25.94)
Head length	7.5	7.59 ± 0.74 8.01 (6.17 – 9.14)	7.48 ± 0.35 8.18 – 8.51 (6.91 – 8.10)
Head width	7.5	7.75 ± 0.53 7.55 (6.80 – 8.41)	7.54 ± 0.38 8.20 – 8.55 (6.66 – 7.95)
Eye diameter	Not provided	2.13 ± 0.21 2.06 (1.74 – 2.67)	2.13 ± 0.16 2.20 – 2.38 (1.93 – 2.52)
Interorbital distance	Twice the width of upper eyelid	3.53 ± 0.36 3.59 (2.97 – 4.19)	3.52 ± 0.33 4.11 – 4.38 (3.05 – 4.15)
Eye-nostril distance	Not provided	2.37 ± 0.18 2.54 (2.10 – 2.68)	2.46 ± 0.19 2.84 – 2.88 (2.23 – 2.83)
Internostril distance	Not provided	1.77 ± 0.23 1.88 (1.40 – 2.19)	1.72 ± 0.15 1.72 – 2.17 (1.52 – 1.98)
Thigh length	12	12.43 ± 0.99 12.02 (10.97 – 14.11)	12.02 ± 0.58 NM – 13.12 (11.33 – 13.35)
Tibia length	13.5	12.53 ± 0.86 11.71 (11.07 – 13.86)	12.51 ± 0.56 NM – 13.00 (11.52 – 13.33)
Foot length	11.5	11.37 ± 0.91 10.85 (10.17 – 12.85)	11.64 ± 0.87 NM – 12.53 (10.34 – 13.36)