Scinax Wagler, 1830

FAIVOVICH, JULIÁN, HADDAD, CÉLIO F. B., GARCIA, PAULO C. A., FROST, DARREL R., CAMPBELL, JONATHAN A. & WHEELER, WARD C., 2005, Systematic Review Of The Frog Family Hylidae, With Special Reference To Hylinae: Phylogenetic Analysis And Taxonomic Revision, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2005 (294), pp. 1-240 : 94-95

Scinax Wagler, 1830

TYPE SPECIES: Hyla aurata Wied­Neuwied

1821, by subsequent designation of Stejneger

(1907).

Ololygon Fitzinger, 1843 . Type species: Hyla strigilata, Spix, 1824 , by original designation.

Garbeana Miranda­Ribeiro, 1926 . Type species: Garbeana garbei Miranda­Ribeiro, 1926 , by monotypy.

DIAGNOSIS: This genus is diagnosed by 83 transformations in nuclear and mitochondrial

protein and ribosomal genes. See appendix 5 for a complete list of these molecular synapomorphies. Morphological synapomorphies include webbing between toes I and II that does not extend beyond the subarticular tubercle of toe I, ability to bend finger I and toe I, origin of the m. pectoralis abdominalis through well­defined tendons, and m. pectoralis abdominalis overlapping m. obliquus externus (da Silva, 1998; Faivovich, 2002).

COMMENTS: Besides the first five character states mentioned above, Faivovich (2002) considered as synapomorphies of Scinax the round or poorly expanded sacral diapophyses, the occluded frontoparietal fontanelle, single origin of the m. extensor brevis superficialis digiti III from the ulnare, and the presence of the m. lumbricalis longus digiti V that originates from the lateral corner of the aponeurosis palmaris. As mentioned earlier, the position of Scinax within Hylinae suggests that outgroups employed by Faivovich (2002) are phylogenetically distant from Scinax . Because of this, we contend that the taxonomic distribution of the aforementioned character states needs to be reassessed, at least among the other Dendropsophini , before considering them synapomorphies of Scinax . For example, it seems evident that the round or poorly expanded sacral diapophyses are not a synapomorphy of Scinax , but of a more inclusive group (also present, at least, in Scarthyla and Sphaenorhynchus ; Duellman and Wiens, 1992), whose limits are still unclear. In the same way, the absence of the lingual papillae, as mentioned earlier, might be a synapomorphy of Dendropsophini . The truncated discs of the digits were considered a synapomorphy of Scinax by Duellman and Wiens (1992) and Faivovich (2002). The phylogenetic position of the single exemplar of the H. uruguaya group in the analysis, as sister group of the S. ruber clade, complicates this interpretation. Discs in the two species of the group, H. uruguaya and H. pinima , are proportionally reduced in size with respect to most species of Scinax , cannot be considered truncated, and therefore determine an ambiguous optimization of this character state.

Burton (2004) considered that m. flexor ossis metatarsus IV with insertions on both metatarsi IV and V was a synapomorphy of Scinax . Because this character state is still unknown in our two exemplars of the S. catharinae clade, and in the exemplar of Hyla uruguaya group, it optimizes ambiguously in our analysis; it is unclear if it is a synapomorphy of Scinax or of a more exclusive clade.

The Hyla uruguaya group is being includ­ ed in Scinax to avoid rendering Scinax paraphyletic. Larvae of the two species of the H. uruguaya group share with members of the S. ruber clade some synapomorphies (the proctodeal tube not reaching the free margin of the lower fin, and the presence of keratinized spurs behind the lower jaw sheath and over the infralabial papillae [Kolenc et al., ‘‘2003’’ [2004]]). However, preliminary observations on H. uruguaya indicate that adults show at least one conflicting character state, the m. depressor mandibulae without an origin from the dorsal fascia at the level of the m. dorsalis scapulae (Faivovich, personal obs.)—a character state that optimized as a synapomorphy of the S. catharinae clade in the analysis of Faivovich (2002). This controversy may be resolved when all the conflicting evidence is analyzed, including a much denser sampling of Scinax . In the meantime, since the molecular evidence indicates affinities with the S. ruber clade, we tentatively include the two species of the H. uruguaya group in this clade, where they are recognized as a separate group.

CONTENTS: Eighty­eight species placed in two major clades.