Cochranella nola, Harvey, 1996

Chávez, Germán, Pradel, Renzo & Catenazzi, Alessandro, 2019, Integrative taxonomy reveals first country record of Hyalinobatrachium mondolfii Señaris and Ayarzagüena 2001, and distribution range extensions for Cochranella nola Harvey 1996, and Rulyrana spiculata Duellman 1976 (Anura: Centrolenidae) in Peru, Zootaxa 4691 (5), pp. 541-560 : 543

Cochranella nola .

On 26 January 2014, we collected three specimens of Cochranella ( CORBIDI 19156–58) ( Fig. 1 ) at Chontachaca (13°01’22.72”S, 71°29’28.89”W; 985 m a.s.l.), Paucartambo Province , Cusco Department , Peru. The three specimens of Cochranella ( Fig. 2 ) have an uniform green dorsum finely spiculated, no melanophores on fingers, visceral peritoneum clear, parietal peritoneum white, dark green bones, and pale gray iris with fine reticulations, which resembles Harvey’s (1996) description of the types of C. nola , as well as specimens identified as C. nola from Madre de Dios ( Lujan et al. 2014; Villacampa et al. 2016). Comparisons with 16S sequences available in Genbank indicate that the most similar sequences—genetic distances = 1.4–1.5 % ( Table 1 , Appendix 1)—to our two specimens correspond to two specimens of C. nola from Bolivia published by Guayasamin et al. (2009). Based on these results we consider our specimens as part of C. nola .

We found the three specimens of C. nola near Manu National Park during a rainy night in a disturbed submontane forest at the foothills of the Andes. We observed males perched on green leaves of vegetation alongside a stream at night between 19:00–22:00 hrs. Cochranella nola was recorded in sympatry with the glassfrogs Hyalinobatrachium bergeri and Rulyrana spiculata , the toad Rhinella margaritifera , and the treefrogs Boana gladiator and Osteocephalus mimeticus .

Our new record confirms the presence of C. nola in the upper Madre de Dios River ( Villacampa et al. 2016), in the vicinity of Manu National Park. Although there are no records from within the protected area, given the occurrence in two regions adjacent to its limit, it is very likely the species occurs within Manu NP as well. Our record is also the first for Department Cusco in Peru; the species is now known to occur in three Departments in southern Peru (Cusco, Madre de Dios, and Puno). The agreement between molecular and morphological data suggest that diagnostic external characters are conserved through the distribution range of C. nola in the Andean foothills from central Bolivia to southern Peru. Therefore, researchers can use external morphological characters to identify C. nola in the field, facilitating further work aimed at assessing the distribution and conservation status of populations of C. nola in Peru and Bolivia. The species is currently listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List ( Cortez et al. 2004).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of northern South America indicating known localities of Cochranella nola (blue symbols), Hyalinobatrachium mondolfii (yellow symbols), and Rulyrana spiculata (red symbols). Type localities are noted with a square and new records with a star.

FIGURE 2. Dorsolateral and ventral views in life of adult males of Cochranella nola from Contachaca, near Manu National Park, Cusco, Peru. A, B) CORBIDI 19157; C, D) CORBIDI 19158.