Rhinella inopina

description

Description of holotype. An adult male (Fig. 1 A – B, Fig. 2 A – D) with body robust; head wider than long; head width 37 % of SVL; snout rounded in dorsal and lateral views; canthus rostralis well defined by canthal crest, almost straight; loreal region slightly concave; nostrils lateral, protuberant, slightly directed backwards, near to the snout tip; inter-nostril distance smaller than the eye-to-nostril distance (IND / END = 0.90); eye diameter and upper eyelid width larger than the tympanum diameter (ED / TD = 1.23; UEW / TD = 1.07); eye-to-nostril distance smaller than eye diameter (END / ED = 0.78), upper eyelid width (END / UEW = 0.89), and tympanum diameter (END / TD = 0.96); eye diameter larger than the upper eyelid width (ED / UEW = 1.14) and tympanum diameter (ED / TD = 1.23); upper eyelid width 51 % of interorbital distance; preorbital and supraorbital crests developed; parietal crest absent; postorbital crest weakly developed; tympanum large, vertically elliptical, with a distinct annulus; horizontal diameter of tympanum 90 % of the vertical diameter; parotoid glands, in dorsal view, medium size, elliptical (on right side more elongated), in lateral view triangular co

New species of the Rhinella crucifer group (Anura, Bufonidae) from the Brazilian Cerrado

diagnosis

Diagnosis. A member of Rhinella crucifer species group based on the combination of morphological characters proposed by Duellman and Schulte (1992) and Baldissera et al. (2004) such as: presence of a row of glandular keratinized tubercles at the corners of mouth; absence of the pre-ocular ridge in the smaller specimens, but always present and strongly elevated in the larger ones; a row of glandular keratinized tubercles following the lateral edges of the body, with the first tubercle united or not to the parotoid gland; parotoid gland elliptical in dorsal view, triangular in lateral view and elongate; tympanum visible, covered by a tegumentary fold on posterior region; snout rounded to mucronate in dorsal view; and, dorsal integument varying from extremely granular to smooth. Rhinella inopina sp. nov. is characterized by the following combination of features: 1) largest size for the group (SVL 102.6 mm in males and 136.1 mm in females); 2) head wider than long (Fig. 2 A); 3) snout rounded to mucronate in dorsal view (Fig. 2 A); 4) snout rounded and elongated in lateral view (Fig. 2 B); 5) parotoid glands overhanging the lateral edges of body dorsally (Fig. 3); 6) in life and preser

New species of the Rhinella crucifer group (Anura, Bufonidae) from the Brazilian Cerrado

discussion

Remarks. The Cerrado Biome covers about 2 million km 2, representing 22 % of Brazil, and small areas in eastern Bolivia and northwestern Paraguay. It extends from the southern borders of the Amazonian forest to areas in the southern States of São Paulo and Paraná. The distribution of the Cerrado is coincident with the plateau of central Brazil (Oliveira-Filho & Ratter 2002). Rhinella inopina occurs in the Cerrado biome, having the most inland distribution within the R. crucifer group, and it is apparently restricted to the disjunct Seasonal Tropical Dry Forests enclaves in western Cerrado. The Rhinella crucifer species group is widely distributed in Atlantic Forest. Only R. pombali, R. crucifer, and R. inopina are known to occur in the transition zones or within the Cerrado biome (Baldissera et al. 2004; Thomé et al. 2010). Rhinella inopina is allopatric to all other species in the group, and its distribution is associated with forest vegetation types in eastern Cerrado, such as seasonal tropical dry forest, semidecidual forest and gallery forest in karstic relief and limestone areas, all in the transition between Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. So far, we have detected five populatio

New species of the Rhinella crucifer group (Anura, Bufonidae) from the Brazilian Cerrado

etymology

Etymology. Inopinus, an adjective, is a Latin word, meaning unexpected. The name is appropriate because is the most inland species of the Rhinella crucifer species group. The other species known of the Rhinella crucifer species group are found in Atlantic Forest Biome, except for R. pombali which is distributed in the domains of the Central Brazilian Plateau, in the transition from the Atlantic Rain Forest to the Cerrado (Baldissera et al. 2004). Natural History. Adult males were found calling during a rainy night, after 0 h 00, in November 2008. It was one of the first heavy rains of the rainy season. The toads were found in the water very close to the margins of a temporary pond next to São Desidério river, in a valley between two calcareous rock outcrops, a location known as Pedra do Santo, municipality of São Desidério, State of Bahia. One amplected couple was found during the same night and another female was found four days before during a drier night in the same location. Other species calling from the same pond were Hypsiboas crepitans (Wied-Neuwied 1824), Dendropsophus nanus (Boulenger 1889), Leptodactylus mystaceus (Spix 1824), and Leptodactylus cf. chaquensis Cei 1950. A

New species of the Rhinella crucifer group (Anura, Bufonidae) from the Brazilian Cerrado