New species of flea-toad, genus Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Atlantic Forest of Esprito Santo, Brazil.

Abstract

We describe a new species of dull-colored flea-toad, genus Brachycephalus, from the Atlantic Forest of Capara mountains in southeastern Brazil. The new species is characterized by its diminutive size, leptodactyliform body, brownish color with an inverted V-shaped dark mark on dorsum, skin smooth, hyperossification and dorsal shield absent, linea masculinea absent, Fingers I and IV vestigial, Toe I externally absent, Toe II reduced but functional, Toes III and IV with pointed tips, Toe V vestigial, and ventral color uniformly brown. It is a leaf litter dweller, known only from type locality in the humid forests on the eastern slopes of Parque Nacional do Capara mountains, a protected area in the states of Esprito Santo and Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the third flea-toad occurring in the state of Esprito Santo recovered as sister to all other Brachycephalus distributed from the state of So Paulo northward in the Atlantic Forest.