Abstract
We review the systematics of the Hypsiboas calcaratus species complex, a group of widely distributed Amazonian hylid frogs. A comprehensive analysis of genetic, morphological, and bioacoustic datasets uncovered the existence of eleven candidate species, six of which are confirmed. Two of them correspond to Hypsiboas fasciatus and Hypsiboas calcaratus and the remaining four are new species that we describe here. Hypsiboas fasciatus sensu stricto has a geographic range restricted to the eastern Andean foothills of southern Ecuador while Hypsiboas calcaratus sensu stricto has a wide distribution in the Amazon basin. Hypsiboas almendarizae sp. n. occurs at elevations between 500 and 1950 m in central and northern Ecuador; the other new species (H. maculateralis sp. n., H. alfaroi sp. n., and H. tetete sp. n.) occur at elevations below 500 m in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru. The new species differ from H. calcaratus and H. fasciatus in morphology, advertisement calls, and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Five candidate species from the Guianan region, Peru, and Bolivia are left as unconfirmed. Examination of the type material of Hyla steinbachi, from Bolivia, shows that it is not conspecific with H. fasciatus and thus is removed from its synonymy.
Highlights
Management and conservation planning of biodiversity requires proper species identifications and comprehensive inventories
Systematics of treefrogs of the Hypsiboas calcaratus and Hypsiboas fasciatus species complex... 3 these accounts are based on the taxonomic review by Duellman (1973), who included them in the Hyla geographica group
Hypsiboas calcaratus and H. fasciatus were assigned to the Hypsiboas albopunctatus group, which was diagnosed by genetic characters
Summary
Management and conservation planning of biodiversity requires proper species identifications and comprehensive inventories. Recent DNA-based studies of Amazonian amphibians have shown the existence of a large proportion of undescribed species that have escaped detection in morphology-based assessments (Elmer et al 2013; Elmer and Cannatella 2008; Fouquet et al 2012; Fouquet et al 2007; Funk et al 2012; Jungfer et al 2013; Ron et al 2012) The discovery of these taxonomic voids highlights the need of renewed and intensive efforts to discover and catalogue amphibians in the Amazon region. The H. albopunctatus group, according to the definition of Faivovich et al (2005), contains nine formally described species: H. albopunctatus (Spix, 1824), H. calcaratus (Troschel, 1848), H. dentei (Bokermann, 1967), H. fasciatus (Günther, 1858), H. heilprini (Noble, 1923), H. lanciformis (Cope, 1871), H. leucocheilus (Caramaschi & Niemeyer, 2003), H. multifasciatus (Günther, 1859) and H. raniceps (Cope, 1862). Wiens et al (2010) found strong support for the H. albopunctatus group with H. calcaratus and H. fasciatus being sister to each other. Pyron and Wiens (2011), show H. fasciatus as sister of H. dentei and H. calcaratus as sister of a clade formed by H. lanciformis, H. multifasciatus and H. albopunctatus
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