The Native Toads (Anura, Bufonidae) of Hispaniola

Abstract

A new subspecies of guntheri and a new species of are described from Hispaniola. Comparisons of the new species are made with the remaining 8 native Antillean species, its relationships are discussed, and data on call, calling site, and distribution are given. * * * Eight species of are native to the West Indies, where these toads occur from Cuba and the Isla de Pinos in the west to the Virgin Islands in the east. Of the 8 species, 6 are Cuban. These 6 Cuban species are conveniently divided into two groups: 3 large to moderate species (peltocephalus Tschudi, empusus Cope, and taladai Schwartz), and 3 small species (longinasus Stejneger, gundlachi Ruibal, and cataulaciceps Schwartz). lemur Cope occurs on Puerto Rico and Virgin Gorda in the Virgin Islands. Hispaniola, lying between Cuba in the west and Puerto Rico in the east, has been known to harbor but a single species, guntheri Cochran, and Jamaica lacks native species of the genus. In addition to these species, marinus Linnaeus has been introduced on all the Greater Antillean islands and many of the Lesser Antilles; this introduced species has achieved varying success on the Greater Antilles, where it is very abundant on Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola, but remains rather uncommon in Cuba. Of the native Antillean species, longinasus demonstrates geographically correlated variation, with the nominate subspecies in western Pinar del Rio Province, I. dunni Barbour in the Sierra de Trinidad, Las Villas Province, and I. ramsdeni Barbour in Oriente Province. peltocepha/us has two subspecies: fustiger Schwartz in western Cuba and peltocephalus in central and eastern Cuba. To these taxa may be added Bufo taladai jaumei Vogel. This subspecies was first named (as a nomen nudum) in 1965 but was later officially described (1968 and 1971); however, Moreno (1969) conclusively showed that B. t. jaumei is a synonym of empusus, and the name need not concern Antillean herpetologists further unless the Isla de Pinos population of empusus is shown to differ from its Cuban relatives, since the type locality of B. t. jaumei is near Neuva Gerona on the Isla de Pinos. That Cuba is the center of Antillean bufonid radiation has long been recognized; the large number of species, two of which show subspeciation on the island, suggests that Cuba has been that Antillean area which has been longest occupied by toads with subsequent differentiation. Hispaniola, on the other hand, with its single species, lags far behind Cuba in kinds of bufonids. guntheri is widespread in both Haiti and the Republica Dominicana, but specimens in collections have been strangely lacking. Cochran (1941) examined 27 specimens from 7 localities at the time of the description of the species. Other than her records, there have been 5 references to