THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AN ENSEMBLE OF GUATEMALAN AND MEXICAN FROGS (ELEUTHERODACTYLUS: LEPTODACTYLIDAE: AMPHIBIA)

Abstract

Eleutherodactylus daryi and E. greggi are shown to be species of the Eleutherodactylus gollmeri group which is defined on the basis of having a synapomorphy (fusion of sacrum and presacral vertebrae). Eleutherodactylus omiltemanus is a species of the rhodopis Series rather than thefitzingeri Series. The Eleutherodactylus omiltemanus group disappears because ali of its contained members are placed in other species groups. Eleutherodactylus saltator is a synonym of E. mexicanus. Eleutherodactylus rhodopis sensu lato contains two species, a larger upland E. rhodopis and the more widely distibuted lowland E. loki. The rhodopis Series, containing the rhodopis group, is not definable because no synapomorphies are apparent. Eleutherodactylus occidentalis and E. omiltemanus are assigned to this "group. " Within this "group " there is a cluster of species having black mesorchia (E. hobartsmithi, E. mexicanus, E. pygmaeus, and E. sarton), one having a shortened inner toe (E. jota and E. podiciferus), and one having conical subarticular tubercles (E. bransfordii, E. lauraster, E. loki, E. occidentalis, E. omiltemanus, E. rhodopis, and E. stejnegerianus). Sixty of the 84 essentially Mesoamerican species of the subgenus Craugastor are placed in a monophyletic subunit based on the common presence of marked sexual dimorphism in tympanum size. The subunit includes the nine species ofthe gollmeri group, the thirteen species of the rhodopis group, and 38 additional species (the three species of the biporcatus group, the eleven species of the milesi group, eight species of thefitzingeri group, 15 species of the rugulosus group, and E. uno). The 24 species of Craugastor not included in that clade are the 13 species of the alfredi group (including E. bocourti), the two species of the augusti group, the two species of the bufoniformis group, three species removed from thefitzingeri group (E. andi, E. cuaquero, and E. emcelae), and four species removed from the rugulosus group (E. anatipes, E. anomalus, E. cheiroplethus, and E. zygodactylus).