A new reproductive mode in anurans: Natural history of Bokermannohyla astartea (Anura: Hylidae) with the description of its tadpole and vocal repertoire.

Anurans have the greatest diversity of reproductive modes among tetrapod vertebrates, with at least 41 being currently recognized. We describe a new reproductive mode for anurans, as exhibited by the Paranapiacaba Treefrog, Bokermannohyla astartea, an endemic and poorly known species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest belonging to the B. circumdata group. We also describe other aspects of its reproductive biology, that are relevant to understanding the new reproductive mode, such as courtship behavior, spawning, and tadpoles. Additionally, we redescribe its advertisement call and extend its vocal repertoire by describing three additional call types: courtship, amplectant, and presumed territorial. The new reproductive mode exhibited by B. astartea consists of: (1) deposition of aquatic eggs in leaf-tanks of terrestrial or epiphytic bromeliads located on or over the banks of temporary or permanent streams; (2) exotrophic tadpoles remain in the leaf-tanks during initial stages of development (until Gosner stage 26), after which they presumably jump or are transported to streams after heavy rains that flood their bromeliad tanks; and (3) tadpole development completes in streams. The tadpoles of B. astartea are similar to those of other species of the B. circumdata group, although with differences in the spiracle, eyes, and oral disc. The vocal repertoire of B. astartea exhibits previously unreported acoustic complexity for the genus. Bokermannohyla astartea is the only bromeligenous species known to date among the 187 known species within the tribe Cophomantini. We further discuss evolutionary hypotheses for the origin of this novel reproductive mode.

A grave drum at rocky springs: the vocalization of Bokermannohyla alvarengai (Anura: Hylidae) from the Espinhaço Range, southeastern Brazil, with notes on its natural history.

Communication in anurans is mediated mainly by acoustic signals, which are relevant for mating, territoriality, and other social interactions (Wells 2007). Although these signals are usually conspicuous and relatively stereotyped, some Neotropical frogs display noticeable diversity and complexity in their calls. For instance, Bokermannohyla, a genus of gladiator treefrog from the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Caatinga Biomes of Brazil, often have complex vocal repertoires (Carvalho et al. 2012; Nali Prado 2014), whilst some congeners have simple and stereotyped calls emitted continuously (Carvalho et al. 2013; Taucce et al. 2015; Giaretta et al. 2016; Rocha et al. 2016).

Advertisement calls, intraspecific variation and species diagnosis of six Brazilian species of Elachistocleis (Anura: Microhylidae: Gastrophryninae).

We describe for the first time the advertisement calls of three Elachistocleis species (E. surumu, E. magna, E. carvalhoi) and provide additional data on the calls of three other species (E. matogrosso, E. helianneae, E. muiraquitan). Additionally, we evaluate intraspecific variation in morphology and color patterns, and comment on species diagnosis in the genus. The advertisement calls of the six species of Elachistocleis have a stereotyped temporal and spectral structure, which consists of a long sustained multipulsed note with an upsweep in frequency at its onset, followed by a constant frequency along the note. Newly collected Elachistocleis from northern and western Brazil showed intraspecific variation in morphology and coloration that had not been previously reported. Coloration was listed as a diagnostic feature in the original descriptions of the Elachistocleis species evaluated in this study, but color patterns were variable in some species and sometimes did not allow for species differentiation. Our results indicated that the three species with greater degrees of morphological similarity (E. helianneae, E. matogrosso, E. muiraquitan) differed in microtemporal and spectral traits of their calls. Moreover, pulse duration in E. helianneae was very distinct, lasting approximately twice the average pulse duration in calls of the other species studied. Therefore, pulse duration might be an informative trait when assigning specimens to E. helianneae, which is widely distributed across Amazonian lowland forests and in a region of Amazonian savanna. Our results bring novelties on species diagnosis and intraspecific variation in Elachistocleis based on acoustic evidence and morphological/color patterns, and accentuate the importance of taking into consideration multiple lines of evidence as a means for accurate species-level identification in this genus of Neotropical frogs.

Vocal repertoire of Ololygon pombali (Lourenço, Carvalho, Baêta, Pezzuti Leite, 2013) (Anura: Hylidae) from its type locality, with notes on phenotypic variation.

A recent nomenclatural change based on molecular data (Duellman et al. 2016) resurrected genus Ololygon to accommodate all taxa in the former Scinax catharinae clade (Faivovich 2002; Faivovich et al. 2005). Most Ololygon species inhabit Coastal Atlantic rainforests in northeastern and southeastern Brazil (Duellman et al. 2016), but some species occur in the Cerrado Domain (Cardoso Haddad 1982; Pombal et al. 2010; Lourenço et al. 2013). Ololygon pombali (Lourenço, Carvalho, Baêta, Pezzuti Leite, 2013) is a small species only known from the southern portion of Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, in the municipality of Capitólio, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Here, we describe the vocal repertoire of Ololygon pombali and provide notes on dorsal color pattern variation, while briefly discussing their taxonomic implications.