A new species of frog (Terrarana, Strabomantidae, Phrynopus) from the Peruvian Andean grasslands

Germán Chávez; Luis Alberto García Ayachi; Alessandro Catenazzi

doi:10.7717/peerj.9433

A new species of frog (Terrarana, Strabomantidae, Phrynopus) from the Peruvian Andean grasslands

PeerJ. 2020 Jun 24:8:e9433. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9433. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Germán Chávez^{1

2}, Luis Alberto García Ayachi^{1

2}, Alessandro Catenazzi^{1

3

2}

Affiliations

¹ División de Herpetología, CORBIDI, Lima, Perú.
² Instituto Peruano de Herpetología, Lima, Perú.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States of America.

Abstract

We describe a new, medium-sized species of terrestrial frog of the genus Phrynopus from a single locality in the central Andes of Peru (Departamento de Huánuco) at 3,730 meters of elevation. Phylogenetic analyses supported Phrynopus remotum sp. nov. as an independent lineage, sister to most of its congeners. The new species is morphologically distinguishable by the presence of small tubercles on upper eyelids and heels, an areolate venter, and the absence of dorsolateral folds or ridges. This species inhabits the highlands adjacent to the Marañón Dry valley. The only sympatric amphibian species recorded is the marsupial frog Gastrotheca peruana.

Keywords: Andes; Areolate venter; Huánuco; Lineage; Marañón; Peru; Phrynopus; Phylogenetic.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by CANDES Peru, a Peruvian company interested in biodiversity and forest reforestation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.