Rediscovery of Atelopus Subornatus Werner, 1899 (Anura: Bufonidae), with a Redescription of the Tadpole
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Zootaxa 4344 (1): 160–162 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Correspondence ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2017 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4344.1.7 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:546C9CA9-CEEF-46FD-9514-32D5033B35B8 Rediscovery of Atelopus subornatus Werner, 1899 (Anura: Bufonidae), with a redescription of the tadpole MARIA PAULA ENCISO-CALLE1, ANDRES VIUCHE-LOZANO1, MARVIN ANGANOY-CRIOLLO2 & MANUEL HERNANDO BERNAL1,3 1Grupo de Herpetología, Eco-Fisiología & Etología. Departamento de Biología. Universidad del Tolima. 730006299, Ibagué, Colom- bia. 2Departamento de Zoologia. Instituto de Biociências. Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. 3Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] The Neotropical toads of the genus Atelopus are among the most imperiled of all amphibians (La Marca et al. 2005; Gonzalez-Maya et al. 2013; McCaffery et al. 2015). Nowadays, at least 90% of the 93 listed species are threatened and more than 77% are Critically Endangered (McCaffery et al. 2015; IUCN 2016). Colombia has 44 described species of Atelopus (Frost 2017), two of these are categorized as extinct (EX) by the IUCN (2016): A. ignescens and A. longirostris, although they were recently re-discovered in Ecuador (Tapia et al. 2017), 34 as critical endangered (CR), four as endangered (EN), two as vulnerable (VU), one species has data deficient (DD) and another one has not been evaluated. Atelopus subornatus Werner, 1899, is an endemic Colombian harlequin toad described from 2300 to 2800 m.a.s.l in the municipalities of Sibaté (Alto de Sibaté and Agua Bonita) and Fusagasuga (above Fusagasuga and Tierra Negra), in Cundinamarca (Fig. 1A), on the western flank from Cordillera Oriental of Colombia (Werner 1899; Lynch 1986; Lötters 1989, 1992). The last record of this species was in 1993 (Lötters 2005), and it currently is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN (2016). Herein, we report the rediscovery of A. subornatus at a new locality from Tolima, Colombia (Fig. 1A), and redescribe its tadpole. The determination of the species was based on comparisons with material deposited in the amphibian collection of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (ICN-UNAL) for all species of Atelopus reported from the same general area in Cundinamarca and relatively similar to A. subornatus. The specimens are housed in the Herpetological collection of the Tolima University (CZUT-A) and amphibian collection of ICN-UNAL. Atelopus subornatus (one adult male, a subadult, and 16 tadpoles), was found in the Galilea Forest, municipality of Villarrica, Tolima, Colombia (3°48'12.7" N, 74°36'34.1" W, 2150 m a.s.l). Tadpoles were observed between 10:00 and 11:00 hours on February 1st 2017, attached to rocks at the bottom of the stream “La Quebrada Wolf”, whereas the adult (Fig. 1B, CZUT-A 2201) and the subadult (ICN-MAA 1268) were found on branches of trees (one meter above the ground approximately) within of a native forest adjacent to the stream, on February 2nd at 14:00 hours and February 3th at 14:30 hours, respectively. The adult male of A. subornatus is 25.13 mm of SVL, with short legs (0.83 of SVL) and arms (0.51 of SVL). Fingers are moderate in length, relative finger length I<II<IV<III, webbed at the base. Toes also moderate, relative toes length I<V<II<III<IV, one-half webbed but first toe fully webbed. In life, dorsum and limbs dark brown with yellow or golden marks, and ventral surface cream with some dark blotches on the throat. In preservative, the dorsum is dark brown with orange markings, and belly, throat and ventral surfaces of thighs are cream, but throat with dark blotches. These morphological and life color data are in agreement with those previously published by Lötters (1989, 1992, 2005). Lynch (1986) reported aspects of the reproductive biology of A. subornatus and provided a general description of tadpoles found at Agua Bonita, Cundinamarca. The tadpoles of A. subornatus from this study did not differ from those described by Lynch (1986) neither in coloration (cream and black) nor basic oral morphology. However, we included a more detailed description of this tadpole based on a series of 16 individuals collected in developmental stages 31–36 (Gosner 1960), which are deposited in the CZUT-A (2256) and ICN-MAA (1262). The following description refers to the tadpole CZUT-A 2256-4 (Fig. 1C) at Gosner stage 36. Total length (TL) 19.58 mm, body length 0.41 of TL and body width 0.31 of TL. In dorsal view, body oval, snout rounded and sloped laterally, nares elongated positioned dorsally and directed antero-laterally, without ornamentation, visible in lateral view, near to eyes, diameter 0.24 mm, interocular distance 1.49 mm. In profile, body depressed (height 2/3 body width), flattened ventrally and disrupted by a large 160 Accepted by M. Vences: 29 Sept. 2017; published: 6 Nov. 2017 abdominal sucker (about 90–95% of body width and 70–75% of body length). Spiracle sinistral, conical, as larger as higher, 60% of tube attached to body wall, other 40% is free, closer to the vent tube than to the snout, directed postero- dorsally and opening laterally. Vent tube short, medial, cylindrical, linked to the caudal muscle, directed posterior to poteroventrally, tail length is 0.57 of TL and 1.5 of body length, ventral fin height equal to dorsal fin, rises in the first quarter of the tail, tail tip rounded. Oral disc (Fig. 1D) ventral, not emarginated, bordered lateral and anteriorly by a row of papillae, interrupted by a large ventral gap that include most posterior lip. Lateral papillae moderate, thin; anterior papillae large, low and wide. One ovoid, large and low submarginal papillae on each side of posterior lip, at level of third posterior row (P-3). LTRF 2/3, first equal second anterior row (A1=A2), and posterior row equal (P1=P2=P3). Posterior tooth rows longer than anterior (A 80% of P). Upper jaw sheaths thin, slightly curved, with weak-defined long lateral processes, and longer than lower jaw sheaths, which is U-shaped. FIGURE 1. A, map of Atelopus subornatus from the Galilea Forest, Tolima, Colombia, showing the new locality ∆, and localities previously reported ○; B, adult (CZUT-A 2201); C, tadpole in Gosner stage 36 (CZUT-A: 2256-4); D, oral disc of the tadpole. Not to scale. In life, dorsum and sides of body black with golden spots and bands, eye black with golden dots, spiracle translucent, hind limbs pale white. One third of the caudal musculature cream with golden fins, middle region of tail black, and distal third of tail yellow, the anterior half of tail white ventrally. Oral disc and sucker white, dark brown middle sucker, belly black. In preservative, dorsum and sides of body black with pale white spots and bands posterior to eyes and on snout, iris black and pupil grey, spiracle translucent with some dark dots at its bases, hind limbs black with pale white spots. One-third of tail cream with a few dark spots, middle region of tail black, and last third of tail white translucent. Fins white or cream translucent on the pale regions, the remaining middle region of fins are dark. Oral disc and sucker pale white, with some dark brown dots in the middle sucker, belly black (gut not visible). The new population of Atelopus subornatus extends the range distribution in approximately 75 kilometers to the south (straight-line distance) from Fusagasuga (Cundinamarca) to the Galilea Forest, and is the first record for Tolima. Moreover, the elevation at 2150 m.a.s.l. is the lowest altitudinal record for this species. Declines of harlequin toads have been particularly severe at elevations above 1000 m in the northern Andes of South America (La Marca et al. 2005; McCaffery et al. 2015). However, the rediscovery of A. subornatus and other Atelopus in different regions renews the hope to find more species (Gonzalez-Maya et al. 2013) and understand the causes of Atelopus declines. This work was supported by Fondo de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Tolima, project number 270220516 to REDISCOVERY OF ATELOPUS SUBORNATUS Zootaxa 4344 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press · 161 Paula Enciso, Andres Viuche and Manuel H. Bernal, and by the Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Básicos y Aplicados (CEIBA), February 2016 (economical support), and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Proc. 2012/10000-5, São Paulo, Brazil (field trip support), to Marvin Anganoy. We are very grateful to John D. Lynch (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) for the access to collection and specimens, and Ariel Lozano, Raiza Castañeda and Viviana Gutiérrez for their valuable assistance in field. Collection permit was authorized by the Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial (ANLA Resolutions 255 of 2014 and 701 of 2016). References Frost, D.R. (2017) Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. Available from: http://research.amnh.org/vz/ herpetology/amphibia (accessed 23 March 2017) Gonzalez-Maya, J.F., Belant, J.L., Wyatt, S.A., Schipper, J., Cardenal, J., Corrales, D., Cruz-Lizano, I., Hoepker, A., Escobedo- Galván, A.H., Castañeda, F. & Fischer, A. (2013) Renewing hope: The rediscovery of Atelopus varius in Costa Rica. Amphibia- Reptilia, 34, 573–578. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-00002910 Gosner, L. (1960) A simplified table for staging anuran embryos and larvae with notes on identifications. Herpetologica, 16, 183–190. IUCN (2016) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016-3. Available from: http://www.iucnredlist.org (accessed 24 March 2017) La Marca, E., Lips, K.R., Lötters, S., Puschendorf, R., Ibáñez, R., Rueda-Almonacid, J.V., Schulte, R., Marty, C., Castro, F., Manzanilla-Puppo, J., García-Pérez, J.E., Bolaños, F., Chaves, G., Pounds, J.A., J.A.