Novitatesamericant MUSEUM PUBLISHED by the AMERICAN MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST at 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y
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NovitatesAMERICANt MUSEUM PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10024 Number 2752, pp. 1-32, figs. 1-25, tables 1, 2 November 9, 1982 A New Species of Hyla from Cerro Colorado, and Other Tree Frog Records and Geographical Notes from Western Panama CHARLES W. MYERS' AND WILLIAM E. DUELLMAN2 CONTENTS Abstract ............................................ 2 Introduction ............................................ 2 Acknowledgments . ........................................... 4 Hyla graceae, New Species ................... ......................... 5 Description ............................................ 6 Tadpoles ............................................. 8 Natural History ............................................ 9 Relationships and Distribution ............................................ 9 Other Noteworthy Hylids from Cerro Colorado .................. ................. 10 Gastrotheca nicefori Gaige ............................................. 11 Hyla rivularis Taylor ............... ............................. 11 Geography of Cerro Fortuna Area, Upper Rio Chiriqui ........... ................. 12 Hyla debilis Taylor ............. ............................... 14 Hyla lancasteri Barbour ................... ......................... 15 Hyla miliaria (Cope) ............... ............................. 17 Hyla tica Starrett ............................................ 18 Hyla uranochroa Cope ................. ........................... 19 Hyla zeteki Gaige ............................................ 20 Additional Records, Including Two Hyla New to Panama .......... ................ 21 Hyla lythrodes Savage ................ ............................ 21 Hyla palmeri Boulenger .............. .............................. 23 Agalychnis calcarifer Boulenger ............................................ 25 Smilisca sordida (W. Peters) ..................... 26 Literature Cited ..................... 27 Added in Proof: New Observations on Hyla graceae ................ .............. 29 ' Chairman and Curator, Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History; Visiting Scientist, Gorgas Memorial Laboratory. 2 Curator, Division ofHerpetology, Museum ofNatural History; Professor, Department ofSystematics and Ecology, University of Kansas, Lawrence. Copyright © American Museum of Natural History 1982 ISSN 0003-0082 / Price $2.45 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2752 ABSTRACT Significant new records of tree frogs in western Hyla palmeri Boulenger, is removed from the Panama include Hyla graceae, new species-a synonymy of the Amazonian-slope H. albopunc- medium-sized (33-41 mm. SVL) brown frog with tulata, for a moderate-sized, green tree frog having conspicuous white or yellow dorsolateral stripes. a range along the western foot of the northern Adult and larval characters and breeding behavior Andes, and also known from one locality at 600 seem to ally H. graceae with H. angustilineata and m. in west-central Panama. At the last locality, H. pseudopuma. The expanded pseudopuma group Hyla palmeri occurs sympatrically with H. of Hyla is thus comprised of three generalized colymba, the only other member ofthe bogotensis species, with a combined distribution in the high- group ofHyla known to occur in Central America. lands of Costa Rica and western Panama. Other species discussed include Smilisca sor- Hyla graceae evidently has a range comprising dida and the rare Agalychnis calcarifer, from low at least 50 km. along the western end of the Ser- elevations in Bocas del Toro, and six principally rania de Tabasaria, at elevations of 1100-1650 m. highland species from the Cerro Fortuna area: Hyla Its type locality is Cerro Colorado, situated to the debilis, H. lancasteri, H. miliaria, H. tica, H. west of the unexplored Cerro Santiago (of which uranochroa, and the bromeliad-adapted H. zeteki. a photograph is presented ofthe forested summit, Except for the rare, giant fringe-limbed species (H. showing this mountain to be much lower than miliaria), the aforesaid records from Cerro For- previously supposed, about 2100 m. [below tree- tuna are of Talamancan species at or near the line] vs. 2800 m.). Other notable hylids from Cerro eastern limits of their ranges. Colorado are Hyla rivularis, with a range extended Cerro Fortuna guards the lower end of the high about 90 km. from extreme western Panama, and valley (- 1000 m.) ofthe upper Rio Chiriqui, which Gastrotheca nicefori, a South American species, forms a conspicuous break in the mountainous whose range is extended by 450 km. from the near- backbone of Panama, as well as a convenient est known locality in the Darien highlands of demarcation between the eastern end of the Cor- extreme eastern Panama. dillera de Talamanca and the western end of the Two names are resurrected from synonymy: Serrania de Tabasaria. Although in the Pacific Hyla lythrodes Savage, heretofore known only from drainage, this highland valley supports extensive the Costa Rican holotype and previously consid- Lower Montane Rain Forest under essentially ered a junior synonym of H. rufioculis, is con- Temperate Wet (CQ) climatic conditions. The firmed as a valid species of small, red-eyed frog physical geography of the upper valley of the Rio having a changeably brown to green coloration; it Chiriqui is briefly described in order to help under- occurs in wet forest at 170-800 m. on the Atlantic stand the ecological geography of the herpeto- versant of southeastern Costa Rica and adjacent fauna. Panama. INTRODUCTION The Isthmus ofPanama sustains a complex 1970s, a decade that provided unprecedented herpetofauna on a small land mass of rela- opportunity for reaching previously uncol- tively great climatic and topographical diver- lected places by helicopter or on new roads sity. Many of the contained species are rare to areas being opened for reservoirs or other or secretive, have very small ranges, curious purposes. Consequently, owing to economic range disjunctions, or tangled taxonomy-or development and to an increase in often cor- some combination of any or all of the pre- related scientific activity (e.g., environmental ceding-which has been our excuse for con- surveys), more biologists than ever before tinued collecting and deliberate delay in com- have been poking about in places rarely seen pleting a catalogue ofthis fauna (Myers, 1972; by outsiders. Duellman and Myers, 1980). Our fieldwork One such place is Cerro Colorado (fig. 1), in the late 1960s mainly involved establish- the site ofan enormous copper deposit (Clark, ing remote camps from boat or on foot in a Farrar, and Kents, 1977; Linn et al., country having few roads (e.g., see Duellman, "1981"l1982]), situated in the Serrania de 1970, pp. 16-17; Myers, 1969). This work Tabasara just south ofthe continental divide was carried forward sporadically into the at approximately 81°48' west longitude. This 1 982 MYERS AND DUELLMAN: WESTERN PANAMA 3 4 2 3 1 FIG. 1. Cerro Colorado area, Serrania de Tabasarfa, western Panama. Looking northwestward along continental divide, from a helicopter at an altitude of nearly 2000 m. Identifiable features include: 1. Cerro Colorado, at location ofproposed open-pit copper mine; new access road from San Felix is visible in center left. 2. Cerro Sagui (C. Rat6n), 2400 m., very likely the "cone-shaped peak" seen by members of an American Museum expedition in 1924 (see Myers, 1969, p. 32). 3. Cerro Chorcha, near western end of Tabasard range. 4. Volcian de Chiriqui (V. Baru) near eastern end of Cordillera de Talamanca. (Photograph by John S. Burt, August 6, 1980.) section ofthe western highlands has been bio- tance to the east (fig. 2). Some herpetological logically unexplored, except for abortive materials are now available from Cerro Col- attempts to reach Cerro Santiago3 a short dis- orado. Grace M. Tilger obtained specimens for the American Museum in April 1978, and I See Myers (1969, pp. 3, 32-33). The unexplored Cerro in April and August 1979, and a collection Santiago was believed to be the second or third highest subsequently was made by Ronald H. Pine mountain in Panama, with an elevation of2826 m. shown for the National Museum ofNatural History, on recent maps. Even though uncontrolled map eleva- Smithsonian Institution. tions in Panama often are inaccurate (op. cit., p. 2), it Among the specimens obtained by Tilger was thought that Cerro Santiago would have a summit is a distinctive new species oftree frog, which area above treeline. However, John S. Burt (in litt., is the principal subject of this paper. We also 1980-1982) and E. A. Wieselmann flew over the area in comment on some other specimens obtained both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft and concluded since the Middle American hylid fauna was that there are no mountains higher than about 2400 m. surveyed by Duellman (1970), in order to add in this part of the Serrania de Tabasara, and that Cerro a few to the Panamanian list, to call Santiago itselfis only about 2100 m. high (fig. 2), as also species bome out by a preliminary (unpubl.) 1:50,000 topo- graphic map. Mr. Burt described what he and Wiesel- mann identified as Cerro Santiago as "two high points an area that has obviously never heard the ring of a on the continental divide, separated by a comparatively machete but which is only about five kilometers from flat swale covered with an extremely dense canopy, in the Cerro Colorado access road." 4 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2752 FIG. 2. Cerro Santiago, Serrania de Tabasara,