Systematics of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species complex (Anura: Hylidae): Cryptic diversity and the description of two new species

Genetic data in studies of systematics of Amazonian amphibians frequently reveal that purportedly widespread single species in reality comprise species complexes. This means that real species richness may be significantly higher than current estimates. Here we combine genetic, morphological, and bioacoustic data to assess the phylogenetic relationships and species boundaries of two Amazonian species of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species group: D. leucophyllatus and D. triangulum. Our results uncovered the existence of five confirmed and four unconfirmed candidate species. Among the confirmed candidate species, three have available names: Dendropsophus leucophyllatus, Dendropsophus triangulum, and Dendropsophus reticulatus, this last being removed from the synonymy of D. triangulum. A neotype of D. leucophyllatus is designated. We describe the remaining two confirmed candidate species, one from Bolivia and another from Peru. All confirmed candidate species are morphologically distinct and have much smaller geographic ranges than those previously reported for D. leucophyllatus and D. triangulum sensu lato. Dendropsophus leucophyllatus sensu stricto occurs in the Guianan region. Dendropsophus reticulatus comb. nov. corresponds to populations in the Amazon basin of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru previously referred to as D. triangulum. Dendropsophus triangulum sensu stricto is the most widely distributed species; it occurs in Amazonian Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, reaching the state of Para A. We provide accounts for all described species including an assessment of their conservation status.

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S1 Appendix. Additional specimens examined.
-129 Ko
S1 Fig. Adult preserved specimens of Dendropsophus sp. D and E showing variation in dorsal and ventral coloration.
-2 Mo
S1 Table. Accession names of the sound archives used in the bioacoustics analysis.
-103 Ko
S2 Table. Primers used for DNA amplification.
-124 Ko
S3 Table. Genbank accession numbers for DNA sequences used in the phylogenetic analysis.
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How to cite
Caminer Marcel A., Mila Borja, Jansen Martin, Fouquet Antoine, Venegas Pablo J., Chavez German, Lougheed Stephen C., Ron Santiago R. (2017). Systematics of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species complex (Anura: Hylidae): Cryptic diversity and the description of two new species. Plos One. 12 (3). e0171785. (42p.). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0171785, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00663/77536/

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