Laboratório de Sistemática de Vertebrados, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 90619-900, Brasil..
Laboratorio de Biogeografía, Escuela de Geografía, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, 5101, Venezuela. Rescue of Endangered Venezuelan Amphibians (REVA) Conservation Center, Mérida, 5101, Venezuela..
Zootaxa. 2021 Jun 8;4981(3):401448. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4981.3.1.
Boana xerophylla is a common treefrog widely distributed in northern Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. A recent study found molecular, acoustic, and morphometric differences between the populations located on opposite sides of the Orinoco River. Here, we carry out an updated molecular phylogenetic analysis, including new samples from all the countries along the distribution area, and analyzed additional call recordings from Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Our phylogenetic inference reveals three geographically restricted lineages: one in the eastern Guiana Shield (corresponding to B. xerophylla sensu stricto), another in the western Guiana Shield, and a third one north of the Orinoco River. Morphological and acoustic data agree with the differentiation between the populations north of the Orinoco River and the eastern Guiana Shield despite the low genetic p-distances observed (16S rRNA: 0.72.2 %). We argue that the populations north of the Orinoco River correspond to a new species, sister of B. xerophylla. We name and describe Boana platanera sp. nov. from the southern versant of the Cordillera de Mérida (08º48'26'' N, 70º30'46'' W, WGS 84; 947 m asl), Venezuela, and refer all the populations north of the Orinoco River currently identified as B. xerophylla to this species. The new species can be readily diagnosed from B. xerophylla (characters of the latter in parentheses) by a pale orange-yellow or light brown dorsal coloration (dark brown to green), palpebral membrane with dark pigments (pigments absent); pericloacal region dark brown (cream), advertisement call with shorter first note length than B. xerophylla. This study represents an empirical example regarding false negatives behind genetic thresholds for species discovery, appraising the use of integrative taxonomic approaches.
斑腿泛树蛙广泛分布于巴西北部、哥伦比亚、法属圭亚那、圭亚那、巴拿马、苏里南、特立尼达和多巴哥以及委内瑞拉。最近的一项研究发现，分布在奥里诺科河两岸的种群之间存在分子、声学和形态差异。在这里，我们进行了一项更新的分子系统发育分析，包括来自分布区域所有国家的新样本，并分析了来自巴西、哥伦比亚、法属圭亚那、巴拿马、特立尼达和多巴哥以及委内瑞拉的额外叫声记录。我们的系统发育推断揭示了三个具有地理限制的谱系：一个在东圭亚那盾（对应于斑腿泛树蛙狭义概念），另一个在西圭亚那盾，还有一个在奥里诺科河北部。形态和声学数据与奥里诺科河北部和东圭亚那盾的种群分化一致，尽管观察到的遗传 p-距离较低（16S rRNA：0.72.2%）。我们认为奥里诺科河北部的种群对应于一个新的物种，是斑腿泛树蛙的姐妹种。我们命名并描述了来自委内瑞拉梅里达山脉南坡（08°48'26'' N，70°30'46'' W，WGS 84；947 m asl）的斑腿泛树蛙 platanera 新种，并将目前在奥里诺科河北部鉴定为斑腿泛树蛙的所有种群归入该物种。新种与斑腿泛树蛙（后者括号中的特征）很容易区分，其背部颜色为橙黄色或浅棕色（深棕色至绿色），眼睑膜无色素（无色素）；肛周区域为深棕色（奶油色），求偶叫声的第一声比斑腿泛树蛙短。本研究代表了一个关于遗传阈值背后物种发现的假阴性的实证例子，评估了综合分类学方法的应用。
