TY - JOUR
T1 - A roadmap for harlequin frog systematics, with a partial revision of Amazonian species related to Atelopus spumarius
AU - Lötters, Stefan
AU - Böning, Philipp
AU - Bailon, Salvador
AU - Castañeda, Jose Daniel Barros
AU - Boistel, Renaud
AU - Catenazzi, Alessandro
AU - Chaparro, Juan C.
AU - Chávez, Germán
AU - Chujutalli, Angel
AU - Coen, Laurent
AU - Coloma, Luis A.
AU - Crawford, Andrew J.
AU - Culebras, Jaime
AU - Martínez, Juan Carlos Cusi
AU - Daza, Juan Manuel
AU - de la Riva, Ignacio
AU - Ellwein, Denise J.
AU - Ernst, Raffael
AU - Flechas, Sandra V.
AU - Fouquet, Antoine
AU - Guayasamin, Juan Manuel
AU - Heine, Christopher
AU - Jorge, Rafael F.
AU - Jung, Alisha
AU - Jungfer, Karl Heinz
AU - Kaffenberger, Nathalie
AU - Krehenwinkel, Henrik
AU - Marca, Enrique L.A.
AU - Lampo, Margarita
AU - Medina Rangel, Guido F.
AU - Orsen, Ludvig
AU - Paluh, Daniel J.
AU - Gonzalez, José Luis Pérez
AU - Perrin, Jonathan
AU - Quezada Riera, Amanda B.
AU - Reyes-Puig, Juan Pablo
AU - Ross, Bernardo Roca Rey
AU - Rößler, Daniela C.
AU - Solano, Luis Alberto Rueda
AU - Salazar-Valenzuela, David
AU - Vazquez, Josefa Celsa Señaris
AU - Sowinski, Morgane
AU - Terán-Valdez, Andrea
AU - Tovar-Ortiz, Angie
AU - Veith, Michael
AU - Venegas, Pablo
AU - von May, Rudolf
AU - Weitkamp, Timm
AU - Plewnia, Amadeus
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Magnolia Press.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Harlequin frogs, genus Atelopus, are a species-rich group of bufonid anurans from the Neotropics with more than 100 species. For nearly four decades now, this group has suffered from massive population declines. Almost all species are threatened with extinction, and many populations and several species are considered extinct or possibly extinct. This results in a limited sampling available for studies on harlequin frog systematics, especially in terms of molecular genetic information. However, efficient conservation of harlequin frogs requires an improved taxonomy. This is further complicated through the circumstance that many Atelopus species are relatively poor in external morphological characters combined with a high level of intra-specific character variation (e.g. coloration and body size). At the same time, cryptic diversity exists with well differentiated species (supported by osteology and molecular genetics) almost indistinguishable by external morphology. We compiled the largest dataset to date for mitochondrial (12S, 16S, cyt b) and nuclear (POMC, RAG1) markers and present a phylogeny (likelihood and Bayesian inference methods) including 152 samples from 104 populations scattered over the entire geographic range of the genus. Four allo- or parapatric main clades are distinguished: I. Sierra Nevada; II. Venezuelan-Andean; III. Andean-Chocó-Central American (with the ignescens and the varius-longirostris clades); and IV Amazonian (containing the tricolor and the flavescens-spumarius clades). The phylogenetic relationships within these clades remain to be resolved. Taxonomic implications included both splitting and lumping, but taxonomic action is here only taken for populations related to A. spumarius from western Amazonia. Besides redescriptions of A. spumarius sensu stricto and A. colomai, we describe two new species based on morphology, skull osteology and bioacoustics. Additional yet understudied populations from Amazonia may be allocated to these species or may represent additional undescribed taxa.
AB - Harlequin frogs, genus Atelopus, are a species-rich group of bufonid anurans from the Neotropics with more than 100 species. For nearly four decades now, this group has suffered from massive population declines. Almost all species are threatened with extinction, and many populations and several species are considered extinct or possibly extinct. This results in a limited sampling available for studies on harlequin frog systematics, especially in terms of molecular genetic information. However, efficient conservation of harlequin frogs requires an improved taxonomy. This is further complicated through the circumstance that many Atelopus species are relatively poor in external morphological characters combined with a high level of intra-specific character variation (e.g. coloration and body size). At the same time, cryptic diversity exists with well differentiated species (supported by osteology and molecular genetics) almost indistinguishable by external morphology. We compiled the largest dataset to date for mitochondrial (12S, 16S, cyt b) and nuclear (POMC, RAG1) markers and present a phylogeny (likelihood and Bayesian inference methods) including 152 samples from 104 populations scattered over the entire geographic range of the genus. Four allo- or parapatric main clades are distinguished: I. Sierra Nevada; II. Venezuelan-Andean; III. Andean-Chocó-Central American (with the ignescens and the varius-longirostris clades); and IV Amazonian (containing the tricolor and the flavescens-spumarius clades). The phylogenetic relationships within these clades remain to be resolved. Taxonomic implications included both splitting and lumping, but taxonomic action is here only taken for populations related to A. spumarius from western Amazonia. Besides redescriptions of A. spumarius sensu stricto and A. colomai, we describe two new species based on morphology, skull osteology and bioacoustics. Additional yet understudied populations from Amazonia may be allocated to these species or may represent additional undescribed taxa.
KW - Amphibian crisis
KW - Bioacoustics
KW - Bufonidae
KW - Cryptic diversity
KW - Integrative taxonomy
KW - Molecular phylogenetics
KW - Neotropics
KW - Osteology
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85215845265
U2 - 10.11646/zootaxa.5571.1.1
DO - 10.11646/zootaxa.5571.1.1
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85215845265
SN - 1175-5326
VL - 5571
SP - 1
EP - 76
JO - Zootaxa
JF - Zootaxa
IS - 1
ER -