A BIOGEOGRAPHIC ODDITY IN A DISAPPEARING ECOSYSTEM: A NEW GLASSFROG (CENTROLENIDAE: NYMPHARGUS) FROM THE ECUADORIAN CHOCÓ

Juan Manuel Guayasamin; Daniela Franco-Mena; Mateo A. Vega-Yánez

doi:10.22201/fc.25942158e.2025.2.1148

Autores/as

Juan Manuel Guayasamin
Daniela Franco-Mena Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ
Mateo A. Vega-Yánez Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2025.2.1148

Palabras clave:

Ecorregión Chocó, Amphibia, nueva especie, solitario, taxonomía

Resumen

Nymphargus es un género principalmente andino de ranas de cristal. El descubrimiento de una especie de Nymphargus en las tierras bajas del Chocó representa una rareza biogeográfica. Aquí describimos este nuevo taxón basándonos en los siguientes rasgos: (i) ausencia de membranas entre los dedos de las manos, (ii) dorso verde con numerosas manchas negras y algunos falsos ocelos color amarillo, (iii) ausencia de dientes vomerinos y (iv) tamaño corporal relativamente grande (SVL > 30 mm). A pesar de los extensos esfuerzos de muestreo en la zona, no se han encontrado más especímenes, lo que indica que la nueva especie es rara y vulnerable. Dada su limitada área de distribución en la ecorregión del Chocó y las amenazas actuales de destrucción del hábitat (i.e., tala, expansión agrícola, minería), clasificamos este nuevo taxón como En Peligro Crítico, siguiendo los criterios de la UICN. Por último, analizamos la cobertura forestal del Chocó ecuatoriano durante 1985–2022; en este periodo se han deforestado 194.007 hectáreas, lo que supone una destrucción del 20 % del ecosistema original. Estimamos que cada año se pierde una media de 5.243 hectáreas de bosque; estos datos ponen de manifiesto la urgencia de emprender acciones de conservación en el Chocó.

Citas

Barbour, T. 1905. The vertebrata of Gorgona Island, Colombia: Reptilia; Amphibia. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 46:98-102.

Boettger, O. 1892. Katalog der Batrachier-Sammlung im Museum der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main. Gebrüder Knauer, Frankfurt, Deutschland.

Boulenger, G.A. 1898. An account of the reptiles and batrachians collected by Mr. W.F.H. Rosenberg in Western Ecuador. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1898:107-126.

Boulenger, G.A. 1899. Descriptions of new batrachians in the collection of the British Museum (Natural History). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 3:273-277.

Boulenger, G.A. 1902. Descriptions of new batrachians and reptiles from north western Ecuador. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9:51-57.

Boulenger, G.A. 1913. On a collection of batrachians and reptiles made by Dr. H.G.F. Spurrell, F.Z.S., in the Choco, Colombia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1913:1019-1038.

Castroviejo-Fisher, S., J. Ayarzagüena & C. Vilà. 2007. A new species of Hyalinobatrachium (Centrolenidae: Anura) from Serranía de Perijá, Venezuela. Zootaxa 1441:51-62.

Castroviejo-Fisher, S., J.M. Guayasamin, A. Gonzalez-Voyer & C. Vilà. 2014. Neotropical diversification seen through glassfrogs. Journal of Biogeography 41:66-80.

Cisneros-Heredia, D.F. & R.W. McDiarmid. 2007. Revision of the characters of Centrolenidae (Amphibia: Anura: Athesphatanura), with comments on its taxonomy and the description of new taxa of glassfrogs. Zootaxa 1572:1-82.

Cisneros-Heredia, D.F. & M.H. Yánez-Muñoz. 2007. A new species of glassfrog (Centrolenidae) from the southern Andean foothills on the West Ecuadorian region. South American Journal of Herpetology 2:1-10.

Cochran, D.M. & C.J. Goin. 1970. Frogs of Colombia. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 288:1-655.

Coloma, L.A. 1995. Ecuadorian frogs of the genus Colostethus (Anura: Dendobatidae). University of Kansas, Natural History Museum. Miscellaneous Publications 87:1-75.

Cope, E.D. 1862. On some new and little known American Anura. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 14:151-159.

Cuesta, F., M. Peralvo, A. Merino-Viteri, M. Bustamante, F. Baquero, J.F. Freile & O. Torres-Carvajal. 2017. Priority areas for biodiversity conservation in mainland Ecuador. Neotropical Biodiversity 3:93-106.

De Queiroz, K. 2007. Species concepts and species delimitation. Systematic Biology 56:879-886.

Duellman, W.E. 1981. Three new species of centrolenid frogs from the Pacific versant of Ecuador and Colombia. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 88:1-9.

Dunn, E.R. 1931. New frogs from Panama and Costa Rica. Occasional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History 5:385-401.

Dunn, E.R. 1943. An extraordinary new Hyla from Colombia. Caldasia 2:309-311.

Fagua, J.C., J.A. Baggio & R.D. Ramsey. 2019. Drivers of forest cover change in the Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion of South America. Ecosphere 10:e02648.

Flores, G. 1988. Two new species of Ecuadorian Eleutherodactylus (Leptodactylidae) of the E. crucifer assembly. Journal of Herpetology 22:34-41.

Finer, M. & N. Mamani. 2020. Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2020. Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program, MAAP:132.

Frost, D.R. 2024. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.2. Electronic Database accessible at https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. [Accessed on 01 September 2024].

Funkhouser, J.W. 1956. New frogs from Ecuador and southwestern Colombia. Zoologica 41:73-80.

Fowler, H.W. 1913. Amphibians and reptiles from Ecuador, Venezuela, and Yucatan. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 65:153-176.

Goin, C.J. 1961. Three new centrolenid frogs from Ecuador. Zoologischer Anzeiger 166:95-104.

Guayasamin, J. M. & E. Bonaccorso. 2004. A new species of glass frog (Centrolenidae: Cochranella) from the lowlands of northwestern Ecuador, with comments on the Cochranella granulosa group. Herpetologica 60:85-94.

Guayasamin, J.M., M.R. Bustamante, D. Almeida-Reinoso & W.C. Funk. 2006a. Glass frogs (Centrolenidae) of Yanayacu Biological Station, Ecuador, with the description of a new species and comments on centrolenid systematics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 147:489-513.

Guayasamin, J.M., S. Castroviejo-Fisher, L. Trueb, J. Ayarzagüena, M. Rada & C. Vilà. 2009. Phylogenetic systematics of Glassfrogs (Amphibia: Centrolenidae) and their sister taxon Allophryne ruthveni. Zootaxa 2100:1-97.

Guayasamin, J.M., A. Arteaga & C.R. Hutter. 2018. A new (singleton) rainfrog of the Pristimantis myersi group (Amphibia: Craugastoridae) from the northern Andes of Ecuador. Zootaxa 4527:323-334.

Guayasamin, J.M., D.F. Cisneros-Heredia, R. W. McDiarmid, P. Peña & C. R. Hutter. 2020. Glassfrogs of Ecuador: Diversity, evolution, and conservation. Diversity 12:1-285.

Guayasamin, J.M., R.M. Brunner, A. Valencia-Aguilar, D. Franco-Mena, E. Ringler, A.M. Armijos & J. Culebras. 2022. Two new glassfrogs (Centrolenidae: Hyalinobatrachium) from Ecuador, with comments on the endangered biodiversity of the Andes. PeerJ 10:e13109.

Heyer, W.R. 2005. Variation and taxonomic clarification of the large species of the Leptodactylus pentadactylusspecies group (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae) from Middle America, northern South America, and Amazonia. Arquivos de Zoologia 37:269-348.

Hutter, C.R. & J.M. Guayasamin. 2012. A new cryptic species of glassfrog (Centrolenidae: Nymphargus) from Reserva Las Gralarias, Ecuador. Zootaxa 3257:1-21.

Hutter, C.R., J.M. Guayasamin & J.J. Wiens. 2013. Explaining Andean megadiversity: the evolutionary and ecological causes of glassfrog elevational richness patterns. Ecology Letters 16:1135-1144.

Jiménez de la Espada, M. 1875. Vertebrados del Viaje al Pacífico Verificado de 1862 a 1865 por una Comisión de Naturalistas Enviada por el Gobierno Español. Batracios. A. Miguel Ginesta. Madrid, España.

Jones, S.H., D. Franco-Mena, D. Zambrano Cantos, J.C. Loor Vélez, C. Aulestia, R. A. Zahawi & J.M. Guayasamin. 2024. Range expansion for the Critically Endangered poison-dart frog Leucostethus bilsa Vigle et al., 2020 (Amphibia, Dendrobatidae), demonstrating the importance of small forest reserves in the Ecuadorian Chocó. Check List 20:853-858.

Jongsma, G.F.M., R.W. Hedley, R. Duraes & J. Karubian. 2014. Amphibian diversity and species composition in relation to habitat type and alteration in the Mache-Chindul Reserve, northwest Ecuador. Herpetologica 70:34-46.

Köhler, J. & J.M. Padial. 2016. Description and phylogenetic position of a new (singleton) species of Oreobates Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the Yungas of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Annals of Carnegie Museum 84:23-38.

Lim, G.S., M. Balke & R. Meier. 2012. Determining species boundaries in a world full of rarity: singletons, species delimitation methods. Systematic Biology 61:165-169.

Lynch, J.D. & W.E. Duellman. 1973. A review of the Centrolenid frogs of Ecuador, with descriptions of new species. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas 16:1-66.

Lynch, J.D. 1974. A new species of Eleutherodactylus (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae) from the Pacific lowlands of Ecuador. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 87:381-388.

Lynch, J.D. & P.M. Ruiz-Carranza. 1996. A remarkable new centrolenid frog from Colombia with a review of nuptial excrescences in the family. Herpetologica 52:525-535.

Magurran, A. & P. Henderson. 2003. Explaining the excess of rare species in natural species abundance distributions. Nature 422:714-716.

Maynard, R.J., S.J. Trageser, S. Kohn, P.S. Hamilton, J. Culebras & J.M. Guayasamin. 2020. Discovery of a reproducing population of the Mindo Glassfrog, Nymphargus balionotus (Duellman, 1981), at the Río Manduriacu Reserve, Ecuador, with a literature review and comments on its natural history, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14:172-184.

MapBiomas Ecuador Project - Collection 1.0 of the Annual Land Cover and Land Use Series for Ecuador. Available at: http://ecuador.mapbiomas.org. [Accesed on 01 August 2024].

Menéndez-Guerrero, P.A., S.P.L. dos Santos, M.-J. Salazar-Nicholls, D.M. Green & S.R. Ron. 2024. Cryptic diversity in toads of the Rhinella marina species group (Anura, Bufonidae) with a subjectively beautiful new species from Western Ecuador. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 197:1-26.

Mestanza-Ramón, C., S. Paz-Mena, C. López-Paredes, M. Jimenez-Gutierrez, G. Herrera-Morales, G. D’Orio & S. Straface. 2021. History, current situation and challenges of gold mining in Ecuador’s litoral region. Land 10:1220.

Ministerio del Ambiente del Ecuador (MAE). 2012. Sistema de clasificación de los ecosistemas del Ecuador continental. Subsecretaría de Patrimonio Natural. Quito 5:65-74.

Orme, C. D. L., R. G. Davies, M. Burgess, F. Eigenbrod, N. Pickup, V. A. Olson, A. J. Webster, T. Ding, P. C. Rasmussen, R. S. Ridgely, A. J. Stattersfield, P. M. Bennett, T. M. Blackburn, K. J. Gaston & I. P. F. Owens. 2005. Global hotspots of species richness are not congruent with endemism or threat. Nature 486:1016-1019.

Ortega-Andrade, M.H., J. Bermingham, C. Aulestia & C. Paucar. 2010. Herpetofauna of the Bilsa Biological Station, province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Check List 6:119-154.

Ortega-Andrade, H.M., O. Rojas-Soto & C. Paucar. 2013. Novel data on the ecology of Cochranella mache (Anura: Centrolenidae) and the importance of protected areas for this critically endangered glassfrog in the Neotropics. PLoS ONE 8:1-13.

Pérez-Escobar, O.A., E. Lucas, C. Jaramillo, A. Monro, S. K. Morris, D. Bogarín & A. Antonelli. 2019. The origin and diversification of the hyperdiverse flora in the Chocó biogeographic region. Frontiers in Plant Science 10:1328.

Peters, W.C.H. 1873. Über eine neue Schildrötenart, Cinosternon Effeldtii und einige andere neue oder weniger bekannte Amphibien. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1873:603-618.

Puyravaud, J.P. 2003. Standardizing the calculation of the annual rate of deforestation. Forest Ecology and Management 177:593-596.

Ruiz-Carranza, P.M. & J.D. Lynch. 1995. Ranas Centrolenidae de Colombia VI. Cuatro nuevas especies de Cochranella de la Cordillera Occidental. Lozania 63:1-15.

Savage, J.M. & W.R. Heyer. 1967. Variation and distribution in the tree-frog genus Phyllomedusa in Costa Rica, central America: With 6 figures. Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment 5:111-131.

Savage, J.M. & P.H. Starrett. 1967. A new fringe-limbed tree-frog (family Centrolenidae) from lower Central America. Copeia 1967:604-609.

Sierra, R. & J. Stallings. 1998. The dynamics and human organization of tropical deforestation in Northwest Ecuador, 1983-1995. Human Ecology 26:135-161.

Sierra, R. 1999. Propuesta Preliminar de un Sistema de Clasificación de Vegetación para el Ecuador Continental. Proyecto INEFAN/GEF-BIRF y EcoCiencia, Quito, Ecuador.

Simpson, G.G. 1951. The species concept. Evolution 5:285-298.

Simpson, G.G. 1961. Principles of Animal Taxonomy. Columbia University Press, New York, USA.

Taylor, E.H. 1949. Costa Rican frogs of the genera Centrolene and Centrolenella. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 33:257-270.

Tanner, W.W. 1962. A new Bolitoglossa (salamander) from southern Panama. Herpetologica 18:18-20.

Thominot, A. 1884. Note sur un batracien d’espèce nouvelle provenant de Panama. Bulletin de la Société Philomathique de Paris. Series 7, 8:151-152.

Vaillant, L. 1911. Cheloniens et batraciens urodèle, recuillis par M. le Dr. Rivet. Mission du Service Géographique de l’Armée pour la Mesure d’un Arc de Méridien Equatorial en Amérique du Sud. Volume 9 (Zoologique). Part 2 (Reptiles, Poisson, Batraciens):45-60.

Vigle, G.O. 2008. The amphibians and reptiles of the Estación Biológica Jatun Sacha in the lowland raiforest of Amazonian Ecuador: A 20-year record. Breviora 515:1-30.

Vigle, G.O. & K. Miyata. 1980. A new species of Dendrobates (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from the lowland rain forests of western Ecuador. Breviora. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 459:1-7.

Vigle, G.O., L.A. Coloma, J.C. Santos, S. Hernandez-Nieto, H.M. Ortega-Andrade, D.J. Paluh & M. Read. 2020. A new species of Leucostethus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from the Cordillera Mache-Chindul in northwestern Ecuador, with comments on similar Colostethus and Hyloxalus. Zootaxa 4896:342-372.

Werner, F. 1901. Ueber Reptilien und Batrachier aus Ecuador und Neu Guinea. Verhandlungen des Zoologisch-Botanischen Vereins in Wien 51:593-614.

Wiley, E.O. 1978. The evolutionary species concept reconsidered. Systematic Zoology 27:88-92.