A new species of Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Quiriri mountain range of southern Brazil

Marcio R Pie; Luiz F Ribeiro

doi:10.7717/peerj.1179

A new species of Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Quiriri mountain range of southern Brazil

PeerJ. 2015 Aug 13:3:e1179. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1179. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Marcio R Pie¹, Luiz F Ribeiro²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Dinâmica Evolutiva e Sistemas Complexos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Centro Politécnico , Curitiba, Paraná , Brazil ; Mater Natura-Instituto de Estudos Ambientais , Curitiba, Paraná , Brazil.
² Laboratório de Dinâmica Evolutiva e Sistemas Complexos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Centro Politécnico , Curitiba, Paraná , Brazil ; Mater Natura-Instituto de Estudos Ambientais , Curitiba, Paraná , Brazil ; Faculdade Dom Bosco, Avenida Presidente Wenceslau Braz , Curitiba, Paraná , Brazil.

Abstract

A new miniaturized toadled of the genus Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) is described from Serra do Quiriri in the municipality of Campo Alegre, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Specimens were collected from the leaf litter between from 1,263 and 1,318 m above sea level. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by the combination of the following characters: snout-vent length 9.9-13.1 mm; skin on head and dorsum without dermal co-ossification; snout mucronate in dorsal view; dorsum rugose; general color brown, with a narrow orange vertebral stripe. The region where the new species is located is also shared with other endemic anuran species and has experienced strong anthropogenic impacts,suggesting that immediate actions should be taken to ensure their long-term preservation.

Keywords: Amphibia; Atlantic Rainforest; Cloud forest; Serra do Quiriri; Terrarana.

Grants and funding

MRP was funded through a grant from CNPq/MCT (571334/2008-3). Fieldwork during 2011 and 2012 was partially funded by Fundação Grupo Boticário de Proteção à Natureza (through the project 0895_20111 conducted by Mater Natura—Instituto de Estudos Ambientais). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.