NOVEDAD ZOOGEOGRAFICA

Elachistocleis matogrosso Caramaschi 2010, (Amphibia:Anura: Microhylidae) first records for Paraguay

Jean-Paul Brouard¹, Ryan Manders¹, Paul Smith^1,2

1 Para La Tierra, Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca, Santa Rosa del Aguaray, San Pedro, Paraguay.

2 Fauna Paraguay, Encarnacion, Paraguay.

Recibida: 04/12/13
Revisada: 15/11/13
Aceptada: 05/06/14
Editor Asociado: J. Faivovich

---

Locality - Paraguay, Departmento San Pedro, Santa Rosa del Aguaray, Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca (23o46´52.6"S, 56o17´28.9"W). Vouchers are housed in the Coleccion Zoologica de Para La Tierra (CZPLT) located at Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca (RNLB). Elachistocleis matogrosso, one male (CZPLT-H-505) collected on June 16, 2013 by Ryan Manders and one female (CZPLT-H-517) collected on July 2, 2013 by Jean-Paul Brouard. Comments - To date three species of the family Microhylidae have been documented as occurring in Paraguay: Dermatonotus muelleri (Boettger, 1885), Chiasmocleis albopunctata (Boettger, 1885), and Elachistocleis bicolor (Guerin-Meneville, 1838). In Paraguay, D. muelleri is known from the Chaco and Cerrado eco-regions but the other two are widespread across the country in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Pantanal eco-regions. Elachistocleis bicolor has also been recorded in the Humid and Dry Chaco eco-regions (Brusquetti and Lavilla, 2006). Here we document the first Paraguayan records of one additional member of the family, Elachistocleis matogrosso, and the first records of this species outside of Brazil. RNLB is located in the Cerrado zone of northeastern Paraguay (Fig. 1). It is a small 804 hectare reserve positioned around a freshwater lake system of 157 hectares (Guyra Paraguay, 2008). The reserve has a large tract of pristine Cerrado to the north, a patch of degraded Atlantic Forest to the south and an area of transition between (Eiten, 1972; 1978). Specimens of Elachistocleis matogrosso were collected either in pitfall traps with drift fences (CZPLT-H-517) or by active searching (CZPLTH- 505) during ongoing inventory work at RNLB. All frogs were collected at the same temporary pool (23o46´52.6"S, 56o17´28.9"W) located southeast of the lake, in a transition area between degraded Atlantic forest and Cerrado.Elachistocleis matogrosso is only known from Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil (Caramaschi, 2010). The species shares the immaculate yellow venter of E. bicolor, E. haroi (Pereyra et al., 2013) and E. helianneae (Caramaschi, 2010) but can be distinguished from all by a broad irregular yellow stripe on the posterior side of the thighs, the presence of a whitish mid-dorsal stripe of variable length, by lacking small light spots on the dorsum, and by the greyish colour of the dorsum extending to the upper lip. Though it shares a mid-dorsal stripe with E. haroi, it is yellow in that species and reaches to the interorbital region. Furthermore the head width is approximately 92% of the head length in E. matogrosso, while in E. bicolor it is below 90%, in E. haroi 83.6-84.4% and in E. helianneae is above 94% (Caramaschi, 2010; Pereyra et al., 2013).Measurements of the RNLB E. matogrosso specimens CZPLT-H-505 (June 16, 2013; male, SVL 24 mm) and CZPLT-H-517 (June 2, 2013; female, SVL 31,8 mm) are all consistent with the information provided by Caramaschi (2010). All other diagnostic characters proposed by Caramaschi (2010) are present in the RNLB specimens (Fig. 2). This species has likely been overlooked in Paraguay because of confusion with the widespread Elachistocleis bicolor. The presence of the species at RNLB extends its range southwards by approximately 300 km from the most southerly published locality of Nioaque, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil (Caramaschi, 2010). Elachistocleis matogrosso is currently known in Paraguay only from this single locality. However further sampling in northeastern Paraguay may reveal them to be more widespread. The amphibian list of 30 species for RNLB is greater than nine of the 16 political departments in Paraguay - Alto Parana, Boqueron, Caaguazu, Caazapa, Cordillera, Guaira, Misiones, Neembucu and Paraguari (Smith et al., 2012). Five snake species and one amphibian now have their known Paraguayan range confined to this small reserve (Cacciali et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2013a,b; Smith et al., 2014). Already designated an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International (IBA PY021: Guyra Paraguay, 2008) due to the extraordinarily high number of globally (11) and nationally (47) threatened bird species occurring within the reserve, it also deserves urgent recognition as an area of national and international importance for the conservation of herpetofauna. Consolidating the long term conservation of the RNLB should thus be a national conservation priority.  

Figure 1. Map of Paraguay showing the collection locality for Elachistocleis matogrosso: San Pedro: Reserva Natural de Laguna Blanca, Municipality of Santa Barbara (CZPLT-H-505, 517).

Figure 2. Elachistocleis matogrosso (CZPLT-H-517) from Reserva Natural de Laguna Blanca, San Pedro, Paraguay.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Secretaria del Ambiente for issuing the relevant permits and for their recognition of the importance of RNLB by declaring it a Reserva Privada. Specimens were collected under permit 02/13. Particular thanks to M. Duarte, the owner of Laguna Blanca, for her foresight and support of PLT. All volunteers and interns by assisting in the field work deserve praise for their efforts. We thank L. Sovero, J. Marcus, I. Marcus, S. Brink, J. Sarvary and M. Sarvary for their financial support towards Para La Tierra. Norman Scott has been a constant source of knowledge and inspiration to all of us and deserves special thanks for his unwavering support of the work done by Para La Tierra.

Literature cited

1. Brusquetti, F. & Lavilla, E. 2006. Lista comentada de los anfibios  de Paraguay. Cuadernos de Herpetología 20: 3-79.         [ Links ]

2. Cacciali, P.; Smith, P.; Kallberg, A.; Pheasey, H. & Atkinson, K.  2013. Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes, Lygophis paucidens  Hoge, 1952: First records for Paraguay. Check List 9: 131-132.         [ Links ] 

3. Caramaschi, U. 2010. Notes on the taxonomic status of  Elachistocleis ovalis (Schneider, 1799) and description of five  new species of Elachistocleis Parker, 1927 (Amphibia, Anura,  Microhylidae). Boletim do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro,  Zoología 527: 1-32.         [ Links ] 

4. Eiten, G. 1972. The Cerrado vegetation of Brazil. Botanical Review  38: 201-341.         [ Links ] 

5. Eiten, G. 1978. Delimitation of the Cerrado concept. Vegetatio  36: 169-178.         [ Links ] 

6. Guyra Paraguay. 2008. Areas Importantes para la Conservacion  de las Aves del Paraguay. Guyra Paraguay, Asuncion.         [ Links ] 

7. Pereyra, L.C.; Akmentins, M.S; Laufer, G. & Vaira, M. 2013. A  new species of Elachistocleis (Anura: Microhylidae) from  north-western Argentina. Zootaxa 3694: 525-544.         [ Links ] 

8. Smith, P.; Cacciali, P.; Atkinson, K.; Pheasey, H. & Motte, M. 2012.  New distributional records of amphibians for Departamento  San Pedro, Paraguay (Amphibia). Check List 8: 903-907.         [ Links ] 

9. Smith, P.; Scott, N.; Cacciali, P. & Atkinson, K. 2013a. Rhachidelus  brazili (Squamata: Serpentes): first records from Paraguay  and clarification of the correct spelling of the generic name.  Salamandra 49: 56-58.         [ Links ] 

10. Smith, P.; Scott, N.; Cacciali, P.; Atkinson, K. & Pheasey, H.  2013b. Confirmation of the presence of Philodryas nattereri  STEINDACHER , 1870, in Paraguay. Herpetozoa 26: 91-94.         [ Links ] 

11. Smith, P.; Cacciali, P.; Scott, N.; del Castillo, H.; Pheasey, H. &  Atkinson, K. 2014. First record of the globally-threatened  Cerrado endemic snake Philodryas livida (Amaral, 1923)  (Serpentes, Dipsadidae) from Paraguay, and the importance  of the Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca to its conservation.  Cuadernos de Herpetología 28: 169-171.         [ Links ]