Physalaemus deimaticus, Caramaschi & Sazima, 1988

Leal, Fernando, Leite, Felipe S. F., Da Costa, William P., Nascimento, Luciana B., Lourenço, Luciana B. & Garcia, Paulo C. A., 2020, Amphibians from Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais, Brasil. VI: A New Species of the Physalemus deimaticus Group (Anura, Leptodactylidae), Zootaxa 4766 (2), pp. 306-330 : 323-325

Physalaemus deimaticus species group distribution and conservation

Physalaemus deimaticus was described in 1986 based on three individuals collected from the highlands of Serra do Cipó, with two of them collected in 1972 and one collected in 1982 (Sazima & Caramaschi 1986). The species was missing until 2010, when two individuals were collected at the type locality by M.T. Rodrigues. Likewise, P. erythros was described in 2003 on the basis of three individuals that were collected from the Parque Estadual do Itacolomi ( Caramaschi et al. 2003). Baêta & Silva (2009) extended its distribution based on a single individual collected at the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Santuário do Caraça (RPPN Caraça), in the Municipality of Catas Altas, ca. 33 km northward from the type locality. The apparently low abundance and poor knowledge about these species in terms of biology and distribution led both of them to be categorized as Deficient Data (DD) in the Brazilian Red List of Threatened Amphibian Species (ICMBio 2014).

The National Action Plan for Threatened Extinction Reptiles and Amphibians Conservation of Espinhaço Range (PAN Espinhaço) (MMA 2012, 2016) recommended the inventory of areas of potential occurrence of these DD species. Encouraged by this, we have searched for new populations of Physalaemus . deimaticus and P. erythros over the last few years (see Appendix I). For P. deimaticus we discovered two new populations: one in the Municipality of Diamantina, 112km northward from its type locality, representing its northern limit of distribution; the others were in the Municipalities of Serro and Santo Antônio do Itambé in the Parque Estadual Pico do Itambé, ca. 98 km northward from its type locality, representing its eastern limit of distribution. We also registered P. deimaticus at its type locality in six different streams. All these P. deimaticus populations were relatively abundant, could be well sampled, and were included in our phylogenetic analysis.

For Physalaemus erythros , we also discovered two new populations: one in the Municipality of Barão de Cocais, 59 km northward from its type locality and 27 km northward from the RPPN Caraça, representing its northern limit of distribution; and the other in the Municipality of Santa Bárbara, at the Parque Nacional do Gandarela, 36 km northward from its type locality and 20 km west of the RPPN Caraça, representing its western limit of distribution. We also registered P. erythros at its type locality in four different streams. All the registered populations of P. erythros were relatively abundant and could be sampled well and were included in our phylogenetic analysis, except for the one from Parque Nacional do Gandarela, from which we collected only one female from a pitfall trap.

In view of the data we provide here on the distribution of these species, with Physalaemus deimaticus occurring in two protected areas and P. erythros in three protected areas, there is no evidence of threats that could lead to their extinction. Therefore, we suggest that they should be considered as least concern (LC) species.

Physalaemus claptoni sp. nov. occurs geographically close (ca. 10 km north) to the type locality of P. deimaticus in the Espinhaço Range ( Fig. 11 ). However, they reproduce in distinct habitats. While P. claptoni sp. nov. reproduces in small still water collections associated with forest edges, P. deimaticus uses small temporary rock streams surrounded by grasslands. Physalaemus rupestris is known from the mountains of Serra do Ibitipoca and Serra Negra in the Mantiqueira Range ( Caramaschi et al. 1991; Oliveira et al. 2009), and it is the only species of the P. deimaticus group distributed outside the Espinhaço Range. Despite occurring in a distinct mountain range (Mantiqueira Range) where rock formations are more commonly made up of gneiss and granite ( Vasconcelos 2011), P. rupestris is only found in some of the few quartzitic mountains of this range that harbor the same vegetation found in the Espinhaço Range, namely, campo rupestre ( Vasconcelos 2011; Leal, F. personal observation). The occurrence of closely related species that are allopatrically distributed in the Mantiqueira ( P. rupestris ) and Espinhaço ( P. claptoni sp. nov.) ranges suggests a historic connection between these highlands of eastern Brazil, a hypothesis that has already been pointed out ( Maxson & Heyer 1982; Cruz & Feio 2007) and is also corroborated by the existence of species with distributions restricted to the Espinhaço and Mantiqueira ranges ( Pirani et al. 2010; Taucce et al. 2012). Further phylogeographical studies based on larger samples of specimens and genes (including nuclear markers) could help us to elucidate the historical and evolutionary processes underlying the occupation of these two mountain ranges by the P. deimaticus species group.

The new species has not been registered within strictly protected reserves, although it occurs between two of them, at 7 km from the Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó (33.8 ha) and 5 km from the Parque Estadual Serra do Intendente (13.5 ha). The type locality is located in a private area where wood extraction has affected the structure of the forest fragment for years, although lately this activity has declined. Moreover, fire and cattle breeding have been disturbance agents for decades within the entire Serra do Cipó, including the type locality of Physalaemus claptoni sp. nov. Even though several individuals of P. claptoni sp. nov. were found during our fieldwork from 2010 to 2017, we could not evaluate the possible effects of these disturbance activities on this species in a medium-long term.

Since the compilation of the anuran endemic species from the Espinhaço Range made by Carvalho et al. (2013), who listed 37 taxa, four new species with distribution restricted to the mountain range have been described: Crossodactylodes itambe Barata, Santos, Leite, & Garcia, 2013 , Sphaenorhynchus canga Araujo-Vieira, Lacerda, Pezzuti, Leite, Assis, & Cruz, 2015 , Scinax montivagus Juncá, Napoli, Nunes, Mercês, and Abreu, 2015 , Odontophrynus juquinha Rocha, Sena, Pezzuti, Leite, Svartman, Rosset, Baldo, and Garcia, 2017, and Physalaemus claptoni sp. nov. (present study). On the other hand, Ololygon tripui Lourenço, Nascimento & Pires, 2009 and Bokermannohyla nanuzae ( Bokermann & Sazima, 1973b) lost their endemic status because they were found outside the Espinhaço ( Silva et al. 2013) or were synonymized with species that occur elsewhere ( Walker et al. 2015), respectively. Therefore, 39 anuran species should be considered endemic to the Espinhaço Range at present.

Acknowledgments

We thank all those who provided assistance in the field expeditions, especially Hans Thomassen who helped collecting most of type series of the new species described and topotypes of P. deimaticus, Renato N. Feio who helped collecting and recording many of the P. rupestris analyzed, and Pedro C. Rocha who helped collecting most of the P. deimaticus , P. erythros , and many of the P. rupestris analyzed. We also thank Pedro C. Rocha for making the distribution map ( Fig. 11 ). We thank Igor R. Fernandes for help with the analysis of nuptial pads. We thank Miguel R. Trefaut for providing information regarding the specimens of P. deimaticus collected by him. We thank the collection curators and lab staff of UFV (Renato N. Feio, Carla S. Guimarães), MNRJ (José P. Pombal Jr., Manoela W. Cardoso), and CFBH (Célio F. B. Haddad, Nadya Pupin). Scientific collecting permits were issued by the Brazilian Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (SISBIO licenses 42369-1, 51066-2, 22551-1, 22551-2, 35826-1) and Instituto Estadual de Florestas (IEF UC: 146/12, 147/12). Felipe S. F. Leite thanks to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, Process APQ-2067-14; APQ-01796-15; RDP-00004-17). Paulo C. A. Garcia thanks the productivity grant provided by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, Process APQ- 03462-09; RDP-00053-10; PPM-00515-10). Luciana B. Nascimento thanks Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa (CNPq, Process 479457/2012-03), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, Process APQ-2067-14), and Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa - PUC Minas (FIP/PUC Minas). Luciana B. Lourenço thanks Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, Process #2011/09239-0).

Figures

FIGURE 11. Geographic distribution of Physalaemus claptoni sp. nov. and of the other species of the P. deimaticus species group. Triangles refers to species type localities. Abbreviations: MG=State of Minas Gerais, ES=State of Espírito Santo, RJ=State of Rio de Janeiro, SP=State of São Paulo.