Noblella lochites Lynch 1976

Harvey, Michael B., Almendáriz, Ana, Brito, Jorge & Batallas, Diego, 2013, A new species of Noblella (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the Amazonian Slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes with Comments on Noblella lochites (Lynch), Zootaxa 3635 (1), pp. 1-14 : 10-11

Noblella lochites Lynch 1976

Diagnosis. A species of Noblella as defined by Heyer (1977) and Hedges et al. (2008) reaching 19.4 mm SVL in females and 15.3 mm in males and distinguished from all congeners by (1) skin on dorsal body mostly finely shagreened; circular white epidermal glands raised into low pustules in many specimens; (2) tympanic annulus and membrane clearly visible, its dorso-posterior edge covered by indistinct supratympanic fold; (3) snout rounded in dorsal view, subtruncate in profile; (4) dentigerous process of vomer and teeth absent; (5) fingers not expanded distally; finger tips acuminate; Finger I slightly shorter than Finger II; nuptial pad not visible; fingers lacking marginal grooves; (6) distal phalanges T-shaped; phalangeal formula of hands 2, 2, 3, 2; (7) supernumerary palmar tubercles flat and inconspicuous, present at base of Fingers II–IV; subarticular tubercles rounded; antebrachial ornamentation absent; (8) one elongate tarsal tubercle; two prominent metatarsal tubercles; supernumerary plantar tubercles present (at least as circular white dots; see below); toes slightly expanded and acuminate distally; (9) Toe V shorter than Toe III; (10) pedal digital pads and ungual folds pointed, separated by marginal grooves; (11) in preservative, most adults (rare patternless specimens occur) with distinctive charcoal and black facial mask extending to inguinal region and narrowing on flanks; dorsum with well-defined scapular and sacral chevrons and pair of suprainguinal spots; venter diffusely pigmented in adults, mottled in juveniles.

Color pattern and notes about external morphology. Most specimens have two well-defined chevrons on the back, one overlapping the anterior end of the sacrum, the other between the arms ( Fig. 6–7 ). Both chevrons point anteriorly, whereas the arched interorbital mark points posteriorly and is connected to the anterior chevron. Two (sometimes three) brown bands cross the dorsal surfaces of the thighs, shanks, and feet. The bands are indistinctly edged in light tan to cream.

Like most congeners, Noblella lochites has a black spot above the inguinal region on either side of the body. The spot is edged in cream and may be circular or elongate. However, when elongate, the blotch extends backward and laterally to the preaxial insertion of the thigh. Thus, shape of the supra-inguinal mark differs from that in N. personina , where the blotch is a parasagittal stripe above the flanks and is not edged in cream.

Noblella lochites has a distinctive charcoal, dark brown, or black facial mask. The mask is darkest dorsally where it sharply contrasts with thin light gray edging. Beyond the arm, the mask decreases in height as it approaches the inguinal region. A single large dark brown blotch edged in cream covers the preaxial surface of the brachium and merges with the mask at the insertion of the arm. Two similar preaxial markings are present on the antebrachium, a smaller one near the wrist and larger one in the center of the antebrachium. Some specimens have an additional blotch covering the elbow. A similar light-edged very dark blotch covers the preaxial surface of the thigh distally and overlaps the knee, and another light-edged blotch covers the distal end of the shank and wraps around the ankle onto the tarsus, extending to the tarsal tubercle.

As in other species examined by us, Noblella lochites has a well-defined triangular cloacal mark. The mark is edged by black dorsally and laterally and contrasts with the mostly brown and cream speckled pigmentation on the postaxial surface of the thighs.

Noblella lochites has small circular white dots scattered across all body surfaces. On close inspection, the dots appear to be epidermal glands. In many specimens, they are raised pustules just above the flanks at midbody and on the ventral thigh below the cloaca. The white dots are particularly noticeable on the otherwise charcoal to brown plantar surface. In some specimens, these glands have no relief in profile, whereas they are slightly elevated in others. Readers should note that these dots are the “obscure” supernumerary plantar tubercles mentioned by Lynch (1976, p. 50).

Skin covering the mandible is charcoal flecked by tiny cream dots. The rest of the gular region and venter is cream in preservative and bright orange in life, immaculate except for uniformly distributed and very diffuse melanophores.

The palpebrum is likely transparent in live specimens. In preserved material it is slightly opaque except for a charcoal dorsal margin.

A few specimens in the series depart from the typical color pattern. EPN 11376 has a cream vertebral pinstripe, but otherwise resembles most specimens. Chevrons are very faint in EPN 11373 and absent from EPN 12814. The scapular chevron is represented by a pair of black dots and the sacral chevron is absent in EPN 11361. However, all other elements of the typical pattern are present and bold in these three specimens. A few specimens (e.g., EPN 11362, 11366, 13252) are nearly patternless ( Fig. 7 ). These specimens completely lack the suprainguinal spots and have poorly defined facial masks. On the flanks, irregular blotches replace the well-defined charcoal and black band of most specimens.

Female Noblella lochites lack vocal slits. We detected no apparent sexual dichromatism. In particular the gular region of males is not more heavily pigmented than that of females. Attaining a SVL of 19.4 mm, females are larger than males (maximum SVL in our sample 15.3 mm), but we did not note any other mensural differences between the sexes ( Table 1 ). The venter of juveniles is heavily mottled in brown and apparently lightens during ontogeny.

Natural history. We found most specimens of Noblella lochites during the day and occasionally heard males calling. A few specimens were found at night although they did not appear to be active. At the study site, this species occurs in both primary and secondary forest habitats. It primarily inhabits leaf litter or sandy areas covered in mosses and roots.

Remarks. The large series of Noblella lochites allows us to revisit earlier comments about the species’s morphology. In their key to Noblella, Guayasamin and Terán-Valdez (2009, couplet 5) characterize N. lochites as having “flanks and dorsum similarly colored,” whereas other species such as N. myrmecoides have “flanks with well-defined dark brown stripe that narrows as it approaches groin, contrasting with much lighter dorsal coloration.” These authors are referring to the facial mask. As we show above, most N. lochites have a dark brown facial mask on the flanks and would key out to N. myrmecoides in the key of Guayasamin and Terán-Valdez. These authors did not list any specimens of N. lochites in their appendix, but may have based this characterization on patternless specimens like the ones described above. However, patternless N. lochites are evidently quite rare.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Noblella lochites (A, EPN 14255, SVL 15.83 mm; B and C, EPN 14254, SVL 17.35 mm) from Loma Paquisha, Cordillera del Condor, Ecuador.

FIGURE 7. Dorsal and ventral morphology of Noblella lochites: boldly patterned female (EPN 11361) and patternless female (EPN 11362, SVL 18.0 mm).