Rhinella merianae ( Gallardo 1965 )

Barrio-Amorós, César L., Rojas-Runjaic, Fernando J. M. & Señaris, J. Celsa, 2019, Catalogue of the amphibians of Venezuela: Illustrated and annotated species list, distribution, and conservation, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 180) 13 (1), pp. 1-198 : 17-19

Rhinella merianae ( Gallardo 1965)

Holotype: AMNH 46531 .

Type locality: “Head falls of Essequebo River, British Guiana (= Guyana).”

Distribution: Regions 5, 6. Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, and Venezuela. In Venezuela, known from the Orinoco River, Gran Sabana (Bolívar State), and a disjunct record in Zulia State ( Narvaes and Rodrigues 2009). Obviously, the last record is likely in error. It may be R. beebei or another species within the granulosus species group.

Remarks: A member of the Rhinella granulosa species group. Even though Narvaes and Rodrigues (2009) stated examining voucher specimens, the biogeography is not evidential to the current authors. There are specimens from Puerto Ayacucho, Gran Sabana, the Orinoco River, and Zulia State. The authors consider particularly the Zulia State specimen doubtful, and believe it is more likely to be R. beebei or R. centralis (the last would be a first record for Venezuela). However, if the distribution is valid, then that of R. merianae would overlap with that of R. beebei along the Orinoco River and with that of R. nattereri in the Gran Sabana Region.

Selected references: Narvaes and Rodrigues (2009); Señaris et al. (2014); Pereyra et al. (2016).