Phyllomedusa tarsius (Cope 1868)

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 : 107

Phyllomedusa tarsius (Cope 1868)

Holotype: USNM 6652 ; lost.

Type locality: “Rio Napo, or Upper Amazon, below the mouth of the former” (Loreto, Perú).

Distribution: Regions 1, 3. Widely distributed inAmazon Basin, in southwestern Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, with isolated populations in Cordillera Oriental of Colombia and Venezuela. The Guyanan Phyllomedusa tarsius ( Forlani et al. 2012) must be compared with P. trinitatis (see discussion in Barrio-Amorós 2009b). In Venezuela, known only from a few localities in eastern foothills of the Andes. See list of localities and distribution map in Barrio-Amorós (2009b).

Remarks: We really doubt presence of Phyllomedusa tarsius sensu stricto in Venezuela. Previous reports from southeastern Venezuela were meant to be P. trinitatis ( Barrio-Amorós 2009b) or are very distinct from P. tarsius sensu stricto, as individuals from the Andean piedmont reported by La Marca (1996) and Markezich (1998) are much smaller and the iris pattern is much less reticulated than on Ecuadorian (near type locality) specimens (Image 229b). This could indicate a putative new species of the tarsius group in western Venezuela.

Selected references: Funkhouser (1957); Duellman (1968, 1974b, 1997); La Marca (1996b); Barrio-Amorós (2006b, 2009b); Señaris et al. (2014).