Dendropsophus parviceps (Boulenger, 1882)

Schiesari, Luis, Rossa-Feres, Denise De Cerqueira, Menin, Marcelo & Hödl, Walter, 2022, Tadpoles of Central Amazonia (Amphibia: Anura), Zootaxa 5223 (1), pp. 1-149 : 56-57

Dendropsophus parviceps

External morphology. Description based on a tadpole at Stage 33 (LCS 619). Total length 19.4 mm. Body elongate oval in dorsal view and triangular/depressed in lateral view ( Fig. 29A, B ). Snout rounded in both dorsal and lateral views. Eyes medium-sized, positioned and directed laterally. Nostrils medium-sized, oval, laterally positioned near to snout, with opening anterolaterally directed, without a projection on the marginal rim. Oral disc ( Fig. 29C ) anteroventral, non-emarginate; marginal papillae elongate, uniseriate, with a dorsal gap. Submarginal papillae absent. LTRF 0/0, with a posterior dermal ridge. Jaw sheaths narrow, both finely serrated; anterior jaw sheath archshaped, posterior jaw sheath U-shaped. Spiracle single, sinistral, conical, short and wide, posteriorly directed, opening in the medial third of the body, with the centripetal wall fused to the body wall and longer than the external wall. Vent tube dextral, fused to the ventral fin, with a dextral opening. Caudal musculature of moderate width; in lateral view gradually tapering to a pointed tip. Dorsal fin of moderate height, convex and originating on the posterior third of the body; ventral fin of moderate height, convex. Tail with flagellum.

Colour. In preservative body and caudal musculature dark brown; two broad longitudinal cream bars dorsally between above the eyes and the beginning of the tail; fins translucent with dark brown marks. Tadpoles of D. parviceps from Ecuador have body dark brown with two broad, transverse cream bars dorsally; tail pinkish orange or orange-tan with dark brown mottling ( Duellman & Crump 1974).

Natural history. Eggs are deposited in clumps in shallow water ( Duellman & Crump 1974; Duellman 2005) of isolated and streamside forest ponds in terra-firme forests. Tadpoles are found in the late rainy season. Tadpoles are nektonic. Color pattern is presumably disruptive.

Comments. Tadpoles of D. parviceps described by Duellman (1978) from Ecuador differ from those herein characterized by presenting eyes lateral, spiracle opening posterodorsally directed, oral disc anterior (but anteroventral in tadpoles from Peru; Duellman 2005), jaw sheaths robust, and dorsal fin not extending onto the body ( Duellman 1978). Tadpoles from Peru characterized by Wild (1992) differ from those herein characterized by presenting body bluntly ovoid, and those from Peru characterized by Duellman (2005) differ from those herein characterized by presenting nostrils located about midway between the tip of the snout and the eyes, spiracular opening posterodorsally directed below the midline (as in the tadpole from Central Amazonia represented in Fig. 13 , Hero 1990, and in that from Ecuador represented in Fig. 2C , Duellman & Crump 1974), and posterior jaw sheath V-shaped. There is no morphological variation between tadpoles illustrated from Colombia by Lynch & Suárez-Mayorga (2011) and those characterized herein.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Walter-Lieth climate diagram of Manaus representing mean monthly temperature (red line, left axis) and precipitation (blue line, right axis) from 1961 to 1990. Data from INMET, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (http://www.inmet.gov. br/portal/index.php?r=clima/graficosClimaticos, accessed October 4, 2015)

FIGURE 13. Tadpole of Ceratophrys cornuta (MNRJ s/n) at Stage 38: (A) lateral view, (B) dorsal view (scale = 10 mm), and (C) oral disc (scale = 1 mm).

FIGURE 29. Tadpole of Dendropsophus parviceps (LCS 619) at Stage 33: (A) lateral view, (B) dorsal view (scale = 10 mm), and (C) oral disc (scale = 1 mm).