Hylodes, PHILIPPI AND

Padial, Jose M., Chaparro, Juan C., Castroviejo-Fisher, Santiago, Guayasamin, Juan M., Lehr, Edgar, Delgado, Amanda J., Vaira, Marcos, Teixeira, Mauro, Aguayo, Rodrigo & Riva, Ignacio De La, 2012, A revision of species diversity in the Neotropical genus Oreobates (Anura: Strabomantidae), with the description of three new species from the Amazonian slopes of the Andes, American Museum Novitates 2012 (3752), pp. 1-56 : 42-43

HYLODEs PHILIPPI AND H. VERRucOsus

Lynch and Schwartz (1971) placed Hylodes philippi Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 and Hylodes verrucosus Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 in the synonymy of O. quixensis . Recently, Padial et al. (2008a) reviewed Jiménez de la Espada’s type specimens that were considered lost by Lynch and Schwartz (1971), who tentatively placed them in the Eleutherodactylus dolops Group, nowadays in the genus Hypodactylus ( Hedges et al., 2008a) without further discussion. The taxonomic status of both taxa remained uncertain.

The holotypes of Hylodes philippi (MNCN 1600, sex unknown) and H. verrucosus (MNCN 1599, sex unknown) come from the locality San José de Moti, Orellana, Ecuador. This locality lies in the northeastern slopes of Volcán Reventador, but its exact location has not yet been established (see González-Fernández, 2006; Páez-Vacas et al., 2010). The holotype of H. philippi (fig. 13) is well preserved, and the following characters are recognizable: (1) skin on dorsum, head, and thighs granular, granules conical and keratinized; ventral skin smooth, discoidal fold present; (2) tympanic membrane and annulus distinct, about 1/3 eye length, supratympanic fold present; (3) head large, longer than wide; snout short, sinuous in dorsal view, round in lateral profile; (4) cranial crests absent; (5) dentigerous process of the vomers large, triangular, situated posteromedial to choanae; (6) hands with long and slender fingers, relative length of fingers III> IV = I> II; subarticular tubercles round, prominent; supernumerary tubercles absent; tips of fingers only slightly enlarged, round, with weak circumferential grooves; (7) toes long and slender, toe tips enlarged, round, with barely appreciable disc structure; no tubercles on heel or tarsus; supernumerary tubercles absent; relative length of fingers IV> V> III> II> I.

The holotype of Hylodes verrucosus is similar to the holotype of H. philippi ; in the original illustrations in Jiménez de la Espada (1875) both are almost identical. Unfortunately, most character states can no longer be determined in the holotype of H. verrucosus because it has been dehydrated. Therefore, we consider them to be synonyms. They were first illustrated on the same page but not described (name availability by indication); we choose to apply the name H. philippi given that the holotype is better preserved.

With the information at hand, it is impossible for us to apply the name Hylodes philippi to any known species of Hypodactylus . If the type locality of H. philippi lies on the hills of Volcán Reventador, the only two Hypodactylus species with which its distribution may coincide are Hypodactylus dolops and H. nigrovittatus . The former closely resembles H. philippi in general appearance, and the latter is completely different. However, we refrain from synonymizing H. philippi with H. dolops because data at hand are inconclusive. Fresh material from the type locality of H. philippi needs to be gathered and compared with H. dolops to solve the issue. Therefore, we prefer to keep H. philippi as a nomem dubium within Hypodactylus , and H. verrucosus as a junior synonym of H. philippi .