Dendropsophinae Fitzinger, 1843

Duellman, William E., Marion, Angela B. & Hedges, Blair, 2016, Phylogenetics, classification, and biogeography of the treefrogs (Amphibia: Anura: Arboranae), Zootaxa 4104 (1), pp. 1-109 : 24

Subfamily Dendropsophinae Fitzinger, 1843

Dendropsophini Fitzinger, 1843:32 . Type genus: Dendropsophus Fitzinger, 1843 , by original designation.

Definition. Small to medium-sized primarily arboreal frogs; quadratojugal reduced or absent; reduction LTRF for 1/2 to 0/0 in larvae. Chromosome complement 2n = 30 (except in Xenohyla ).

Content. Two genera with 97 species.

Distribution. Tropical southern Mexico through Central America and tropical and subtropical South America, including Trinidad, southward to northern Argentina and Uruguay.

Etymology. The familial and generic names are derived from the Greek Dendron meaning tree and the Greek psophos meaning sound or noise. The name refers to the vocalizations of these frogs originating in trees.

Remarks. Dendropsophinae is the sister taxon of Pseudinae in the phylogenetic analysis of molecular data. The two subfamilies share no derived morphological characters. The analysis also shows that Xenohyla truncata (Izecksohn) ( Fig. 9A ), an inhabitant of terrestrial bromeliads in the restinga of southeastern Brazil, is the sister species of Dendropsophus ( Fig. 4 ). However, Xenohyla has 2n = 24 chromosomes ( Suárez et al. 2013), whereas all Dendropsophus for which the chromosome number is known have 2n = 30 chromosomes.

Our phylogenetic analysis includes only about half (49) of the 95 species of Dendropsophus . Within the tree ( Fig. 4 ), four groups are strongly supported— D. marmoratus Group (3 species; Fig. 9 B), D. labialis Group (3 species; Fig. 9 C), D. leucophyllatus Group (6 species; Fig. 9 D) and D. parviceps Group (4 species; Fig. 9 E). These correspond approximately with the continuous reduction on larval mouthparts as shown by Duellman and Trueb (1983). The Central American ( D. microcephalus , phlebodes , sartori , and robertmertensi ; Fig. 9 F) is weakly supported. Further recognition of distinct clades within the burdensomely large genus Dendropsophus awaits rigorous analysis of molecular data for many more species.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of arboranan frogs based on DNA sequence data from 19 genes (16,128 aligned sites). The tree is rooted with Ceuthomantis smaragdinus, Dendrobates auratus, Haddadus binotatus, and Rhinoderma darwinii (not shown). Bootstrap support values are indicated at nodes.

FIGURE 9. A. Xenohyla truncata, MNRJ 75594, Restinga da Maricá, 3 m, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. J. Pombal, Jr. B – F. Representatives of the major clades in Dendropsophus: B. D. marmoratus, KU 126436, Lago Agrio, 320 m, Sucumbíos, Ecuador. C. D. labialis, KU 124867, Jardín del Recuerdo, 2580 m, Cundinamarca, Colombia. D. D. leucophyllatus, KU 128434, IPEAN, 10 m. Belém, Pará, Brazil. E. D. parviceps, KU 126476, Santa Cecilia, 340 m, Sucumbíos, Ecuador. F. D. microcephalus, KU 64591, Palmar Sur, 15 m, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, All by W. E. Duellman.