“Revisão taxonômica do sapo-de-chifre Proceratophrys boiei (wied-neuwied, 1824) (Lissamphibia, anura, odontophrynidae)”

Abstract

Proceratophrys boiei, a horned frog species, lives camouflaged in leaf litter and occupies Atlantic Forest environments as well as some transitional areas with the Cerrado, with distribution in the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, and Santa Catarina. Previous studies, based on molecular and cytogenetic analyses, have found three distinct lineages (North 1, North 2, and South) assigned to the taxon Proceratophrys boiei. In order to verify the existence of other species under the name P. boiei, we conducted a taxonomic review of populations throughout the species distribution, evaluating morphological, morphometric, acoustic, and osteological characters of 197 individuals (145 males and 52 females) from 68 localities. We conducted the analyses following the three lineages found in a previous study (N1, N2, and S). External morphology characters and advertisement call parameters of the three lineages show variation and overlap, including among individuals of the same lineage, indicating a high degree of polymorphism. However, regarding morphometry, specimens from the S lineage had the lowest mean snout-vent length (46.0 in males and 51.6 in females), and in the osteological analysis, we observed that the N1 lineage has the ethmoid region covered by the nasal, while N2 and S lineages do not cover this region with the nasal. Additionally, for the N2 lineage, the thickness of the zygomatic ramus of the squamosal bone is 2.06 times greater compared to the subocular ramus, while in the N1 and S lineages, the thickness is 1.43 and 1.7 times greater, respectively. Based on our results, combined with the differences found among the three lineages in previous studies (based on the 16S, cit b, RAG-1 genes, cytogenetics, and tadpole chondrocranium), we revalidate two species that were synonymized with P. boiei and redescribe P. boiei, providing new diagnostic characters and its current geographical distribution.