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On Atopophrynus, a recently described frog wrongly assigned to the Dendrobatidae

by: Myers, Charles W

Publication date: 1986

Topics: Atopophrynus, Dendrobatidae, Leptodactylidae, Frogs, Amphibians, Atopophrynus -- Classification, Frogs -- Colombia -- Classification, Amphibians -- Colombia -- Classification

Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History

Collection: americanmuseumnaturalhistory; biodiversity

Contributor: American Museum of Natural History Library

Language: English

Rights: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/permissions

Rights-holder: American Museum of Natural History Library

Volume: no. 2843

15 p. : 26 cm

"In 1982 Lynch and RuiМЃz-Carranza named a new genus and species of small Andean frog, Atopophrynus syntomopus, based on three specimens from the Cordillera Central in northern Colombia. They assigned it to the Dendrobatidae without explanation, but reexamination of the two paratopotypes (one cleared and stained) clearly contradicts a dendrobatid relationship. There are numerous differences and no significant points of similarity. The taxon is redescribed and its familial assignment reconsidered. Atopophrynus might be comfortably accommodated in the Bufonidae, but additional specimens are needed for determining presence or absence of the synapomorphic Bidder's organ and other bufonid apomorphies. Two possible synapomorphies (long and slender paired anterior processes on each hyale of the hyoid, and internal concealment of first toe) seem to unite Atopophrynus with Geobatrachus, a monotypic genus endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta- an isolated block of the Cordillera Central some 500 km from the type locality of Atopophrynus syntomopus. A sister-group relationship is suggestive, although marked differences in jaw musculature and other features are not explained. Geobatrachus is a presumptive member of the Leptodactylidae. Therefore, Atopophrynus syntomopus is placed in the same family as Geobatrachus. This assignment can only be provisional, since the Leptodactylidae are a family that is defined on the basis of primitive characters. Be that as it may, Atopophrynus is not a dendrobatid"--P. [1]

Title from caption

"April 25,1986."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 14-15)

Abstract: 'In 1982 Lynch and RuiМЃz-Carranza named a new genus and species of small Andean frog, Atopophrynus syntomopus, based on three specimens from the Cordillera Central in northern Colombia. They assigned it to the Dendrobatidae without explanation, but reexamination of the two paratopotypes (one cleared and stained) clearly contradicts a dendrobatid relationship. There are numerous differences and no significant points of similarity. The taxon is redescribed and its familial assignment reconsidered. Atopophrynus might be comfortably accommodated in the Bufonidae, but additional specimens are needed for determining presence or absence of the synapomorphic Bidder's organ and other bufonid apomorphies. Two possible synapomorphies (long and slender paired anterior processes on each hyale of the hyoid, and internal concealment of first toe) seem to unite Atopophrynus with Geobatrachus, a monotypic genus endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta- an isolated block of the Cordillera Central some 500 km from the type locality of Atopophrynus syntomopus. A sister-group relationship is suggestive, although marked differences in jaw musculature and other features are not explained. Geobatrachus is a presumptive member of the Leptodactylidae. Therefore, Atopophrynus syntomopus is placed in the same family as Geobatrachus. This assignment can only be provisional, since the Leptodactylidae are a family that is defined on the basis of primitive characters. Be that as it may, Atopophrynus is not a dendrobatid'--P. [1].