Description

Boana maculateralis is a treefrog with a snout-vent length range of 31.86 - 39.17 mm in males and 32.04 - 55.31 mm in females. The head is wider than it is long and is also wider than the body. The snout is rounded in lateral view and truncated in dorsal view. The canthus rostralis is indistinct and rounded, the loreal region is concave, and the internarial region is convex. The distance from the nostrils to the eyes is shorter than the diameter of the eye. The nostrils are directed laterally and are not protuberant. The eyes are large and very protuberant. The diameter of the eye is approximately 1.7 times larger than the diameter of the tympanum. The tympanum is concealed beneath the skin. The tympanic annulus is evident, ovoid, longer dorsoventrally, and is dorsally concealed by the supratympanic fold, which reaches the anterior border of the arm insertion. The skin on the dorsum, head, and dorsal surfaces of the limbs are smooth, and the skin on the flanks is smooth with weak longitudinal lines. The skin on the shanks is also smooth. The skin on the venter is coarsely granular and the skin on the ventral surfaces of the head and thighs is granular. The cloacal opening is directed posteriorly at the upper level of the thighs, and the cloacal sheath is short and simple and it covers the cloacal opening. There are round tubercles below and on the sides of the vent that are larger proximally. The arms are slender and the axillary membrane is absent. There are indistinct low tubercles along the ventrolateral edge of the forearm. The relative finger lengths are I < II < IV < III, and the fingers have large, oval discs that are about three-fourths the length of the tympanum diameter at their largest. The subarticular tubercles are prominent and round to ovoid, supernumerary tubercles are present, the palmar tubercle is small and elongated, and the prepollical tubercle is large, flat, and elliptical. The prepollex is claw-shaped and enlarged. There is basal webbing on the fingers. There is a large triangular calcar on the tibiotarsal articulation, and ill-defined, scattered tubercles on the tarsus and ventrolateral edge of the foot. The outer metatarsal tubercle is ill-defined, small, and round, and the inner metatarsal tubercle is large and elliptical. The relative toe lengths are I < II < V < III < IV, and the toes have discs that are slightly wider than long and are smaller than the finger discs. The subarticular tubercles are single, round, and flat, and there are supernumerary tubercles on the soles of the feet. The webbing formula for the toes is I 2 — 2⁺ II 1 ¾ — 3^- III 2 — 3 IV 3 — 1 ½ V (Caminer and Ron 2014).

Boana maculateralis is most similar to B. fasciata, B. almendarizae, and B. calcarata. It differs from all three in its advertisement call and by having dark blotches on its flanks and thighs instead of dark lines. It can be differentiated from B. alfaroi and B. tetete by the presence of a calcar instead of a small tubercle on the heel (Caminer and Ron 2014).

In life, the dorsal coloration varies from a pale yellowish tan to a yellowish cream. There are broad pale brown transversal bands or narrow pale brown longitudinal lines on the dorsum. There are also occasionally pale brown transversal bars on the dorsal surfaces of the limbs in some individuals. There can be scattered minute black dots on the dorsum. The flanks are blue in females and light blue or white in males. The iris is a cream silver color, with faint yellow to orange color on the upper quarter (Caminer and Ron 2014).

In preservative, the dorsal coloration varies from creamy white, reddish brown, pinkish white, or brown with dark markings. There is a dark brown middorsal line that is restricted to the head or the anterior half of the body. The flanks are a pale cream or creamy white color with dark brown blotches. The hidden surfaces of the thighs are a pale cream or gray with dark brown blotches. The ventral coloration varies from creamy white to yellowish white and there are occasionally brown flecks on the neck and chest. The ventral surfaces of thighs are a yellowish white or brown (Caminer and Ron 2014).

There is sexual dimorphism with the females being larger than the males, and the coloration of the flanks and hidden surfaces of the thighs being blue in females and light blue or white in males. The individual dorsal coloration also varies from creamy white, reddish brown, pinkish white, or brown, and the presence of dark markings also varies. The individual iris color varies in the upper quarter from a yellowish to cream with a faint yellow to orange color (Caminer and Ron 2014).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Ecuador, Peru

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Boana maculateralis is found in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador and Peru, as well as the Japurá river in the State of Amazonas, Brazil and the departments of Amazon, Meta, and Guaviare in Colombia (Caminer and Ron 2014; Villacampa-Ortega et al. 2017; Rojas-Zamora et al. 2017; Acosta-Galvis et al. 2018; Medina-Rangel et al. 2019). The elevation ranges from 80 to 354 meters above sea level (Acosta-Galvis et al. 2018; Caminer and Ron 2014).

Their habitat is Amazonian Lowland Evergreen Forest or, in some areas, characterized by flooding and 30 meter canopies (Caminer and Ron 2014).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors

The advertisement call consists of three to four notes with a mean call duration of 0.35s and a mean rise time of 0.19s. The mean dominant frequency is 2217.93 Hz and the mean fundamental frequency is 488.10 Hz (Caminer and Ron 2014).

Most individuals have been observed at night perched on vegetation 40 - 200 cm above the ground (Caminer and Ron 2014).

Larva

While no larva have been identified for this species, larva for a similar species, Boana calcarata, has been identified and described. The larval stage of B. maculateralis is most likely similar (Duellman 2005).

Trends and Threats

Boana maculateralis has a large range that includes extensive areas of undisturbed forest, so there are few threats to this species (Caminer and Ron 2014).

Comments

In a 2014 Maximum Likelihood analysis based on 12S and 16S mtDNA, B. maculateralis was placed as sister to an undescribed specimen from Iquitos, Peru, both of which were sister to a clade comprised of B. calcarata, B. almendarizae, and B. fasciata (Caminer and Ron 2014). The undescribed specimen was confirmed to be sister to B. maculateralis in a 2021 Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood analysis using 16S mtDNA (Rainha et al. 2021).

The species epithet, “maculateralis”, is derived from the Latin words “macula” meaning "stain" and “lateralis” meaning "lateral or side" in reference to the dark brown blotches on its flanks (Caminer and Ron 2014).

References

Acosta-Galvis, A. R., Lasso, C. A., and Morales-Betancourt, M. A. (2018). First record of Boana maculateralis (Caminer & Ron, 2014) and Boana tetete (Caminer & Ron, 2014) (Anura, Hylidae) in Colombia. Check List. The Journal of Biodiversity Data 14: 549–554. [link]

Caminer, M. A. and Santiago, R. R. (2014). Systematic of treefrogs of the Hypisboas calcaratus and Hypsiboas fasciatus species complex (Anura, Hylidae) with the description of four new species. ZooKeys 370, 1 - 68. [link]

Duellman, W. E. (2005). Cusco Amazonico: The lives of amphibians and reptiles in an Amazonian rainforest. New York: Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University.

Medina-Rangel, G. F., Méndez-Galeano, M. A., and Calderón-Espinosa, M. L. (2019). Herpetofauna of San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia. Biota Colombiana 20: 75–90. [link]

Rojas-Zamora, R. R., de Carvalho, V. T., Ávila, R. W., de Almeida, A. P., Araujo de Oliveira, E., Menin, M. and Gordom M. (2017). Hypsiboas maculateralis Caminer & Ron , 2014, new to Brazil. Herpetozoa. Wien 30: 108–114. [link]

Villacampa-Ortega, J., Serrano-Rojas, S. J., and Whitworth, A. (2017). Amphibians of the Manu Learning Centre and Other Areas of the Manu Region. Cusco, Peru: The Crees Foundation. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2024 Boana maculateralis: Stained Treefrog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/8120> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Apr 24, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 24 Apr 2024.

AmphibiaWeb's policy on data use.