AmphibiaWeb - Odontophrynus toledoi
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Odontophrynus toledoi Moroti, Pedrozo, Severgnini, Augusto-Alves, Dena, Martins, Nunes & Muscat, 2022
family: Odontophrynidae
genus: Odontophrynus
Species Description: Moroti MDT, M Pedrozo, MR Severgnini, G Augusto-Alves, S Dena, IA Martins, I Nunes & E Muscat. 2022 A new species of Odontophrynus (Anura, Odontophrynidae) from the southern portion of the Mantiqueira mountains. European Journal of Taxonomy 847(1): 160–193.
Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN Red List Status Account
CITES No CITES Listing
National Status None
Regional Status None

   

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Description

Odontophrynus toledo is a medium-sized frog with a snout-vent length of 40.4 - 51.8 mm in males and 45.0 - 54.5 mm in females. The head is wider than it is long, and the snout is truncated in profile. The eyes are large, prominent, and laterally oriented. The tympanum is hidden. The skin on the dorsum and venter is granular with glandular warts. There are longitudinally oriented glandular warts on the postorbital-parotoid regions. The fingers are slender with rounded tips and no interdigital webbing. The finger lengths are in IV > II > V ≥ III order. The subarticular tubercles are large, nearly bilobated, and are more developed proximally than distally. There are rounded to oval supernumerary tubercles that cover the palmar surface. Nuptial pads are present on the posterior surface of the inner metacarpal tubercle and on the thumbs in males. The hind limbs are relatively short and stout, and the tarsal fold is present, slightly curved, and the same length as the tarsus and as long as the inner metatarsal tubercle. The toes are slender with rounded tips and there is interdigital webbing. The webbing formula is I 1 - 2 II 1 - 3 III 2 - 4 IV 4 - 2 V. The inner metatarsal tubercle is large and the external border is keratinized. The outer metatarsal tubercle is slightly distinct and the subarticular tubercles are rounded. The subarticular tubercles on toes I and II are enlarged. The supernumerary tubercles are small and rounded, and they cover the plantar surface (Moroti et al. 2022).

Odontophrynus toledoi adults can be differentiated from similar species in the Odontophrynus americanus group by a combination of characteristics including: dark brown coloration on dorsal region of head, arms, body, and limbs with light brown stripes on arms and limbs; a variety of longitudinally oriented dorsal glandular ridges; and a yellowish stripe present between the eyes (Moroti et al. 2022).

In life, the primary color on the dorsal surface of head, arms, body and limbs displays a dark brown coloration with light brown blotches present on the arms and limbs. Between the eyes, there is a horizontal yellowish stripe beginning behind the head and extending toward the hind limbs. The venter area is whitish in color and contains scattered gray blotches that increase on the side of the body. Light brown nuptial pads are present in reproductive males. The tubercles of the foot and tarsal fold consist of a grayish color whereas the tubercles of the hand are light brown. The iris includes three marbled colors with the order of coloration from dorsal to ventral region being gold, black and white (Moroti et al. 2022).

In preservative, the dorsal region is composed of a dark brown color with light brown blotches on both the arms and limbs. The yellowish stripe between the eyes becomes a light brown color. The tubercles of the hand and foot, and the tarsal fold are a cream color (Moroti et al. 2022).

Male specimens can be distinguished from females by their possession of a darkly pigmented gular region on the vocal sac, as well as matured nuptial pads on both the thumb and posterior surface of inner metacarpal tubercles. Conversely, adult females are typically larger than adult males. The number, size, and shape of the longitudinally arranged glandular warts and light brown blotches can also vary between individuals within the species (Moroti et al. 2022).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Brazil

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Odontophrynus toledoi is found in the Southern portion of the Serra da Mantiqueira and mountain range areas such as Jundiaí and Atibaia in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil (Moroti et al. 2022).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors

This species is nocturnal and found in open flooded areas. They bury themselves approximately 7 cm deep for estivation until the rainy season begins, and the females leave estivation before the males. The males call during the day in the rainy season while half submerged in flooded areas and hidden by vegetation (Moroti et al. 2022).

The advertisement call of O. toledoi has a pulse group with 43 - 82 pulses that have a frequency range of 395 - 1399 Hz. The dominant frequency range is 775 - 1033 Hz. The call duration ranges from 438 - 831 ms, the pulse duration ranges from 4 - 8 ms, and the interval between pulses is about 3 ms long. There are about 89 - 132 pulses per second (Moroti et al. 2022).

The males perform axillary amplexus (Moroti et al. 2022).

They have multiple defensive behaviors such as burrowing, puffing up their body, stiff leg, and feigning death (Moroti et al. 2022).

Larva

In Gosner stages 37 - 40, the tadpoles have a total length of 42.91 - 56.18 mm (Gosner 1960; Moroti et al. 2022). The body is depressed, and it’s rounded in lateral view but elliptical in dorsal view. The body is slightly longer than one third of the total length. In lateral view, the snout is rounded, and in dorsal view, it is ovoid. The eyes are dorsolaterally oriented and are dorsal. The nostrils are dorsal with an oval shape, and they are anterolaterally positioned. The nostrils have an elevated marginal rim, undeveloped inner margin projection, and are closer to the tip of the snout than to the eye. The spiracle is sinistral and short, and the inner wall is fused to the body with a small distal portion free, which is lateroventrally positioned, posterodorsally directed, and placed at half of the body length. The ventral tube is median with a dextral opening that is ventrally directed. The vent tube is fused to the ventral fin with a posterior portion free and positioned slightly below the ventral fin margin. The dorsal membrane on the ventral tube is slightly shorter than its ventral membrane. The tail has an acute tip and the tail musculature is slightly developed. The dorsal fin has a slightly more convex margin than the ventral fin and they both have their maximum height at the midpoint of the tail. The dorsal fin emerges at the posterior third of the body and the ventral fin emerges from the inferior margin of the ventral tube (Moroti et al. 2022).

Odontophrynus toledoi larvae are larger than larva of other Odontophrynus americanus group members and can be further distinguished by their short sinistral spiracle with its inner wall fused to the body and free distal tip (Moroti et al. 2022).

In life, the body is greenish with scattered dark blotches that are distributed throughout and are concentrated on the lateral view of the body. The ventral region is cream. The tail is light cream with dark blotches and they are concentrated on the last third of the tail. The musculature of the caudal portion has a reddish coloration. There is a mid-dorsal cream stripe (Moroti et al. 2022).

In preservative, the dorsal region is dark yellow and light cream or yellow on the lateral view. There are melanophores located near the eyes, nares, and on the anterior insertion of the tail musculature on the dorsal view. The fins are translucent and have iridophores that are mainly on the dorsal fin (Moroti et al. 2022).

Trends and Threats

As of 2024, there has not been extensive study into the threats affecting O. toledoi, however temperature increase from climate change and forest destruction have been identified as possible threats in its region (Colombo and Joly 2010).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Urbanization
Drainage of habitat

Comments

In a 2022 Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analysis of 16S mtDNA, O. toledoi was differentiated from O. americanus. It was also placed as sister to O. juquinha (Moroti et al. 2022).

The species epithet, “toledoi”, is named after Professor Luis Felipe Toledo as a tribute to his significant contribution in solving the mysteries of the natural history of Neotropical amphibians (Moroti et al. 2022).

References

Colombo A.F. and Joly C.A. (2010). Brazilian Atlantic Forest lato sensu: the most ancient Brazilian forest, and a biodiversity hotspot, is highly threatened by climate change. Brazilian Journal of Biology 70(3), 697–708. [link]

Gosner, Kenneth L. (1960). A simplified table for staging anuran embryos and larvae with notes on identification. Herpetologica 16(3), 183–90. [link]

Moroti, M. de T., Pedrozo, M., Severgnini, M. R., Augusto-Alves, G., Dena, S., Martins, I. A., Nunes, I., and Muscat, E. (2022). A new species of Odontophrynus (Anura, Odontophrynidae) from the southern portion of the Mantiqueira mountains. European Journal of Taxonomy, 847(1), 160–193. [link]



Originally submitted by: Ka Long Wan, Maya Michels, Nathalie Thi (2024-02-22)
Description by: Ka Long Wan, Maya Michels, Nathalie Thi, Nessa Kmetec (updated 2024-02-22)
Distribution by: Ka Long Wan, Maya Michels, Nathalie Thi (updated 2024-02-22)
Life history by: Ka Long Wan, Maya Michels, Nathalie Thi (updated 2024-02-22)
Trends and threats by: Ka Long Wan, Maya Michels, Nathalie Thi (updated 2024-02-22)
Comments by: Ka Long Wan, Maya Michels, Nathalie Thi, Nessa Kmetec (updated 2024-02-22)

Edited by: Ann T. Chang, Nessa Kmetec (2024-02-22)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2024 Odontophrynus toledoi <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9606> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 28, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 28 Mar 2024.

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