Pristimantis samaniegoi Székely, Eguiguren, Ordóñez-Delgado, Armijos-Ojeda & Székely, 2020
Samaniego’s Rain Frog, Cutın de Samaniego | family: Strabomantidae genus: Pristimantis |
Species Description: Szekely P, Eguiguren JS, Ordoñez-Delgado L, Armijos-Ojeda D, Szekely D (2020) Fifty years after: A taxonomic revision of the amphibian species from the Ecuadorian biodiversity hotspot Abra de Zamora, with description of two new Pristimantis species. PLoS ONE 15(9): e0238306. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238306 |
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Description DIAGNOSIS: In the Pristimantis orestes group, only three species, P. samaniegoi, P. matildae, and P. colodactylus, lack a tympanic annulus and tympanic membrane. However, P. samaniegoi can be distinguished from P. matildae and P. colodactylus by the former having following characteristics: thoracic and discoidal folds, supratympanic fold, several small tubercles on the upper eyelid, Toe V is slightly longer than Toe III, and males have a large vocal sac below the throat and vocal slits. From other species, P. samaniegoi does not have spots on the axilla, groin, limbs, and venter like P. quintanai, P. saturninoi, and P. simonbolivari. Additionally, P. samaniegoi can be distinguished from P. tiktik by the former's finely tuberculated dorsum and dark gray venter without reticulum. None of the other similar species have dark coloration with white spots as seen in the females of P. samaniegoi. The species’ call is most similar to P. tiktik’s, but P. samaniegoi’s call is doubled-noted, has a longer inter-call and inter-note interval, a lower call rate, and a lower dominant and 90% bandwidth frequency (Székely et al. 2020). COLORATION: In life, the species is dark brown with irregular yellowish-white spots on the dorsum, flanks, and dorsal surfaces of hind limbs and arms. The venter and throat are gray and have no spots. It has whitish-gray irises with a dark metallic brown streak and fine black reticulations. Males never have white spots like females. The supratympanic fold is black in both females and males. In preservative, the color of the dorsum, flanks, and dorsal surfaces of the hind limbs turned dark gray. The spots became light gray. The dorsal surfaces of the arms, venter, and throat also turned light gray (Székely et al. 2020). VARIATION: The species has evident sexual dimorphism in both size and coloration. Females are larger than the males. Additionally, females are dark brown with white, irregular spots and a dark gray venter while males have lighter colored dorsums, from light brown to reddish brown, with light green and gray flanks. Males also have pinkish-white to light gray venters(Székely et al. 2020). Distribution and Habitat Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Ecuador
Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors The male’s advertisement call is commonly heard year-round but more frequent on rainy nights. Females were found in direct proximity to calling males (Székely et al. 2020). Pristimantis samaniegoi’s advertisement call consists of repeated clicking for long periods of time. The call is similar to P. tiktik and P. vidua. The calls have two short, single-pulsed notes. The duration of the call series is unknown because they can call continuously, However, individual call durations lasted 0.017 - 0.040 s with an inter-call interval of 0.234 - 0.362 s resulting in a call rate of 185.9 calls/min. The short notes last 0.002 - 0.006 s while the long notes last 0.003 - 0.010 s and have an inter-note duration of 0.006 - 0.028s. The dominant frequency is 2842.4 - 3359.2 Hz and has 3 - 4 harmonics (Székely et al. 2020). Trends and Threats Comments PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS: Pristimantis samaniegoi is in the Pristimantis orestes species group based on Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses of two mitochondrial genes (12S and 16S) and one nuclear gene (RAG-1) from 123 individuals of 56 species from Ecuador and Peru. Those analyses also indicate that P. samaniegoi is most closely related to the clade composed of P. quintanai and an undescribed species. However, this relationship is not strongly supported (Székely et al. 2020). ETYMOLOGY: The species is named after Dr. Gustavo Samaniego Rodríguez, who was important to the conservation efforts of biodiversity in southern Ecuador. He donated part of his land to create the administrative and interpretation center of the Parque Nacional Podocarpus, an important biodiversity site in Ecuador (Székely et al. 2020).
References
Székely P., Eguiguren J. S., Ordóñez-Delgado L., Armijos-Ojeda D., Székely D. (2020). “Fifty years after: A taxonomic revision of the amphibian species from the Ecuadorian biodiversity hotspot Abra de Zamora, with description of two new Pristimantis species.” PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0238306. [link] Originally submitted by: Sarah Clerkin (2022-11-30) Description by: Sarah Clerkin (updated 2022-11-30)
Distribution by: Sarah Clerkin (updated 2022-11-30)
Life history by: Sarah Clerkin (updated 2022-11-30)
Trends and threats by: Sarah Clerkin (updated 2022-11-30)
Comments by: Sarah Clerkin (updated 2022-11-30)
Edited by: Ann T. Chang (2022-11-30) Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2022 Pristimantis samaniegoi: Samaniego’s Rain Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9256> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Oct 3, 2024.
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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 3 Oct 2024. AmphibiaWeb's policy on data use. |