Pristimantis imthurni

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Pristimantis imthurni
Systematics
Subordination : Neobatrachia
Superfamily : Brachycephaloidea
Family : Craugastoridae
Subfamily : Ceuthomantinae
Genre : Pristimantis
Type : Pristimantis imthurni
Scientific name
Pristimantis imthurni
Kok , 2013
The Ptari tepui , on which the frog Pristimantis imthurni lives, seen from the Gran Sabana .

Pristimantis imthurni is a frog through the genus Pristimantis, which includes more than 470 species. It is endemic to the Ptari-Tepui in eastern Venezuela .

features

So far, only one male of the species Pristimantis imthurni has been measured, it had a head-trunk length of 22.9 millimeters. Pristimantis imthurni is brightly colored, the base color of the back is yellow, with a chocolate-brown central stripe, broad brown bands run along the flanks. Dorsolateral stripes of reddish-orange color extend from the eyes over the back to the rear, where larger spots of this color also appear, while smaller orange spots can be seen on the flanks. The underside and the limbs are gray-brown with small white spots and dots, the tops of the fingertips and the tips of the toes I-III are white. The first finger is shorter than the second, of the toes of the hind legs, the fifth toe is longer than the third. There is no tympanic membrane .

Pristimantis imthurni is similar to the species Pristimantis jamescameroni , which is endemic to the Aprada-Tepui , but differs from it in its coloration and the relatively smooth skin surface. The head is shorter and the mouth more rounded than that of Pristimantis jamescameroni .

distribution

Pristimantis imthurni has so far only been found on the Ptari-Tepui . The plateau of this table mountain has an area of ​​only one square kilometer and is 2471 m above sea level.

The Tepuis are island mountains made of sandstone in the Pantepui region, which extends over the east of Venezuela to Guyana and the northernmost part of Brazil . The Ptari-Tepui is located in the Venezuelan state of Bolívar , around 47 km northeast of the Chimantá massif.

Way of life

The type specimen of Pristimantis imthurni was found half hidden in the mud on one of the grassy vegetation islands on the rocky plateau of the Ptari-Tepuis. Although there are many small bodies of water on the Tepui, the development of the young frogs is possible without the tadpole stage in the water. They develop directly in the eggs. All neotropical frogs with direct development are counted as part of the Terrarana group .

Systematics and taxonomy

For the genus Pristimantis there is still no synapomorphism to clearly differentiate it from other genera. Therefore, the decision of the first descriptor Philippe JR Kok to place Pristimantis imthurni in this genus is based on genetic findings and morphological comparisons. It was not until 2007 that the genus Pristimantis was re-established by S. Blair Hedges, William E. Duellman and Matthew P. Heinicke for the South American species of the large genus Eleutherodactylus . The large family of the southern frogs , to which the genus belonged according to the opinion of the time, was divided into several families and in 2008 the genus Pristimantis was assigned to the family of Strabomantidae. In 2011, however, the Strabomantidae family was merged with the Craugastoridae family and the Pristimantinae subfamily was established within the new family. In 2014, however , Pristimantis was integrated into the subfamily Ceuthomantinae .

designation

The species name imthurni honors the British colonial official and researcher Sir Everard Ferdinand im Thurn (1852–1932). Everard im Thurn led an expedition that climbed the Roraima -Tepui for the first time in December 1884 . The reports of the expedition, to which Everard im Thurn was also able to contribute photographs, together with the descriptions by Robert Hermann Schomburgk , inspired the novel The Forgotten World by Arthur Conan Doyle .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Darrel R. Frost: Pristimantis , Amphibian Species of the World, Version 6.0, American Museum of Natural History, 1998-2014, accessed June 25, 2014
  2. ↑ Philippe JR Kok: Two new charismatic Pristimantis species (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the tepuis of “The Lost World” (Pantepui region, South America) . European Journal of Taxonomy, 60, pp. 1–24, October 2013 doi : 10.5852 / ejt.2013.60 (first description)
  3. ^ A b S. Blair Hedges, William E. Duellman, Matthew P. Heinicke: New World direct-developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): Molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and conservation. Zootaxa 1737, pp. 1-182, 2008 ISBN 978-1-86977-197-3
  4. ^ Matthew P. Heinicke, William E. Duellman and S. Blair Hedges: Major Caribbean and Central American frog faunas originated by ancient oceanic dispersal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 104, 24, pp. 10092-10097, 2007
  5. ^ RA Pyron & JJ Wiens: A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 61, 2, pp. 543-83, November 2011
  6. ↑ JM Padial, Taran Grant & Darrel R. Frost: Molecular systematics of terraranas (Anura: Brachycephaloidea) with an assessment of the effects of alignment and optimality criteria . Zootaxa, 3825, pp. 1-132, June 2014

literature

  • Philippe JR Kok: Two new charismatic Pristimantis species (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the tepuis of “The Lost World” (Pantepui region, South America) . European Journal of Taxonomy, 60, pp. 1–24, October 2013 doi : 10.5852 / ejt.2013.60 (first description)
  • S. Blair Hedges, William E. Duellman, Matthew P. Heinicke: New World direct-developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): Molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and conservation. Zootaxa 1737, 2008, pages 1-182, 2008 ISBN 978-1-86977-197-3

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