One step beyond a broad molecular phylogenetic analysis: Species delimitation of Adenomera marmorata Steindachner, 1867 (Anura: Leptodactylidae)

First karyotype description of the species of Adenomera Steindachner, 1867 (Anura, Leptodactylidae) in the " thomei" clade

The genus Adenomera Steindachner, 1867 currently comprises 29 nominal species, some of which are suggested to be cryptic species complexes. The present study was carried out with specimens of the "thomei" clade that encompasses three taxa distributed in the Atlantic Forest biome: Adenomerathomei Almeida et Angulo, 2006, Adenomera sp. L., and Adenomera sp. M. We used classical cytogenetics to describe the diploid number and karyomorphology of these three species collected in two different locations in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Our results revealed the diploid number 2n = 24 (FN = 34) with two pairs of metacentric chromosomes (pairs 1 and 5), three pairs of submetacentric chromosomes (pairs 2, 3, and 4), and seven pairs of telocentric chromosomes (pairs 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12). Further morphological, bioacoustic, and cytogenetic data (C-banding and AgNor) are needed to better delineate the lineages within the "thomei" clade.

A tale of two bellies: systematics of the oval frogs (Anura: Microhylidae: Elachistocleis Parker, 1927)

Oval frogs (Elachistocleis) have a broad geographic distribution covering nearly all of South America and parts of Central America. They also have a large inter- and intraspecific variation of the few morphological characters commonly used as diagnostic traits among species of the genus. Based on molecular data, we provide the most complete phylogeny of Elachistocleis to date, and explore its genetic diversity using distance-based and tree-based methods for putative species delimitation. Our results show that at least two of the most relevant traditional characters used in the taxonomy of this group (belly pattern and dorsal median white line) carry less phylogenetic information than previously thought. Based on our results, we propose some synonymizations and some candidate new species. This study is a first major step in disentangling the current systematics of Elachistocleis. Yet, a comprehensive review of morphological data is needed before any new species descriptions can be properly made.

Systematics and historical biogeography of Neotropical foam-nesting frogs of the Adenomera heyeri clade (Leptodactylidae), with the description of six new Amazonian species

A large proportion of the biodiversity of Amazonia, one of the most diverse rainforest areas in the world, is yet to be formally described. One such case is the Neotropical frog genus Adenomera. We here evaluate the species richness and historical biogeography of the Adenomera heyeri clade by integrating molecular phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses with morphological and acoustic data. Our results uncovered ten new candidate species with interfluve-associated distributions across Amazonia. In this study, six of these are formally named and described. The new species partly correspond to previously identified candidate lineages ‘sp. F’ and ‘sp. G’ and also to previously unreported lineages. Because of their rarity and unequal sampling effort of the A. heyeri clade across Amazonia, conservation assessments for the six newly described species are still premature. Regarding the biogeography of the A. heyeri clade, our data support a northern Amazonian origin with two independent dispersals into the South American Dry Diagonal. Although riverine barriers have a relevant role as environmental filters by isolating lineages in interfluves, dispersal rather than vicariance must have played a central role in the diversification of this frog clade.