Dataset Information

Systematics of the poorly known treefrog Leptopelis fiziensis (Anura: Arthroleptidae), with a description of its call.

ABSTRACT: Leptopelis fiziensis was described as a subspecies of L. modestus from specimens that were collected in 1956 in the region in and around Fizi, in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. We recently discovered L. fiziensis in transitional and montane forest near the type locality and the southeastern Itombwe Plateau, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis (16S mitochondrial sequence data) of these samples and other Leptopelis species recovered L. fiziensis as sister to L. karissimbensis with strong support, and rejected a close relationship between L. fiziensis and both topotypic L. modestus from Cameroon and L. mackayi from Kenya. Herein, we provide a detailed description of the morphometrics, colour pattern, male advertisement call and natural history of this poorly known species. At least one literature record of L. fiziensis from Tanzania has notable differences from our data, and requires further study to ascertain its taxonomic status.

SUBMITTER: Greenbaum E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3583300 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Systematics of the poorly known treefrog Leptopelis fiziensis (Anura: Arthroleptidae), with a description of its call.

Greenbaum Eli E Portillo Frank F Kusamba Chifundera C

African journal of herpetology : journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa 20120918 2

Leptopelis fiziensis was described as a subspecies of L. modestus from specimens that were collected in 1956 in the region in and around Fizi, in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. We recently discovered L. fiziensis in transitional and montane forest near the type locality and the southeastern Itombwe Plateau, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis (16S mitochondrial sequence data) of these samples and other Leptopelis species recovered L. fiziensis ...[more]

PMID: 23567891

Similar Datasets

Project description:Background:Anuran vocalizations, such as advertisement and release calls, are informative for taxonomy because species recognition can be based on those signals. Thus, a proper acoustic description of the calls may support taxonomic decisions and may contribute to knowledge about amphibian phylogeny. Methods:Here we present a perspective on advertisement call descriptions of the frog subfamily Lophyohylinae, through a literature review and a spatial analysis presenting bioacoustic coldspots (sites with high diversity of species lacking advertisement call descriptions) for this taxonomic group. Additionally, we describe the advertisement and release calls of the still poorly known treefrog, Itapotihyla langsdorffii. We analyzed recordings of six males using the software Raven Pro 1.4 and calculated the coefficient of variation for classifying static and dynamic acoustic properties. Results and Discussion:We found that more than half of the species within the subfamily do not have their vocalizations described yet. Most of these species are distributed in the western and northern Amazon, where recording sampling effort should be strengthened in order to fill these gaps. The advertisement call of I. langsdorffii is composed of 3-18 short unpulsed notes (mean of 13 ms long), presents harmonic structure, and has a peak dominant frequency of about 1.4 kHz. This call usually presents amplitude modulation, with decreasing intensity along the sequence of notes. The release call is a simple unpulsed note with an average duration of 9 ms, and peak dominant frequency around 1.8 kHz. Temporal properties presented higher variations than spectral properties at both intra- and inter-individual levels. However, only peak dominant frequency was static at intra-individual level. High variability in temporal properties and lower variations related to spectral ones is usual for anurans; The first set of variables is determined by social environment or temperature, while the second is usually related to species-recognition process. Here we review and expand the acoustic knowledge of the subfamily Lophyohylinae, highlighting areas and species for future research.

Project description:Background:Brachycephalus are among the smallest terrestrial vertebrates in the world. The genus encompasses 34 species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, occurring mostly in montane forests, with many species showing microendemic distributions to single mountaintops. It includes diurnal species living in the leaf litter and calling during the day, mainly during the warmer months of the year. The natural history of the vast majority of the species is unknown, such as their advertisement call, which has been described only for seven species of the genus. In the present study, we describe the advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus, a recently described microendemic species from Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Methods:We analyzed 34 advertisement calls from 20 individuals of B. albolineatus, recorded between 5 and 6 February 2016 in the type locality of the species, Morro Boa Vista, on the border between the municipalities of Jaraguá do Sul and Massaranduba, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. We collected five individuals as vouchers (they are from the type series of the species). We used the note-centered approach to describe the advertisement calls of the species. Results:B. albolineatus have a long advertisement call of 40-191 s (mean of 88 s) composed of 8-29 notes (mean of 17 notes) emitted at a rate of 6-18 notes per minute (mean of 11 notes per minute) and at a note dominant frequency of five to seven kHz (mean of six kHz). Advertisement calls are composed of isolated notes and note groups (two notes involved in each particular note group); the former is composed by one to three pulses (mean of 2.0) and the note groups by two or three pulses in each note (mean of 2.7). Most advertisement calls present both isolated notes and note groups, with a few cases showing only the former. Note groups are emitted invariably in the last third of the advertisement call. Most isolated notes escalate their number of pulses along the advertisement call (1-2, 1-3 or 2-3). Note duration of isolated notes varies from 0.002 to 0.037 s (mean of 0.020 s) and duration of note group vary from 0.360 to 0.578 s (mean of 0.465 s). Discussion:Individuals increase the complexity of their calls as they proceed, incorporating note groups and pulses per note. Intra-individual variation analysis also demonstrated that less structured advertisement calls (i.e., with notes with fewer pulses) are not stereotyped. It is possible that isolated notes and note groups could have distinct functions, perhaps territorial defense and mating, respectively. We argue that using a note-centered approach facilitates comparisons with calls of congeners, as well as underscores the considerable differences in call structure between species in a single group and among species groups.

Dataset Information

Systematics of the poorly known treefrog Leptopelis fiziensis (Anura: Arthroleptidae), with a description of its call.

Publications

Systematics of the poorly known treefrog <i>Leptopelis fiziensis</i> (Anura: Arthroleptidae), with a description of its call.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure