Eupsophus

Abstract: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS As was explained in the Introduction, the purpose of these «Additional notes» is to present the new information that has appeared since the publication of the Monograph «Amphibians of Argentina» (CEI, 1980a). These notes update the systematics of Argentine amphibians and briefly describe the new species that have been reported. In this analysis several genera stand out as poorly known and consequently probably subject to future changes in nomenclature. The most obvious examples of this are Elachistocleis, Alsodes, Telmatobius, Leptodactylus, Physalaemus, Odontophrynus and the supergenus Hyla. Other genera that may be suject to lesser modifications are Bufo, Melanophryniscus, Ceratophrys, Lepidobatrachus, Pleurodema, Pseudopaludicola, Atelognathus, Batrachyla, Pseudis, Gastrotheca or Phyllomedusa. Some of the monotypic or relictual genera such as Dermatonotus, Rhinoderma, Chacophrys, Crossodactylus, Somuncuria, Hylorina, Eupsophus, Limnomedusa, Argenteohyla, Osteocephalus, Phrynohya...

Abstract: One of the most characteristic and abundant amphibian taxa of South American temperate forests is Eupsophus. The ten currently recognized species of the genus have been divided in two species groups, roseus and vertebralis, but most of them, eight, belong to the roseus group. Recent phylogeographic and phylogenetic studies have suggested that species diversity of the roseus group could be underestimated. An examination of the literature shows that species of the roseus group exhibit high levels of variation in their external characteristics, particularly those used as diagnostic characters, which compromises their taxonomy and hinders their field recognition. High levels of variation were also observed in several new populations of the roseus group discovered in southern Chile (36°-40°S), which could not be identified to the species level by their external characteristics. On the other hand, the literature reveals a scarse karyotype differentiation and a high bioacoustic uniformity among the species of the roseus group. We performed a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear genes to reevaluate the species diversity of the roseus group, including all the nominal species of Eupsophus and new populations. This analysis was complemented with three species delimitation approaches, General Mixed Yule Coalescent, multi-rate Poisson Tree Process and Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery. We favored a conservative delimitation of only four species for the roseus group, a result more consistent with the distribution of pairwise genetic distances, and the available chromosome and bioacoustic evidence. The four recognized lineages, which have nearly completely allopatric distributions, are named after the earliest nominal species that they include, but because high levels of phenotypic variation, they are not diagnosable by consistent differences in external morphology. We discuss the implications of this new proposal for the taxonomy and conservation of the genus, and the possible causes of the difficulty to estimate its species diversity.

Abstract: The morphology and habitat preferences of eleven species of four genera of Chilean leptodactylid frogs were compared. Characters of these four genera allow a clear-cut separation and are elaborated in a key to their species. The larvae of Alsodes and Telmatobius show the highest degree of morphological and ecological similarity. Similarities and differences found between the larvae of both genera match in some cases the specific and generic relationships derived from adult morphology; the characters of the larvae of Telmatobius montanus suggest a closer relationship to Alsodes than to Telmatobius and we confirm the proposed change of genus for this species. The larvae of the monotypic genera Caudiverbera and Insuetophrynus are the most divergent, indicating strong specialization. Based on the characters obtained for the larvae of these four genera and adding those of Eupsophus, Batrachyla, Hylorina and Temaltobufo, we propose some generic relationships among these telmatobiine leptodactylid frogs.

Abstract: Chromosome banding and meiotic evidence show that XX/XY systems found in two Eupsophus species (Amphibia-Leptodactylidae) represent early stages of sex chromosome differentiation. Pair 14 is heteromorphic in E. migueli males and represents the heterochromosomes. In E. roseus this pair is metacentric and does not show heteromorphism. Paracentromeric constitutive heterochromatin is present in all chromosomes except in the E. migueli and E. roseus metacentric Y chromosomes. Constitutive heterochromatin loss is the structural modification responsible for Y chromosome differentiation. Pericentric inversions may have modified the morphology of the X chromosome of Eupsophus species.