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Article
A new species of Telmatobius (Amphibia, Anura, Telmatobiidae) from the Pacific slopes of the Andes, Peru
ZooKeys (2015)
  • Edgar Lehr, Illinois Wesleyan University
  • Alessandro Catenazzi
  • Victor Vargas
Abstract
We describe a new species of Telmatobius from the Pacific slopes of the Andes in central Peru. Specimens were collected at 3900 m elevation near Huaytará, Huancavelica, in the upper drainage of the Pisco river. The new species has a snout–vent length of 52.5 ± 1.1 mm (49.3–55.7 mm, n = 6) in adult females, and 48.5 mm in the single adult male. The new species has bright yellow and orange coloration ventrally and is readily distinguished from all other central Peruvian Andean species of Telmatobius but T. intermedius by having vomerine teeth but lacking premaxillary and maxillary teeth, and by its slender body shape and long legs. The new species differs from T. intermedius by its larger size, flatter head, and the absence of cutaneous keratinized spicules (present even in immature females of T. intermedius), and in males by the presence of minute, densely packed nuptial spines on dorsal and medial surfaces of thumbs (large, sparsely packed nuptial spines in T. intermedius). The hyper-arid coastal valleys of Peru generally support low species richness, particularly for groups such as aquatic breeding amphibians. The discovery of a new species in this environment, and along a major highway crossing the Andes, shows that much remains to be done to document amphibian diversity in Peru.
Keywords
  • Huancavelica,
  • amphibian,
  • Andean water frog
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter February 2, 2015
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.480.8578
Publisher Statement
ZooKeys is an open access journal published by Pensoft. For more information on this publication please visit ZooKeys online.
Citation Information
Edgar Lehr, Alessandro Catenazzi and Victor Vargas. "A new species of Telmatobius (Amphibia, Anura, Telmatobiidae) from the Pacific slopes of the Andes, Peru" ZooKeys Vol. 480 (2015) p. 81 - 95 ISSN: 1313-2989
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/edgar_lehr/77/