Abstract
Numerous species of aromobatid frogs in the genus Allobates from the Amazonian region of Brazil have been described in recent years. Herein, we describe a new Allobates from the state of Amazonas. This species is allopatric with three other species of Allobates, two of which we have described previously. The new species inhabits streams in small remnants of paleovárzea forest along margins of a small river, the Paraná do Castanho. Paleovárzeas are ancient floodplains of the Amazon River and its tributaries. Paleovárzea forests are transitional between terra firme forests, which are never flooded, and várzeas, which are seasonally flooded. Males and females of the new species are similar in size; males average 20.1 mm, females 19.8. Tadpoles have a distinct dark brown bar extending from the snout through the eye to midbody. The call of this species consists of quickly repeated groups of single notes and is unique compared to known species of Allobates. Courtship includes cephalic amplexus. Eggs are deposited on the forest floor in cup-shaped leaves in the litter. Unlike other species of Allobates, egg capsules in this species are opaque instead of clear.References
Altig, R. & McDiarmid, R.W. (1999) Body plan: development and morphology. In: McDiarmid, R.W. & Altig, R. (Eds.) Tadpoles: The Biology of Anuran Larvae. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 24–51.
Boulenger, G.A. (1883) On a collection of frogs from Yurimaguas, Huallaga River, northern Peru. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1883, 635–638.
Caldwell, J.P. & de Araújo, M.C. (2005) Amphibian faunas of two eastern Amazonian rainforest sites in Pará, Brazil. Occasional Papers of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 16, 1–41.
Caldwell, J.P. & Lima, A.P. (2003) A new Amazonian species of Colostethus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) with a nidicolous tadpole. Herpetologica, 59, 219–234.
Caldwell, J.P., Lima, A.P. & Biavati, G.M. (2002a) Descriptions of tadpoles of Colostethus marchesianus and Colostethus caeruleodactylus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from their type localities. Copeia, 2002, 166–172.
Caldwell, J.P., Lima, A.P. & Keller, C. (2002b) Redescription of Colostethus marchesianus (Melin, 1941) from its type locality. Copeia, 2002, 157–165.
Charif, R.A., Clark, C.W. & Fristrup, K.M. (2004) Raven 1.2 User’s Manual. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY.
Coloma, L.A. (1995) Ecuadorian frogs of the genus Colostethus (Anura: Dendrobatidae). University Kansas Natural History Museum Miscellaneous Publications, 87, 1–72.
Cope, E.D. (1887) Synopsis of the Batrachia and Reptilia obtained by H. H. Smith, in the province of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 24, 44–60.
Gosner, K.L. (1960) A simplified table for staging anuran embryos and larvae with notes on identification. Herpetologica, 16, 183–190.
Grant, T. & Castro, F. (1998) The cloud forest Colostethus (Anura, Dendrobatidae) of a region of the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia. Journal of Herpetology, 32, 378–392.
Grant, T. & Rodrigues, L.O. (2001) Two new species of frogs of the genus Colostethus (Dendrobatidae) from Peru and a redescription of C. trilineatus (Boulenger, 1883). American Museum Novitates, 3355, 1–24.
Grant, T., Frost, D.F., Caldwell, J.P., Gagliardo, R., Haddad, C.F.B., Kok, P.J.R., Means, B.D., Noonan, B.P., Schargel, W. & Wheeler, W.C. (2006) Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Anura: Athesphatanura: Dendrobatidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 299, 1–262.
Grant, T., Humphrey, E.C. & Myers, C.W. (1997) The median lingual process of frogs: a bizarre character of Old World ranoids discovered in South American dendrobatids. American Museum Novitates, 3212, 1–40.
Kaplan, M. (1997) A new species of Colostethus from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia) with comments on intergeneric relationships within the Dendrobatidae. Journal of Herpetology, 31, 369–375.
Kok, P.J.R., MacCulloch, R.D., Gaucher, P., Poelman, E.H., Bourne, G.R., Lathrop, A. & Lenglet, G.L. (2006) A new species of Colostethus (Anura, Dendrobatidae) from French Guiana with a redescription of Colostethus beebei (Noble, 1923) from its type locality. Phyllomedusa, 5, 43–66.
Lima, A.P. & Caldwell, J.P. (2001) A new Amazonian species of Colostethus with sky blue digits. Herpetologica, 57, 180–189.
Lima, A.P., Caldwell, J.P., & Strussmann, C. (2009) Redescription of Allobates brunneus (Cope) 1887 (Anura: Aromobatidae: Allobatinae), with a description of the tadpole, call, and reproductive behavior. Zootaxa, 1988, 1–16.
Lima, A.P., Sanchez, D.E.A. & Souza, J.R.D. (2007) A new Amazonian species of the frog genus Colostethus (Dendrobatidae) that lays its eggs on undersides of leaves. Copeia, 2007, 114–122.
Morales, V.R. (2002 “2000”) Sistemática y biogeografia del grupo trilineatus (Amphibia, Anura, Dendrobatidae, Colostethus), com descripción de once nuevas especies. Publicaciones de la Asociación de Amigos Doñana, 13, 1–59.