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Type: Articles
Published: 2012-03-02
Page range: 44–60
Abstract views: 28
PDF downloaded: 2

A new cryptic species of the genus Eleutherodactylus (Amphibia: Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) from Cuba

Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Cuba, Obispo #61, Esquina Oficios, Plaza de Armas, Habana Vieja, CP 10100
Department of Biology, 208 Mueller Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-5301
Department of Human Genetics, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Amphibia Caribbean West Indies Terrarana Euhyas morphology phylogeny bioacoustics chromosomes

Abstract

The widely distributed grass frog of Cuba, Eleutherodactylus varleyi, is shown here to comprise two species. One, E. var-leyi, occurs in western and central Cuba while the other, E. feichtingeri n. sp., occurs in central and eastern Cuba. The twospecies are sympatric in central Cuba, and syntopic in the vicinity of Sierra de Cubitas, Camagüey Province. A molecularphylogeny of mitochondrial DNA sequences from 18 localities confirms the existence of two well-supported major cladescorresponding to each of these species, and the sympatry of the species. Tympanum size and advertisement call are themost useful diagnostic characters, although the two species are shown to have karyotypic differences as well. Possible character displacement in morphology and vocalization, in the area of sympatry, is discussed.

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