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Issue: Vol. 5701 No. 4: 6 Oct. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-10-06
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5701.4.2
Page range: 428-446
Abstract views: 120
PDF downloaded: 2

A new species of bamboo-dwelling Ranitomeya (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from the Upper Purus River Basin of Brazil and Peru

Department of Wildlife/Zoo Animal Biology and Systematics; Faculty of Biological Sciences; Goethe University Frankfurt; Frankfurt am Main; Germany
Departamento de Vertebrados; Museu Nacional; Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Rio de Janeiro; Brazil; Instituto Federal de Educação; Ciência e Tecnologia do Acre; Rua Coronel Brandão; 1622; CEP 69.930-000; Xapuri; Acre; Brazil
School of Biological Sciences; Southern Illinois University; Carbondale IL; USA
Departamento de Zoología; Universidad de Sevilla; Sevilla; Spain
Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana; Dirección de Investigación en Diversidad Biológica Terrestre Amazónica; Avenida José Abelardo Quiñones 2.5 km; San Juan; Loreto; Perú
Departamento de Zoología; Facultad de Ciencias; Universidad de Granada; Granada E-18071; Spain; Department of Herpetology; American Museum of Natural History; Central Park West at 79th St.; New York; NY 10024.
Área de Herpetología; Colección Científica; Museo de Historia Natural (MUSA); Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa; Av. Alcides Carrión s/n; Arequipa; Peru; Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa; Av. Alcides Carrión s/n Arequipa; Perú
Museo de Biodiversidad del Perú; Urbanización Mariscal Gamarra A-61; Zona 2; Cusco; Peru
Amphibia Anura poison dart frog ultraconserved elements phylogenomics bioacoustics

Abstract

A new species of Ranitomeya from Amazonian lowland forests in western Brazil and southeastern Peru is described and named. This species was formerly considered to be an outlying population of R. sirensis on the far eastern periphery of its geographic distribution. We analyze new and existing phylogenomic data and infer that the new species is not part of, or closely related to R. sirensis, but is sister to a clade including R. aetherea, R. aquamarina, R. cyanovittata, R. flavovittata, and R. yavaricola. The new species can be distinguished from species in its sister clade by its color pattern (yellow dorsal stripes, finely spotted ventral pattern, and a distinctive black band separating the gular and belly regions), and from R. sirensis by the presence/absence of a ventral color patch (absent in the new species, present in R. sirensis). Calls of the new species are longer in duration, with more pulses per call, and a slightly higher pulse rate, than any of the species in its sister clade for which call data are available. The new species is strongly associated with native Guadua bamboo, which it uses for reproduction. Based on museum records the new species also occurs in northern Bolivia. Unlike other close relatives, which are mostly monogamous, males of the new species appear to be polygynous, recruiting multiple females per breeding site.

 

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How to Cite

Twomey, E., Melo-Sampaio, P.R., Brown, J.L., Castroviejo-Fisher, S., Gagliardi-Urrutia, G., Padial, J.M., Poblete, R.G. & Chaparro, J.C. (2025) A new species of bamboo-dwelling Ranitomeya (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from the Upper Purus River Basin of Brazil and Peru. Zootaxa, 5701 (4), 428–446. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5701.4.2