Revisão taxonômica e distribuição geográfica do complexo Amazophrynella minuta (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae) da região Amazônica

Abstract

Amazophrynella is a genus of the family Bufonidae. Actually the genus remains problematic taxonomically; the difficulty lays principally in the lack of diagnostic characters in the original description of A. minuta, the lack of molecular data and refined taxonomic comparison of individuals through its wide distribution. In this study a partial taxonomic revision of the genus Amazophrynella was performed; especially trying to reveal the evolutionary and biological diversity hidden in the A. minuta complex. The study was conducted integrating several sources of data: (1) phylogenetic, using the 16S rRNA; (2) morphometric, through the principal component analysis measures of organisms; (3) bioacoustics, by comparison of the advisement calls, and (4) morphological, by comparing meristic characters. Our results showed the existence of eight linages of Amazophrynella, four of which are known nominal species and the other four strains represent potential new species. The genetic distances showed a high divergence between all strains (higher than 4%). The comparison of the bioacustic data showed differences in frequency, note size, and number of pulses, while the principal component analysis indicated differences in size and shape between some phylogenetic lineages found. With the need to improve the taxonomy of the genus, A. minuta was redescribed based on topotypes collected at the type locality, generating new diagnostic characters and a more complete description of the species. Two phylogenetic linages of the genus found in this study were described morphologically; observing profound morphological differences between them. Based on our results, we suggest continuing studies of this genus.