Eupsophus roseus

Correa, Claudio & Duran, Felipe, 2019, Taxonomy, systematics and geographic distribution of ground frogs (Alsodidae, Eupsophus): a comprehensive synthesis of the last six decades of research, ZooKeys 863, pp. 107-152 : 124

Eupsophus roseus Fig. 3 A–C

Type locality.

Valdivia ( Cei 1962a, b); locality 72 of Fig. 3B .

Geographic distribution.

The distribution range of this species is the most difficult to define from the literature, because its distribution limits differ among sources and four species were described within its range in Chile ( E. migueli , E. contulmoensis , E. nahuelbutensis and E. altor ), without clarifying the level of sympatry between them. In fact, E. roseus has been recorded in the type localities of some of these species: M.N. Contulmo ( Ortiz et al. 1989, although Nuñez 2003 discarded its presence there), P.N. Nahuelbuta ( Nuñez et al. 1999) and Mehuín ( Formas et al. 1980, Puga 1986, Méndez et al. 2005). The maps of Nuñez (2003) and Rabanal and Nuñez (2008) are not very useful either, because they do not coincide in the northern and southern limits and restrict this species only to Chile. According to Formas (1979) and Formas et al. (1991), its northern limit in Chile is Concepción City (36°50'S), but subsequent sources limit it to Nahuelbuta Range (approximately 37°50'S; Nuñez et al. 1999, Rabanal and Nuñez 2008) or further south (Tolhuaca, 38°13'S; Nuñez 2003), ignoring several older records (e.g., Tomé, Cei 1962a, 1962b, as E. grayi ; Tumbes, Grandison 1961; Fig. 3A ). In contrast, the map of the IUCN (2019) extends its northern limit to ~35°28'S, encompassing completely the distribution range of E. septentrionalis (see above), and includes the few confirmed localities from Argentina (see below). Also, this map covers completely the distribution ranges of E. migueli and E. altor , and the continental area where E. insularis has been recorded (see below). According to Nuñez et al. (1999), the southern limit of E. roseus in Chile would be the Calle-Calle River basin (approximately 39°50'S), from where would be replaced by E. calcaratus southwards. The map of the IUCN (2019) is concordant with this pattern of allopatry between these species, though there are literature records of both species that surpass that limit (reviewed by Correa et al. 2017; Fig. 3B, C ). Here we added an old literature record that implies the presence of E. roseus further south, until Cordillera Pelada ( Puga 1986; locality 92 of Fig. 3C ). Correa et al. (2017) discovered, using molecular evidence, a locality where E. roseus and E. calcaratus coexist ( Naguilán, ~40°S, locality 81 of Fig. 3B , represented by a star), which would be the only confirmed site where two species of the roseus group live in sympatry. More recently, Suárez-Villota et al. (2018b) extended the distribution range of E. roseus further south on the western foothills of Andes in Chile (Los Mañíos, ~40°20'S) and demonstrated that effectively there are populations of E. calcaratus north of some localities of E. roseus . Taken together, these last two studies show that both species are present in Chile between 39°55' and 40°20'S approximately, although the degree of sympatry between them is currently unknown. Until 1996 (see account of E. calcaratus ), E. roseus was considered as the only species of the genus in Argentina (e.g., Cei 1980), but recently its presence in that country has been debated (e.g., Vaira et al. 2012), where some populations have been unsteadily assigned to E. roseus and/or to E. calcaratus (discussed in Blotto et al. 2013). Blotto et al. (2013) confirmed the presence of E. roseus in that country (around 39°50'S, Fig. 3A ), which suggests that the populations of Argentina north of that latitude, which were previously considered as E. calcaratus ( Úbeda 2000), might correspond to E. roseus . Moreover, the finding of E. roseus in Los Mañíos (see above) shows that this species reaches further south through the Chilean Andes, which suggests the need to reevaluate the taxonomic status of the populations located in Argentina at the same latitude.

Figures

Figure 3. Compilation of localities of Eupsophus species gathered from the literature (see the complete list of localities in Appendix 1). Multicolored circles and the star indicate localities where two or three species of the same group have been reported in the same or different sources. White circles indicate the localities where two undescribed species have been identified (Villarrica and Tolhuaca), two undetermined populations included in this study (Fig. 4) and several ones considered by Correa et al. (2017) as E. roseus, whose taxonomic status is uncertain according to the current taxonomy (Suarez-Villota et al. 2018 b). Thin gray lines within Chile represent boundaries of Administrative Regions.