Eleutherodactylus pulvinatus Rivero

Myers, C. W. & Donnelly, M. A., 2008, The Summit Herpetofauna Of Auyantepui, Venezuela: Report From The Robert G. Goelet American Museum-Terramar Expedition, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2008 (308), pp. 1-147 : 79-82

Eleutherodactylus pulvinatus Rivero Figures 47A, 48

Eleutherodactylus pulvinatus Rivero, 1968a: 4 . Holotype MCZ 64741, an adult male from Paso del Danto , Región de la Escalera ‘‘around 1400 m above San Isidro’ ’, road from El Dorado to Sta. Elena de Uairén , Estado Bolívar, Venezuela. Duellman, 1997: 11 (color photograph), 23 (new diagnosis based on sample from La Escalera region ). Myers and Donnelly, 1997: 56–57 (photograph and measurements of the holotype).

MATERIAL: Camp 1, 1700 m: AMNH A-164955, juv. ♀, collected 2–4 February, 1994. Camp 4, 1600 m: AMNH A-1649568, EBRG 27308, collected 19–22 February 1994. All from the 1994 AMNH –TERRAMAR Expedition to Auyantepui.

Eleutherodactylus pulvinatus is readily distinguished from sympatric E. auricarens by presence of an externally distinct, relatively large tympanum (fig. 47A). The two adult males in our collection measured 22.8 and 23.0 mm SVL, with the following proportions: tibia/ SVL 5 0.583 in both ; head width/ SVL 5 0.387 –0.399 ; eye-naris/eye length 5 0.765 –0.906; tympanum/eye 5 0.313 –0.324; eyelid/ IOD 5 0.852 –0.920. The juvenile female is 13.4 mm ; tibia/ SVL 50.575 ; head width/ SVL 5 0.373 ; eye-naris/eye length 5 0.850 tympanum/eye 5 0.350; eyelid/ IOD 5 1.063. The males have two slightly whitish nuptial pads, one along edge of thenar tubercle and the other on posterodorsal side of thumb ; these are best developed in AMNH A-164956, the second pad only weakly indicated in EBRG 2730 . Vomerine odontophores are small but easily seen, situated between and slightly posterior to the choanae .

COLORATION: In life, gray-brown over the dorsal surfaces, with obscure darker markings and crossbanding on the limbs; a poorly defined dark interorbital bar and what seem to be remnants of a dark Wshaped scapular mark are perhaps somewhat more evident in preservative (fig. 48) than in life; the thighs appeared virtually uniform gray in life (pale orangish brown in preservative, with or without pale flecking). EBRG 2750 has several pale oblique bars crossing the flanks, but these markings are lacking in AMNH A-164956. A dark brown stripe below the canthus rostralis, from eye to nostril, is evident in one (EBRG 2750) of the adult males but vague in the other. Both have an oblique postocular brown stripe with a blackish upper edge, and several dark bars radiating from eye to lip (most distinct in EBRG 2750, obscure in the other).

The ventral surfaces were medium gray overall, with inconspicuous pale gray flecking on throat and venter (pale brown in preservative, with unpigmented flecks and small spots). There was a horizontal red-brown stripe through the pupil; the iris was bright bronze above the pupil, with minimal black venation, whereas below the pupil it was darkened by black venation in a more-or-less vertically aligned pattern.

The juvenile female (AMNH A-164955) lacks a distinct dorsal pattern, lacks oblique pale bars on the flanks, and lacks the brown canthal stripe, although the dorsally black-edged postocular stripe is present; the upper lip has dark bars along its length. The rear of thigh is brown with pale flecking, and the ventral surfaces are like those of the adults except a darker brown.

REMARKS

Only three specimens assigned to this species were obtained. Eleutherodactylus pulvinatus was not distinguished in the field from the more abundant E. auricarens . A juvenile female was taken in forest at Camp 1 with a series of auricarens , and two adult males were found along with auricarens at Camp 4.

Except for the relatively obscure dorsal pattern (fig. 48), the Auyantepui specimens agree very well with the recent diagnosis of E. pulvinatus provided by Duellman (1997: 23). The specimens have been compared directly with the holotype of E. pulvinatus (MCZ 64741), which differs in having a more vivid pattern (see photographs in Myers and Donnelly, 1997: 57) and in being a few mm longer and more robust. The greatest body width (10.5 mm at midbody) of the male holotype is marginally greater than head width (10.4 mm), whereas midbody width in the two Auyantepui males is noticeably less than head width (midbody width 5 73 % –92 % of head width in two males from Auyantepui versus 1.01 % in the male holotype (and 99 % in the juvenile female from Auyantepui). At 22.8–23.0 mm SVL, the two Auyantepui specimens are at the low end of the size range reported for sexually mature male pulvinatus (22.8–26.1 mm SVL, combined from Rivero [1968a] and Duellman [1997]).

Eleutherodactylus pulvinatus Rivero probably may be related to E. avius and E. memorans , which occur in sympatry on Cerro Tamacuarí, some 500 km southwest of Auyantepui (Myers and Donnelly, 1997). All three species have paired nuptial pads in males (sometimes fused into one long pad in avius ). E. pulvinatus is most similar to E. memorans , as discussed in Myers and Donnelly (1997: 56–57). Iris coloration is another point of resemblance. E. memorans was described as having the iris ‘‘pale bronze with a brown horizontal stripe and vague black lines radiating from the lower edge of the pupil to the bottom of the eye’’ (Myers and Donnelly, 1997: 54); this is similar to the iris of our Auyantepui pulvinatus , which had a bronze iris with a red-brown stripe and more or less vertically aligned black venation below the pupil. Duellman’s (1997: 11, 23) photograph of a specimen from near the type locality of pulvinatus shows the bronze iris and a reddish brown horizontal stripe; the lower part of the iris is barely visible but there seem to be at least a few vertically aligned black lines.

FAMILY LEPTODACTYLIDAE

Frost et al. (2006) attempted to correct problems rising from the long-recognized nonmonophyly of the Leptodactylidae , which is greatly reduced as a result (e.g., see Brachycephalidae above). However, their sample size was small compared with the great number of species and morphological diversity, for which reason further refinements are certain to follow. Only the type genus occurs on the Auyán summit.