Redescription of the advertisement call of Melanophryniscus klappenbachi Prigioni and Langone, 2000 (Amphibia, Anura, Bufonidae)

DURÉ, MARTA I.; GONZÁLEZ CYNTHYA E.; GÓMEZ, VALERIA I.

Zootaxa

Magnolia Press

Año: 2024 vol. 5397 p. 598 - 600

The genus Melanophryniscus Gallardo, 1961 is composed of 31 species occurring in South America in the interandean valleys of southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (Frost 2023). Melanophryniscus klappenbachi (Prigioni & Langone 2000) is one of the 11 species included in the Melanophryniscus stelzneri group (Deforel et al. 2021, and references therein).We recorded the call of five M. klappenbachi males (M: 1.53±0.19 g; SVL: 27.05±0.66 mm; HW: 6.05±0.58 mm; TL: 8.95±0.114 mm). All individuals recorded were found in the water attached to vegetation and with their bodies partially submerged (mean depth= 7.61±1.141 cm; water temperature 26 to 28 ºC; air temperature: 30 ºC).Our results differed from the recordings of captive males reported by Kurth et al (2013), who stated that the calls,defined either as “advertisement call” or “courtship call”, were more frequently emitted by males being in amplexus with a female. In addition, in courtship calls, only the second part of the vocalizations is normally emitted, with a note repetition rate similar to that of other species but with a much shorter call duration. Kurth et al (2013) also mentioned that the first segment notes (fragment 1), reported for all other species in the group, were only emitted in two of the recorded calls and consisted of much fewer notes compared to other species. We have been able to listen to and record the vocalizations of this species in the field, on numerous occasions, and can confirm that M. klappenbachi has a complex advertisement call composed of two segments described above. Moreover, its temporal and spectral parameters were similar to those of the advertisement calls of several congener species, which suggests a conservative structure among the species of the Melanophryniscus stelzneri group.