Two new species of Myersiohyla (Anura: Hylidae) from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela, with comments on other species of the genus

FAIVOVICH, J.; MCDIARMID, R.W.; MYERS, C.W.

AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES

AMER MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY

Lugar: New York; Año: 2013 vol. 3792 p. 1 - 63

0003-0082

Two new species of Myersiohyla are described from the 1984?1985 Cerro de la NeblinaExpedition in southern Venezuela, together with notes on the genus and a test of its monophyly,which has been challenged in recent studies. The inclusion of new sequences results in a monophyleticMyersiohyla that is better supported than in earlier analyses. One of the new species issimilar to M. inparquesi, with which it has been confused previously. This newly described specieshas, like M. inparquesi, a tadpole with a dorsoventrally flattened body and the largest labialtoothrow formula so far reported for anuran larvae (16/21). It differs from M. inparquesi in larvalcharacters, adult coloration, and vocalization. The other new species is unique in having a colorpattern composed of stellate melanophores over a greenish ground color. Comments on the holotypeof M. loveridgei provide details overlooked in previous references to this rare species andstress the need to establish diagnostic characters that might differentiate it from M. aromatica.Furthermore, we report one specimen not assigned to any species from Huachamacary Tepui,only 25 km from the type locality of M. loveridgei. So far, all studied species of Myersiohyla haverelatively large (2.8?3.2 mm), yolky ovarian eggs, a character state shared with several other frogsin Cophomantini (Hyloscirtus, Aplastodiscus, the Hypsiboas benitezi species group), and likely a plesiomorphic character state for the tribe. We report and illustrate the occurrence of a mentalgland in some species of Myersiohyla and present a short discussion on odorous volatile secretionsreported in some species of this genus.The following species are described or discussed herein: Myersiohyla chamaeleo new species,p. 8, M. neblinaria new species, p. 25, M. loveridgei (Rivero), p. 38, Myersiohyla species inquirenda,p. 40, and M. kanaima (Goin and Woodley), p. 42. Following the International Code of ZoologicalNomenclature, the nominal type species of Myersiohyla is changed from Hyla inparquesi to Myersiohylaneblinaria (p. 42).