A new cryptic species of terrestrial breeding frog of the Pristimantis danae Group (Anura, Strabomantidae) from montane forests in Ayacucho, Peru

Abstract

Based on morphological and molecular characters, we describe a new species of terrestrial breeding frog of the Pristimantis danae Group from montane forests of La Mar Province, Ayacucho Department in southern Peru, at elevations from 1200 to 2000 m a.s.l. The phylogenetic analysis, based on concatenated sequences of gene fragments of 16S rRNA, RAG1, COI and TYR suggests that the new species is a sister taxon of a clade that includes one undescribed species of Pristimantis from Cusco, Pristimantis pharangobates and Pristimantis rhabdolaemus. The new species is most similar to P. rhabdolaemus, which differs by lacking scapular tubercules and by its smaller size (17.0–18.6 mm in males [n = 5], 20.8–25.2 mm in females [n = 5] in the new species vs. 22.8–26.3 mm in males [n = 19], 26.0–31.9 mm in females [n = 30] of P. rhabdolaemus). Additionally, we report the prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in this species.