Pristimantis antisuyu sp. n. and Pristimantis erythroinguinis sp. n., two new species of terrestrial-breeding frogs (Anura, Strabomantidae) from the eastern slopes of the Andes in Manu National Park, Peru

Abstract

We describe two new species of Pristimantis from the Kosñipata valley in the eastern slopes of the Andes near Manu National Park, Peru. The two new species are closely related but do not overlap elevationally: P. antisuyu sp. n. occurs from 1485–1823 m a.s.l., whereas P. erythroinguinis sp. n. occurs from 930–1255 m a.s.l. Both species are readily distinguished from all other species of Pristimantis but P. cruciocularis and P. flavobracatus by possessing an iris with a cruciform pattern, no tympanum, and red bright or yellow coloration on groin. We used a Maximum Likelihood approach to infer a molecular phylogeny on a dataset composed of 27 terminals and 903 bp of the concatenated 16S rRNA and COI mitochondrial fragments. Our phylogenetic analyses indicate that, despite differing in groin coloration from red to yellow, individuals of P. cruciocularis and P. flavobracatus form a single clade, and some specimens have identical 16S sequences. Therefore, we synonymize P. flavobracatus with P. cruciocularis. The two unnamed species are closely related to P. cruciocularis. Pristimantis antisuyu sp. n. differs from P. cruciocularis and P. erythroinguinis sp. n. by having smaller yellow spots, instead of extensive red coloration, on groin and hind limbs, by being larger with proportionally longer tibias, and by having an inner metatarsal tubercle three times the size of outer metatarsal tubercle (twice as long in the other two species). Pristimantis erythroinguinis sp. n., despite having coloration very similar to P. cruciocularis, is the sister taxon to both P. antisuyu sp. n. and P. cruciocularis, and can be distinguished from the latter by having much darker ventral coloration, and no cream or yellow spots on flanks and surrounding the red inguinal marks.