Additional evidence for Phyllomedusa trinitatus being distinct from P. tarsius

Phyllomedusa trinitatis. JCM

The Tarsier Leaf Frog (family Phyllomedusidae), was described as Pithecopus tarsius by Cope in 1868. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, and possibly Bolivia and Guyana. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, intermittent freshwater marshes, and heavily degraded former forest.

Mertens (1926) described Phyllomedusa trinitatis from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Phyllomedusa venusta was described by Duellman and Trueb (1967) from Darién Province, Panamá.

Barrio-Amorós (2009) doubted the distinctiveness of Phyllomedusa venusta from P. trinitatis, and also reidentified specimens identified as Phyllomedusa tarsius from along the Guyana border as P. trinitatis. This suggests  Phyllomedusa trinitatis likely extends into Guyana, and the records of Phyllomedusa tarsius from Guyana need re-examination.

A forthcoming paper by Mechkarska et al. (2018) examined peptidomic analysis of norepinephrine-stimulated skin secretions from the Trinidadian Leaf Frog and found 26 host-defense peptides. The primary structures of the peptides support the claim that P. trinitatis and P. tarsius are very closely related phylogenetically but are probably not conspecific as suggested by Duellman (1974).

Left: Phyllomedusa tarsius by Jean-Marc Hero. Right Phyllomeusa venusta
by Mauricio Rivera Correa

References

Barrio-Amorós CL. 2009. Distribución y aspectos de la historia natural de las ranas lémur (Hylidae: Phyllomedusinae) en Venezuela. Memoria de la Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales. Caracas 171: 19–46.

Cope ED. 1868. An examination of the Reptilia and Batrachia obtained by the Orton Expedition to Equador and the Upper Amazon, with notes on other species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 20:96–140.

Duellman WE. 1974. Taxonomic notes on Phyllomedusa (Anura: Hylidae) from the upper Amazon basin. Herpetologica  1:105-12.

Duellman WE, Trueb L. 1967. Two new species of tree frogs (genus Phyllomedusa) from Panamá. Copeia 1967:125–131.

Mechkarska M, Coquet L, Leprince J, Auguste RJ, Jouenne T, Mangoni ML, Conlon JM. 2018. Peptidomic analysis of the host-defense peptides in skin secretions of the Trinidadian leaf frog Phyllomedusa trinitatis (Phyllomedusidae). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D: Genomics and Proteomics. 2018 Dec 1;28:72-9.

Mertens R. 1926. Herpetologischen Mitteilungen VIII–XV. Senckenbergiana Biologica 8: 137–155.