Two new species of the Rhinella margaritifera species group (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Eastern Guiana Shield
Abstract
We herein describe two new species of the Rhinella margaritifera group from the eastern Guiana Shield. These two species have low cephalic crests, no vertebral apophyses or bony protrusion at jaw angles and were consistently recovered as candidate species in recent integrative studies combining morphological, acoustic and molecular data. The first species, Rhinella guianensis sp. nov., is related to R. proboscidea, R. castaneotica and R. teotoniensis and is characterized by a rounded snout in dorsal view, acute in lateral view and the absence of cranial crests, except for a low supratympanic crest. The second species, Rhinella latebrosa sp. nov., is related to R. unapensis and is characterized by a truncate snout in dorsal view, acute in lateral view, and the presence of small cranial crests. Both species are known to occur in French Guiana and the state of Amapá in Brazil, where they co-occur with Rhinella lescurei and the Rhinella margaritifera/dapsilis/martyi complex. The description of these two new species brings the number of currently recognized nominal species in the R. margaritifera group to 25. However, many species remain to be described in this clade and some boundaries need to be clarified using genomics, as well as the taxonomic status of modern populations using museomics.
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