Two extremely rare new species of fossorial salamanders of the genus Oedipina (Plethodontidae) from northwestern Ecuador

Carolina Reyes-Puig; David B. Wake; Ramachandran Kotharambath; Jeffrey W. Streicher; Claudia Koch; Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia; Mario H. Yánez-Muñoz; Santiago Ron

doi:10.7717/peerj.9934

Two extremely rare new species of fossorial salamanders of the genus Oedipina (Plethodontidae) from northwestern Ecuador

Carolina Reyes-Puig^*, David B. Wake, Ramachandran Kotharambath, Jeffrey W. Streicher, Claudia Koch, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, Mario H. Yánez-Muñoz, Santiago Ron

^*Corresponding author for this work

Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We describe two new species of salamanders of the genus Oedipina, subgenus Oedopinola, from two localities on the northwestern foothills of Ecuador, at elevations between 921 and 1,067 m. These are the southernmost members of the genus. We examined different museum collections and we found just three specimens of Oedipina from Ecuador, obtained throughout the history of herpetological collections in the country. We identify two of the three specimens as new species, but refrain from assigning a specific identity to the third, pending further study. Oedipina villamizariorum sp. n. is a medium-sized member of the genus, with a narrow, relatively pointed head and blunt snout; dorsolaterally oriented eyes, moderate in size; and digits that are moderately long and having pointed tips. Oedipina ecuatoriana sp. n., somewhat larger, has a narrow head and broadly rounded snout; this new species differs from all known Oedipina by the distinctive presence of paired prefrontal bones and a reduced phalangeal formula: 0-0-1-0; 0-1-2-1-1. We provide detailed descriptions of the osteology of both new species. Finally, we present a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus, including one of the two new species, based on partial sequences of mitochondrial DNA.

Original language	English
Article number	e9934
Journal	PeerJ
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9934
State	Published - 2 Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Reyes-Puig et al.

Funding

Carolina Reyes-Puig\u2019s work was supported by the project \u2018\u2018Programa de Inventarios y Monitoreo del Sistema de Reservas EcoMinga\u2019\u2019, executed by the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad and funded by University of Basel Botanical Garden, Rainforest Trust, and Fundaci\u00F3n EcoMinga through the collaboration of Heinz Schneider, Lou Jost, Juan Pablo Reyes-Puig and Javier Robayo. Work by Carolina Reyes-Puig and Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia was supported by Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ (projects HUBI ID 41 \u2018\u2018Nuevas especies de anfibios de Ecuador\u2019\u2019, 48 \u2018\u2018Taxonom\u00EDa, Biogeograf\u00EDa y Conservaci\u00F3n de Anfibios y Reptiles\u2019\u2019, ID 1057 \u2018\u2018Impact of habitat changes on the biological diversity of the northern tropical Andes\u2019\u2019) and by Programa \u2018\u2018Becas de Excelencia\u2019\u2019, Secretar\u00EDa de Educaci\u00F3n Superior, Ciencia, Tecnolog\u00EDa e Innovaci\u00F3n (SENESCYT), Ecuador. Mario Y\u00E1nez-Mu\u00F1oz\u2019s and Claudia Koch\u2019s research is supported by the \u2018\u2018Programa de cooperaci\u00F3n Trilateral Alemania-Brasil-Ecuador,\u2019\u2019 financed by international cooperation GIZ. Funding for fieldwork was provided by a Natural Environment Research Council grant to Jeffrey W. Streicher (NE/R002150/1). Fieldwork by Ramachadran Kotharambath was made possible by a grant from International Travel Support, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Laboratory work at the QCAZ museum was funded by Secretar\u00EDa Nacional de Educaci\u00F3n Superior, Ciencia, Tecnolog\u00EDa e Innovaci\u00F3n del Ecuador SENESCYT (Arca de No\u00E9 initiative; Santiago Ron and Omar Torres principal investigators) and grants from Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00F3lica del Ecuador, Direcci\u00F3n General Acad\u00E9mica. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
University of Basel Botanical Garden
Dirección General Académica
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación del Ecuador SENESCYT
Fundación EcoMinga
Rainforest Trust
Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
UK Research and Innovation
Natural Environment Research Council	NE/R002150/1
Biogeografía y Conservación de Anfibios y Reptiles	1057

Keywords

Choco
Cryptic diversity
Endemism
Foothills of western Ecuador
Oedopinola

Access to Document

10.7717/peerj.9934

Cite this

@article{521fe56f72fb41ed9f7fa666f470c2b8,

title = "Two extremely rare new species of fossorial salamanders of the genus Oedipina (Plethodontidae) from northwestern Ecuador",

abstract = "We describe two new species of salamanders of the genus Oedipina, subgenus Oedopinola, from two localities on the northwestern foothills of Ecuador, at elevations between 921 and 1,067 m. These are the southernmost members of the genus. We examined different museum collections and we found just three specimens of Oedipina from Ecuador, obtained throughout the history of herpetological collections in the country. We identify two of the three specimens as new species, but refrain from assigning a specific identity to the third, pending further study. Oedipina villamizariorum sp. n. is a medium-sized member of the genus, with a narrow, relatively pointed head and blunt snout; dorsolaterally oriented eyes, moderate in size; and digits that are moderately long and having pointed tips. Oedipina ecuatoriana sp. n., somewhat larger, has a narrow head and broadly rounded snout; this new species differs from all known Oedipina by the distinctive presence of paired prefrontal bones and a reduced phalangeal formula: 0-0-1-0; 0-1-2-1-1. We provide detailed descriptions of the osteology of both new species. Finally, we present a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus, including one of the two new species, based on partial sequences of mitochondrial DNA.",

keywords = "Choco, Cryptic diversity, Endemism, Foothills of western Ecuador, Oedopinola",

author = "Carolina Reyes-Puig and Wake, {David B.} and Ramachandran Kotharambath and Streicher, {Jeffrey W.} and Claudia Koch and Cisneros-Heredia, {Diego F.} and Y{\'a}nez-Mu{\~n}oz, {Mario H.} and Santiago Ron",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

day = "2",

doi = "10.7717/peerj.9934",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

journal = "PeerJ",

issn = "2167-8359",

publisher = "PeerJ Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Two extremely rare new species of fossorial salamanders of the genus Oedipina (Plethodontidae) from northwestern Ecuador

AU - Reyes-Puig, Carolina

AU - Wake, David B.

AU - Kotharambath, Ramachandran

AU - Streicher, Jeffrey W.

AU - Koch, Claudia

AU - Cisneros-Heredia, Diego F.

AU - Yánez-Muñoz, Mario H.

AU - Ron, Santiago

PY - 2020/10/2

Y1 - 2020/10/2

N2 - We describe two new species of salamanders of the genus Oedipina, subgenus Oedopinola, from two localities on the northwestern foothills of Ecuador, at elevations between 921 and 1,067 m. These are the southernmost members of the genus. We examined different museum collections and we found just three specimens of Oedipina from Ecuador, obtained throughout the history of herpetological collections in the country. We identify two of the three specimens as new species, but refrain from assigning a specific identity to the third, pending further study. Oedipina villamizariorum sp. n. is a medium-sized member of the genus, with a narrow, relatively pointed head and blunt snout; dorsolaterally oriented eyes, moderate in size; and digits that are moderately long and having pointed tips. Oedipina ecuatoriana sp. n., somewhat larger, has a narrow head and broadly rounded snout; this new species differs from all known Oedipina by the distinctive presence of paired prefrontal bones and a reduced phalangeal formula: 0-0-1-0; 0-1-2-1-1. We provide detailed descriptions of the osteology of both new species. Finally, we present a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus, including one of the two new species, based on partial sequences of mitochondrial DNA.

AB - We describe two new species of salamanders of the genus Oedipina, subgenus Oedopinola, from two localities on the northwestern foothills of Ecuador, at elevations between 921 and 1,067 m. These are the southernmost members of the genus. We examined different museum collections and we found just three specimens of Oedipina from Ecuador, obtained throughout the history of herpetological collections in the country. We identify two of the three specimens as new species, but refrain from assigning a specific identity to the third, pending further study. Oedipina villamizariorum sp. n. is a medium-sized member of the genus, with a narrow, relatively pointed head and blunt snout; dorsolaterally oriented eyes, moderate in size; and digits that are moderately long and having pointed tips. Oedipina ecuatoriana sp. n., somewhat larger, has a narrow head and broadly rounded snout; this new species differs from all known Oedipina by the distinctive presence of paired prefrontal bones and a reduced phalangeal formula: 0-0-1-0; 0-1-2-1-1. We provide detailed descriptions of the osteology of both new species. Finally, we present a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus, including one of the two new species, based on partial sequences of mitochondrial DNA.

KW - Choco

KW - Cryptic diversity

KW - Endemism

KW - Foothills of western Ecuador

KW - Oedopinola

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093874130&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.7717/peerj.9934

DO - 10.7717/peerj.9934

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85093874130

SN - 2167-8359

VL - 8

JO - PeerJ

JF - PeerJ

M1 - e9934

ER -

Two extremely rare new species of fossorial salamanders of the genus Oedipina (Plethodontidae) from northwestern Ecuador

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this