Rhinella sternosignata (Günther, 1858)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Rhinella > Species: Rhinella sternosignata

Bufo sternosignatus Günther, 1858, Arch. Naturgesch., 24: 323. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.21.68–69 (formerly 1847.6.22.58–59), 1947.2.21.70 (formerly 1849.11.7.38), 1947.2.21.87 (formerly 1856.3.17.25), 1947.2.21.88 (formerly 1857.7.31.29) (total of 5 specimens), according to Hoogmoed, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 60; Cochran and Goin, 1970, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 288: 111, following Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 320, noted that the Cordoba syntypes are specimens of Bufo valliceps [sensu lato—DRF] and restricted the name to the Venezuela types. Type locality: "Centralamerika" (apparently in error); given as "Venezuela", "Puerto Cabello", "Cordova", and "Mexico [in error]" by Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 68. Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 320, noted that the "Mexico" and "Cordova" specimens were representatives of Bufo valliceps; restricted to "Puerto Cabello" by Boulenger's restriction of the types and by Cochran and Goin, 1970, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 288: 111.

Phrynoidis sternosignatusCope, 1863, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 15: 49.

Bufo (Chilophryne) sternosignatusKeferstein, 1867, Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen, 18: 352.

Bufo typhonius sternosignatusShreve, 1947, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 99: 535.

Bufo sternosignatusSmith and Taylor, 1950, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33: 313–380.

Rhinella sternosignataFrost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 366.

Chaunus sternosignatusFrost, 2006, Amph. Spec. World, vers. 4.0. New combination by implication of inclusion of this taxon in the "Bufo" granulosus group (= Chaunus) by Vélez-Rodriguez, 2005, J. Herpetol., 39: 299–303; Savage and Bolaños, 2009, Zootaxa, 2005: 4, by implication.

Rhinella sternosignataChaparro, Pramuk, and Gluesenkamp, 2007, Herpetologica, 63: 211, by implication.

English Names

Falcon Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 43).

Distribution

Cloud and rainforests of the Coastal Range and Falcón region, Venezuela (states of Aragua, Carabobo, Cojedes, Falcón, Lara, Miranda, Portuguesa, Yaracuay, and Bariñas), to 1800 m; records from Central and Eastern Andes of Colombia apply to unnamed species (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Venezuela

Endemic: Venezuela

Comment

Specimens from Mexico proved to be Incilius valliceps. The presence in Colombia was denied by Rivero, 1961, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 126: 29, but accepted for Bogotá by Cochran and Goin, 1970, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 288: 112. See Hoogmoed, 1990, in Peters and Hutterer (eds.), Vert. Tropics: 117, discussion of the taxonomic history (almost an odyssey) of this species. Hoogmoed also noted that this species, contrary to some published opinions, is not conspecific with Incilius valliceps or Rhinella granulosa, but might be conspecific with Rhinella margaritifera of Panama or adjacent South America. Redescribed and reviewed by La Marca and Mijares-Urrutia, 1996, Alytes, 14: 101–114. The Colombia record was provided by Vélez-Rodriguez, 1999, Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Exact. Fis. Nat., 23: 411–416. Barrio-Amorós, 1999 "1998", Acta Biol. Venezuelica, 18: 10, commented on the range in Venezuela. Vélez-Rodriguez, 1999, Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Exact. Fis. Nat., 23: 411–416, discussed the range in Colombia. Vélez-Rodriguez, 2005, J. Herpetol., 39: 299–303, transferred this species out of the Rhinella margaritifera group and into the Rhinella granulosa group—close to Rhinella humboldti), although it is not clear if the type(s) of Rhinella sternosignatus had been examined. Narvaes and Rodrigues, 2009, Arq. Zool., São Paulo, 40: 1–73, did not regard Rhinella sternosignata as a member of the Rhinella granulosa group, which they revised. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status (as Bufo sternosignatus) in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 612.  Pereyra, Baldo, Blotto, Iglesias, Thomé, Haddad, Barrio-Amorós, Ibáñez D., and Faivovich, 2016, Cladistics, 32: 36–53, on the basis of molecular analysis suggested that this species is close to or within the Rhinella margaritifera or Rhinella veraguensis groups. See Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic, and Señaris, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (1: e180): 19, for comments on range and literature for Venezuela. In the Rhinella margaritifera clade, unassiogmed to species group by Pereyra, Blotto, Baldo, Chaparro, Ron, Elias-Costa, Iglesias, Venegas, Thomé, Ospina-Sarria, Maciel, Rada, Kolenc, Borteiro, Rivera-Correa, Rojas-Runjaic, Moravec, De la Riva, Wheeler, Castroviejo-Fisher, Grant, Haddad, and Faivovich, 2021, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 447: 1–156, who (p. 57) discussed the records from Colombia and the evidence suggesting they do not represent Rhinella sternosignata.  

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