title: Systematics of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species complex (Anura: Hylidae): Cryptic diversity and the description of two new species.
abstract: Genetic data in studies of systematics of Amazonian amphibians frequently reveal that purportedly widespread single species in reality comprise species complexes. This means that real species richness may be significantly higher than current estimates. Here we combine genetic, morphological, and bioacoustic data to assess the phylogenetic relationships and species boundaries of two Amazonian species of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species group: D. leucophyllatus and D. triangulum. Our results uncovered the existence of five confirmed and four unconfirmed candidate species. Among the confirmed candidate species, three have available names: Dendropsophus leucophyllatus, Dendropsophus triangulum, and Dendropsophus reticulatus, this last being removed from the synonymy of D. triangulum. A neotype of D. leucophyllatus is designated. We describe the remaining two confirmed candidate species, one from Bolivia and another from Peru. All confirmed candidate species are morphologically distinct and have much smaller geographic ranges than those previously reported for D. leucophyllatus and D. triangulum sensu lato. Dendropsophus leucophyllatus sensu stricto occurs in the Guianan region. Dendropsophus reticulatus comb. nov. corresponds to populations in the Amazon basin of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru previously referred to as D. triangulum. Dendropsophus triangulum sensu stricto is the most widely distributed species; it occurs in Amazonian Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, reaching the state of Pará. We provide accounts for all described species including an assessment of their conservation status.
authors.affiliation: Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.|National Museum of Natural Sciences, Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Marcel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Caminer
authors.affiliation: National Museum of Natural Sciences, Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Borja
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milá
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: CNRS Guyane USR LEEISA, Centre de recherche de Montabo, Cayenne, French Guiana.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fouquet
authors.affiliation: Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.|División de Herpetología-Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI), Urb. Huertos de San Antonio, Surco, Lima-Perú.
authors.forename: Pablo J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Venegas
authors.affiliation: División de Herpetología-Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI), Urb. Huertos de San Antonio, Surco, Lima-Perú.
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chávez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lougheed
authors.affiliation: Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Santiago R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6300-9350
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ron
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D001838:Bolivia; D001938:Brazil; D004484:Ecuador; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010568:Peru; D010802:Phylogeny