Taxonomic status of topotypic populations of Scinax x-signatus species assigned by SPIX (1824) for the Brazilian Amazon (Anura, Hylidae, Scinaxinae)

• Grant number: 17/18951-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2017
• End date: November 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Ivan Sergio Nunes Silva Filho
• Grantee: Guilherme Rey de França Sichieri
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB-CLP). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista. São Vicente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The taxonomic history of the genus Scinax is complex due to its high degree of interspecific similarities, the presence of intraspecific variations, the fact that new species are constantly discovered and that these species are very numerous. Scinax x-signatus possesses a complex taxonomic literature as a consequence of the difficulty of recognition over which population this name can be applied. The literature also demonstrates the mandatory importance of a neotype designation (type was destroyed during World War II) for this taxon. Currently, only two names continue synonyms for S. x-signatus: Hyla affinis Spix, 1824 (Amazon River, Brazil) and Hyla coerulea Spix, 1824 (Tefé, Amazonas State, Brazil). The comparison of the populations of the State of Bahia with the populations (at least the topotypic) of the names attributed to their junior synonyms will certainly be part of the designation of this future neotype. Thus, it is at this stage that the justification for the present study resides: to describe the populations of the Amazonian names attributed by Spix, currently allocated as junior synonyms of S. x-signatus, is a fundamental step to solve an important taxonomic problem of a polymorphic and widely distributed species. Morphology, coloration, morphometric characters and acoustic (advertisement vocalization) will be described and their variation presented. This qualitative approach aims to understand how the characters are distributed in these populations. A Principal Component Analysis will show the nature of the distribution of the analyzed morphometric data. The understanding of the distribution of the characters of taxonomic interest in the Amazonian populations is of paramount importance for the group. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SICHIERI, GUILHERME; GONCALVES CRUZ, CARLOS ALBERTO; PIMENTA, BRUNO V. S.; NUNES, IVAN. Advertisement call description of two Proceratophrys species (Anura: Odontophrynidae) (vol 4975, pg 397, 2021). Zootaxa, v. 5020, n. 3, p. 1-pg., 2021-08-13. (17/18951-2)