Tag Archives: Ricardo Belmonte-Lopes

Seven miniature frog species in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest

Caption: One of the species of miniaturized frog found in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, shows the extent of the miniaturization. Credit: Luiz Fernando Ribeiro, CC BY SA

Caption: One of the species of miniaturized frog found in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, shows the extent of the miniaturization.
Credit: Luiz Fernando Ribeiro, CC BY SA

Seven new species of frogs, with many of them in the 1cm range as adults, have been found in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. From a June 4, 2015 PeerJ news release on EurekAlert,

Following nearly 5 years of exploration in mountainous areas of the southern Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, a team of researchers has uncovered seven new species of a highly miniaturized, brightly colored frog genus known as Brachycephalus. Each species is remarkably endemic, being restricted to cloud forests in one or a few adjacent mountaintops, thus making them highly vulnerable to extinction, particularly due to shifts in the distribution of cloud forest due to climate change.

The Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil harbors a highly unique group of frogs that have intrigued naturalists for over a century. Known as Brachycephalus, these frogs are among the smallest terrestrial vertebrates, with adult sizes often not exceeding 1 cm in length, leading to a variety of changes in their body structure, such as reduction in the number of toes and fingers. In addition, many species of Brachycephalus are brightly colored, possibly as a warning to the presence of a highly potent neurotoxin in their skin known as tetrodotoxin.

Most species of Brachycephalus are highly endemic, being found exclusively on one, or a few, adjacent mountaintops. Such high levels of endemism is caused by their adaptation to a specific kind of habitat – the cloud forests – which simultaneously prevents them from migrating across valleys and promotes the formation of new species.

The first species of Brachycephalus was described in 1842 by the famous German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix, yet most species in the genus have been discovered only in the past decade, particularly due to their highly endemic nature and the difficulty in reaching remote montane sites. Over the course of five years of fieldwork, a team of researchers has provided the largest addition to the known diversity of Brachycephalus, with seven new species.

“Although getting to many of the field sites is exhausting, there was always the feeling of anticipation and curiosity about what new species could look like”, said Marcio Pie, a professor at the Universidade Federal do ParanĂ¡, who led the project.

Luiz Ribeiro, a research associate to the Mater Natura Institute for Environmental Studies, is optimistic about the prospects for future studies “This is only the beginning, especially given the fact that we have already found additional species that we are in the process of formally describing.”

A major concern regarding the new species is that the same factors that led to their endemism might also be a ticket to their extinction. Cloud forests are highly sensitive to climatic changes, and the long-term preservation of these species might involve not only the protection of their habitats but also more direct management efforts, such as rearing in captivity.

This is the first time I’ve come across a PeerJ news release, so here’s how they describe themselves in the release (Note: A link has been removed),

PeerJ is an Open Access publisher of peer reviewed articles, which offers researchers a lifetime publication plan, for a single low price, providing them with the ability to openly publish all future articles for free. PeerJ is based in San Francisco, CA and London, UK and can be accessed at https://peerj.com/. PeerJ’s mission is to help the world efficiently publish its knowledge.

All works published in PeerJ are Open Access and published using a Creative Commons license (CC-BY 4.0). Everything is immediately available–to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use–without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed.

PeerJ has an Editorial Board of over 1,000 respected academics, including 5 Nobel Laureates. PeerJ was the recipient of the 2013 ALPSP Award for Publishing Innovation.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Seven new microendemic species of Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from southern Brazil by Luiz F. Ribeiro, Marcos R. Bornschein, Ricardo Belmonte-Lopes, Carina R. Firkowski, Sergio A.A. Morato, & Marcio R. Pie. PeerJ 3:e1011 https://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1011 June 4, 2015

This is an open access paper.