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The voice from the hereafter: vocalisations in three species of Atelopus from the Venezuelan Andes, likely to be extinct
- Atelopus is a species-rich group of Neotropical bufonids. Present knowledge on bioacoustics in this genus is relatively poor, as vocalisations have been described in only about one fifth of the ca. 100 species known. All studied members of the genus produce vocalisations although, with a few exceptions, most species lack a middle ear. Nonetheless, hearing has been demonstrated even in earless Atelopus making bioacoustics in these toads an inspiring research field. So far, three structural call types have been identified in the genus. As sympatry is uncommon in Atelopus, calls of the same type often vary little between species. Based on recordings from the 1980s, we describe vocalisations of three Venezuelan species (A. carbonerensis, A. mucubajiensis, A. tamaense) from the Cordillera de Mérida, commonly known as the Andes of Venezuela and the Tamá Massif, a Venezuelan spur of the Colombian Cordillera Oriental. Vocalisations correspond, in part, to the previously identified call types in Atelopus. Evaluation of the vocalisations of the three species presented in this study leads us to recognise a fourth structural call type for the genus. With this new addition, the Atelopus acoustic repertoire now includes (1) pulsed calls, (2) pure tone calls, (3) pulsed short calls and (4) pure tone short calls. The call descriptions provided here are valuable contributions to the bioacoustics of these Venezuelan Atelopus species, since all of them have experienced dramatic population declines that limit possibilities of further studies.
Author: | Stefan Lötters, Dietrich MebsORCiDGND, Gunther KöhlerORCiDGND, Joseph Vargas, Enrique La Marca |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-565573 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.32.e39192 |
ISSN: | 2682-955X |
ISSN: | 1013-4425 |
Parent Title (German): | Herpetozoa |
Publisher: | Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie |
Place of publication: | Wien |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2019/01/04 |
Date of first Publication: | 2019/12/04 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2020/12/04 |
Tag: | Anura; Atelopus carbonerensis; Atelopus mucubajiensis; Atelopus tamaense; Bufonidae; bioacoustics |
Volume: | 32 |
Page Number: | 9 |
First Page: | 267 |
Last Page: | 275 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 476994454 |
Institutes: | Biowissenschaften / Biowissenschaften |
Medizin / Medizin | |
Angeschlossene und kooperierende Institutionen / Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft | |
Biowissenschaften / Institut für Ökologie, Evolution und Diversität | |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 59 Tiere (Zoologie) / 590 Tiere (Zoologie) |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0 |