European journal of taxonomy : EJT
Paris : Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
ISSN: 2118-9773
Refine
Year of publication
- 2018 (3) (remove)
Document Type
Language
- English (3)
Has Fulltext
- yes (3)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (3)
Keywords
- Systematics (3) (remove)
467
Although extensively studied by different authors over the past 150 years, the taxonomy of Canthon Hoffmannsegg, 1817 and allied genera (which are here informally referred to as 'Canthon sensu lato') still remains problematic. With the aim of resolving some of the questions surrounding these taxa, the present work reviews the taxonomy of one of them, the genus Sylvicanthon Halffter & Martínez, 1977. As defined here, Sylvicanthon is distributed mainly throughout the vast areas of tropical rainforests in the Neotropical region and includes 15 species divided into two groups: the enkerlini group, with a single species, S. enkerlini (Martínez et al., 1964) comb. nov., and the candezei group, with five subgroups: the candezei subgroup, with S. candezei (Harold, 1869), S. genieri sp. nov. and S. foveiventris (Schmidt, 1920); the aequinoctialis subgroup, with S. aequinoctialis (Harold, 1868) comb. nov. and S. proseni (Martínez, 1949) stat. et comb. nov.; the bridarollii subgroup, with S. bridarollii (Martínez, 1949), S. seag sp. nov., S. edmondsi sp. nov. and S. attenboroughi sp. nov.; the furvus subgroup, with S. furvus (Schmidt, 1920), S. monnei sp. nov., S. mayri sp. nov. and S. obscurus (Schmidt, 1920); and the securus subgroup, with a single species, S. securus (Schmidt, 1920) comb. nov. Three species originally included in Sylvicanthon are here (re)transferred to Canthon: Canthon xanthopus Blanchard, 1846 and C. machadoi (Martínez & Pereira, 1967) comb. nov., as well as C. cobosi (Pereira & Martínez, 1960) stat. et comb. nov., which had been previously in synonymy under C. xanthopus. Descriptions, redescriptions, illustrations and comparative tables on the external morphology (including the genital capsule) of the genus and its species are presented, as well as a detailed discussion on their biogeography, comparative morphology, hypotheses on their phylogenetic relationships, data on natural history and a detailed historical revision of the classification of 'Canthon sensu lato'. Finally, we also discuss the socalled 'species problem' (i.e., the definition of the scientific term 'species') and its consequences to dung beetle taxonomy and favour the solution offered by the Biological Species Concept.
455
The family Plectopylidae is divided into two subfamilies: Sinicolinae subfam. nov. (included extant genera: Gudeodiscus Páll-Gergely, 2013, Endothyrella Zilch, 1959, Halongella Páll-Gergely, 2015, Sicradiscus Páll-Gergely, 2013, Sinicola Gude, 1899) and Plectopylinae Möllendorff, 1898 (included genera: Chersaecia Gude, 1899, Hunyadiscus Páll-Gergely, 2016, Naggsia Páll-Gergely & Muratov, 2016, Plectopylis Benson, 1860). The Eocene fossil Plectopyloides Yen, 1969 is classified into the Sinicolinae. The Plectopylinae are revised mainly based on historical type and non-type material, and the material of the Florida Museum of Natural History, collected in Thailand in the 1980s. The following species-group taxa are described as new: Chersaecia auffenbergi sp. nov., Chersaecia densegyrata sp. nov., Chersaecia mogokensis sp. nov., Chersaecia reversalis sp. nov., Chersaecia scabra sp. nov., Chersaecia shiroiensis subnagaensis subsp. nov., Hunyadiscus tigrina sp. nov., Naggsia oligogyra sp. nov., Plectopylis crassilabris sp. nov., Plectopylis malayana sp. nov. and Plectopylis thompsoni sp. nov. The genus Endoplon Gude, 1899 is treated as a synonym of Chersaecia. Consequently, the two species classified in Endoplon are members of Chersaecia: Chersaecia brachyplecta (Benson, 1863) comb. nov. and Chersaecia smithiana (Gude, 1897) comb. nov. The genus Plectopylis is redefined, and includes only species with fused anterior and posterior lamellae. Thus, the following species are moved from Plectopylis to Chersaecia: Chersaecia feddeni (Blanford, 1865) comb. nov., Chersaecia goniobathmos (Ehrmann, 1922) comb. nov., Chersaecia leucochila (Gude, 1897) comb. nov., Chersaecia magna (Gude, 1897) comb. nov. and Chersaecia woodthorpei (Gude, 1899) comb. nov. Altogether thirteen species and varieties are moved to the synonymy of valid species: Helix (Plectopylis) brachydiscus Godwin-Austen, 1879 syn. nov., Helix (Plectopylis) ponsonbyi Godwin-Austen, 1888 syn. nov., Plectopylis (Chersaecia) kengtungensis Gude, 1914 syn. nov., Plectopylis (Chersaecia) degerbolae Solem, 1966 syn. nov., Plectopylis lissochlamys Gude, 1897 syn. nov., Helix repercussa Gould, 1856 syn. nov., Plectopylis achatina var. obesa Gude, 1898 syn. nov., Plectopylis achatina var. infrafasciata Gude, 1898 syn. nov. Plectopylis achatina var. venusta Gude, 1898 syn. nov., Plectopylis achatina var. castanea Gude, 1898 syn. nov., Plectopylis achatina var. breviplica Gude, 1898 syn. nov., Plectopylis achatina var. repercussoides Gude, 1899 syn. nov., Plectopylis linterae var. fusca Gude, 1898 syn. nov. Plectopylis (Chersaecia) simplex Solem, 1966 is a subspecies of Chersaecia perarcta (Blanford, 1865), whereas Plectopylis muspratti Gude, 1897 is a subspecies of Chersaecia nagaensis (Godwin-Austen, 1875).
397
The frog Pristimantis marmoratus was originally described als Hylodes marmoratus by George A. Boulenger in 1900 based on a single specimen reported to have been collected at the foot of Mount Roraima in Guyana in 1898. We herein discuss the exact location of the type locality of P. marmoratus and provide a redescription of the species based on new material from Kaieteur National Park and from the slopes of Maringma-tepui in Guyana. We also describe the previously unknown vocalization and breeding ecology of the species, and conducted an exploratory molecular analysis of the phylogenetic relationships within the genus Pristimantis represented by the members of the "unistrigatus species group" in the Guiana Shield. Pristimantis marmoratus is a small-sized species mainly distinguished from its known Guiana Shield congeners by the combination of F I < II, SVL ≤ 20.4 in males, presence of vocal slits in males, granular/pustulate dorsal skin with well-developed scapular ridges, basal webbing between fingers, fringes in fingers and toes, crossed iris, diffuse yellow or pale green wash on groin, and absence of flashy colour on axillary/pre-axillary region. The advertisement call consists of a single note repeated at a rate of ca 11 calls/min with a dominant frequency ranging from 2756 to 3101 Hz. Pristimantis marmoratus is primarily arboreal, exclusively active at dusk, and propably restricted to the pristine rainforests of the Pantepui uplands and highlands, east of the Gran Sabana between ca 600 and 1800 m above sea level. Preliminary molecular analyses recovered Pristimantis marmoratus as sister to an unnamed species from the Eastern Guiana Shield. On grounds of the newly established distributional extent we suggest maintaining the IUCN conservation status as Least Concern.