New country record and geographic distribution map for the San

Herpetology Notes, volume 6: 555-557 (2013) (published online on 28 November 2013)
New country record and geographic distribution map for the
San Martin red-bellied toad Melanophryniscus sanmartini
Klappenbach, 1968 (Amphibia, Bufonidae)
Caroline Zank1*, Patrick Colombo2, Guilherme Adams3, Daniel Borba4 and Márcio Borges Martins1
The distribution of most amphibians is poorly known,
especially in grasslands, such as the Uruguayan Savanna
ecoregion (Olson et al., 2001; Zank, 2012). This is a
major factor limiting the assessment of the conservation
status of several species (IUCN, 2013). Red-bellied
toads of the genus Melanophryniscus Gallardo, 1961 are
distributed in subtropical and tropical South America,
southern Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and
southern Brazil (Frost, 2013). The distribution of some
species of this genus is very limited, restricted to a few
localities in some cases (Zank, 2012). They are also
explosive breeders, which makes them difficult to detect
(Vaira, 2005; Santos and Grant, 2011). In addition,
several Melanophryniscus are under some kind of threat,
at least 10 of the 26 species being included in regional
(Garcia and Vinciprova, 2003), national (Motte et al.,
2009; Canavero et al., 2010; Vaira et al., 2012; Subirá et
al., 2013), or global red lists (IUCN, 2013).
Until recently, the San Martin red-bellied toad
Melanophryniscus sanmartini Klappenbach, 1968
(Figure 1) was considered endemic to a few localities in
Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Zoologia,
Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, bloco IV, prédio 43435,
91501 – 970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;
e-mail: [email protected].
2
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia de Ambientes
Aquáticos Continentais, Universidade Federal do Rio
Grande, Av. Itália, Km 8, Campus Carreiros, 474, 96203900, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
3
Biota Soluções Ambientais Ltda, Rua Lindolfo Collor, 439,
Conjunto 301,
93010-080, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.
4
Biolaw Consultoria Ambiental Ltda, Rua Domingos José de
Almeida, 176, 90420-200, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
*Corresponding author
1
southern and central Uruguay, with recently discovered
populations from Rivera department, near the Brazilian
border (Naya and Maneyo, 2001). This suggests that
this species could also occur in Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil (Maneyro and Kwet, 2008).
We obtained the first records of Melanophryniscus
sanmartini for Brazil on 19 May and 1 September
2010, during field work in Pedras Altas (-31.743333
S, -53.576667 W and -31.755833 S, -53.595278 W;
DATUM=SAD69) and Pinheiro Machado (-31.560278
S, -53.45777 W; DATUM= SAD69), Rio Grande do Sul.
We collected 25 specimens of M. sanmartini in Pinheiro
Machado (UFRGS 6737-46), and Pedras Altas (UFRGS
4821-30, 6747-51; Figures 1 and 2). The new records
are located 190 km and 215 km from the two previous
records in Uruguay, respectively Estabelecimento
Rocha, Rivera, and Parque Nacional San Miguel, in
Rocha department (Figure 2). In many occasions, we
recorded at least 50 calling males, several females,
and amplectant pairs. Males called usually during
or after heavy rains in temporary ponds, or grassland
wetlands surrounded by rocky hills. Males were active
after sunset on 19 and 20 May, and 1 September 2010,
around 6:00 p.m and 12:00 p.m. A few individuals also
called during the day. The distribution of M. sanmartini
in Brazil seems to be restricted to grasslands, where it
breeds in temporary ponds.
We assume that the potential distribution of this
species in the Uruguayan Savanna ecoregion is wider
than we currently known, based on the lack of sampling
effort in this region and the presence of suitable habitats
in adjacent areas (Zank, 2012). However these areas are
used for extensive cattle breeding, forestry, agriculture,
and wind farms in development (Zank, 2012).
Using the IUCN criteria (IUCN, 2012) to assign the
conservation status, we categorized M. sanmartini in
Rio Grande do Sul as “Near Threatened”, based on its
556
Caroline Zank et al.
Figure 1. Adult of Melanophryniscus sanmartini (UFRGS 4830) from Pedras Altas in dorsal (a) and ventral (b) views, and the
overview of new record localities in Pedras Altas (c) and Pinheiro Machado (d), Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
current small extent of occurrence in the state (less than
20,000 km2), and the potential threats listed above that
could impoverish its habitat quality (criteria B1b(iii)).
However, we caution that the explosive reproductive
mode of M. sanmartini and the fact that the new records
are apparently in the limit of its range may influence
its detectability and abundance. Therefore, these factors
should be considered when evaluating the conservation
status of this species.
Finally, surveys and records of new populations of
this small toad will provide a better scenario to design
conservation strategies in order to prevent M. sanmartini
to become endangered in Rio Grande do Sul and in
Brazil.
Acknowledgment. We thank the Sistema de Autorização e
Informação em Biodiversidade (SISBIO/ICMBio) for allowing us
to collect specimens (10341-1, 23504-1). We are grateful to Biolaw
Consultaria Ambiental, and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento
de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for funding the field
activities. Diego Baldo provided useful suggestions on an earlier
version of this manuscript.
References
Canavero, A., Carreira, S., Langone, J.A., Achaval, F., Borteiro, C.,
Camargo, A., Rosa, I., Estrades, A., Fallabrino, A., Kolenc, F.,
López-Mendilaharsu, F.F., Maneyro, R., Meneghel, M., Nuñes,
D., Prigioni, C.M., Ziegler, L. (2010): Conservation status
assessment of the amphibians and reptiles of Uruguay. Iheringia,
Série Zoologia 100: 5-12.
Frost, D.R. (2013): Amphibian Species of the World: an Online
Reference. Version 5.6. Electronic Database accessible at http://
research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html.
Last
accessed on 05 August 2013.
Garcia, P.C.A., Vinciprova, G. (2003): Anfíbios. In: Livro
Vermelho da Fauna Ameaçada no Rio Grande do Sul, p. 147164. Fontana, C.S., Bencke, G.A., Reis, R.E., Ed., Porto Alegre,
EDIPUCRS.
IUCN (2012): IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1.
Second edition. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN (2013): IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version
2013.1. Available: http://www.iucnredlist.org. Last accessed on
20 August 2013.
Maneyro, R., Kwet, A. (2008): Amphibians in the border region
between Uruguay and Brazil: Updated species list with
comments on taxonomy and natural history (Part I: Bufonidae).
Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A.1: 95-121. New record and distribution of the San Martin red-bellied toad Melanophryniscus sanmartini
557
Figure 2. Geographic distribution of the San Martin red-bellied toad Melanophryniscus sanmartini.
Motte, M., Nuñez, K., Cacciali, P., Brusquetti, F., Scott, N., Aquino,
A.L. (2009): Categorización del estado de conservación de los
anfibios y reptiles de Paraguay. Cuadernos de Herpetología 23:
5-18.
Naya, D., Maneyro, R. (2001): Melanophryniscus sanmartini
Klappenbach, 1968 (Anura: Bufonidae). Cuadernos de
Herpetología 15: 89.
Olson, D.M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., Burgess, N.D.,
Powell, G.V.N., Underwood, E.C., D’Amico, J.A., Itoua, I.,
Strand, H.E., Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts,
T.H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P.,
Kassem, K.R. (2001). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A
New Map of Life on Earth. BioScience 51: 933-938.
Santos, R.R., Grant, T. (2011): Diel pattern of migration in a
poisonous toad from Brazil and the evolution of chemical
defenses in diurnal amphibians. Evolutionary Ecology 25: 249258.
Subirá, R.J., Souza, E.C.F., Guidorizzi, C.E., Almeida, M.P.,
Almeida, J.B., Martins D.S. (2012): Avaliação Científica do
Risco de Extinção da Fauna Brasileira –Resultados Alcançados
em 2012. Biodiversidade Brasileira 2: 17-24.
Vaira, M. (2005): Annual variation of breeding patterns of the toad,
Melanophryniscus rubriventris (Vellard, 1947). Amphibiareptilia 26: 193-199.
Vaira, M., Akmentins, M., Attademo, M., Baldo, D., Barrasso,
D., Barrionuevo, S., Basso, N., Blotto, B., Cairo, S., Cajade,
R., Céspedez, J., Corbalán, V., Chilote, P., Duré, M., Falcione,
C., Ferraro, D., Gutierrez, F.R., Ingaramo8, M.R., Junges, C.,
Lajmanovich, R., Lescano, J.N., Marangoni, F., Martinazzo,
L., Marti, R., Moreno, L., Natale, G.S., Iglesias, J.M.P., Peltzer,
P., Quiroga, L., Rosset, S., Sanabria, E., Sanchez, L., Schaefer,
E., Úbeda, C., Zaracho, V. (2012): Categorización del estado
de conservación de los anfibios de la República Argentina.
Cuadernos de Herpeología 26: 131-159.
Zank, C. (2012): Anfíbios Anuros da Ecorregião Savana Uruguaia:
Composição, Distribuição e Conservação. Unpublished PhD
thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto
Alegre, 168 pp.
Accepted by Diogo Provete