Proceratophrys moratoi

Herpetology Notes, volume 4: 095-096 (2011) (published online on 24 February 2011)
Discovery of the fifth population of a threatened
and endemic toad of the Brazilian Cerrado,
Proceratophrys moratoi (Anura, Cycloramphidae)
Fábio Maffei*, Flávio Kulaif Ubaid and Jorge Jim
Proceratophrys moratoi (Jim & Caramaschi, 1980)
is a toad endemic to Cerrado, in the central region of
São Paulo State, Southeastern Brazil. It has a small size
(SVL up to 35 mm) and occurs in open areas of low
vegetation near small streams and swamp areas (Jim
and Caramaschi, 1980). Its reproductive season ranges
from mid-October to February, vocalizing during the
day as the night (Jim and Caramaschi, 1980).
This toad (formely described as Odontophrynus
moratoi) is present in the list of endangered species
in Brazil and São Paulo State, being included in the
categories “Criticallly Endangered” and “Vulnerable”,
respectively (Machado et al., 2008; Garcia et al., 2008).
Currently, P. moratoi is known to occur in four areas:
District of Rubião Júnior, Botucatu Municipality (type
locality, Jim and Caramaschi 1980); Estação Ecológica
de Itirapina, Brotas Municipality (Brasileiro, Martins
and Jim, 2008); São Carlos Municipality (Carvalho Jr.,
Kleinsorge and Fusinatto, 2010); and Jardim Botânico
de Bauru, Bauru Municipality (Rolim et al., 2010). All
areas are located in a perimeter of less than 120km.
On 15 October 2009, at around 5:40 pm, ten P. moratoi
males were recorded vocalizing in a Cerrado remnant at
Recreio Farm, Avaré Municipality, São Paulo State (22º
53.227’S 48º 56.803’W; 675 m altitude). The species
calling was heard from more than 400 m and two males
were found through active search. The males were
vocalizing on the soil, in small burrows dug at the base
of Brachiaria sp., in an area of very compacted bare soil
(Fig. 1). The males were spread over an open area in
an abandoned road between an eucalyptus (Eucalyptus
saligna) plantation and a fountain. One individual was
collected and included in the Scientific Collection Jorge
Jim, located at Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de
Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, 18618-000, Botucatu,
SP, Brazil; e-mail: [email protected]
* Corresponding author.
Biociências, UNESP, Campus de Botucatu, São Paulo
State, Brazil (voucher CCJJ 7900, Fig. 2). The species
was recorded in two following visits (November and
December 2009). The species vocalized from a dry site
at more than 20 m from a humid area with no water
accumulation. Visiting the remaining occurrence sites,
we notice that the species uses flooded areas near
small watercourse and prefer sandy soils. In Estação
Ecológica de Itirapina, where the species was found
during the reproduction period, it was found in gallery
forests (Brasileiro, 2004).
The present record is the fifth P. moratoi known
population. The new locality is close to the type locality
(~45 km), where the species has not been recorded
over 10 years (Garcia et al., 2010). The largest known
population occurs in Estação Ecológica de Itirapina,
where 282 captures were done by means of pitfall traps
in more than two years of study (Brasileiro, 2004).
Bauru and São Carlos populations are apparently
smaller, with a maximum of 15 calling males recorded
simultaneously (Carvalho Jr., Kleinsorge and Fusinatto,
2010; Rolim et al., 2010).
The native vegetation areas of the biome Cerrado in
São Paulo State are currently restricted to 211.925 ha
distributed into around eight thousand small fragments,
half of which are smaller than 10 ha (Kronka et al.,
2005; SMA, 2008). São Paulo State is one of the
Figure 1. Proceratophrys moratoi calling at the base of
Brachiaria sp. Photo: Flávio K. Ubaid.
96
Fábio Maffei et al.
Acknowledgements. We thank Duratex S.A. and Fundibio for
research support, Instituto Chico Mendes de ���������������
Conservação da
Biodiversidade for the research permission (License SISBIO
18115-1��) and
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Vicente for helping during the field work.
References
Figure 2. Proceratophrys moratoi collected at municipality of
Avaré, São Paulo state. Photo: Fábio Maffei.
most studied regions in Brazil (Araujo et al., 2009).
Nevertheless, P. moratoi distribution map (Fig. 3) shows
a gap between the records near the type locality (Avaré
and Bauru) and the records eastwards (Brotas and São
Carlos), indicating that the occurrence of the species
is particularly restricted, but this new finding suggests
that further searches may lead to the discovery of new
populations in this intermediate area.
Figure 3. Distribution map of Proceratophrys moratoi. Red
circle: this study; black circles: 1 – Botucatu (type locality);
2 – Brotas; 3 – São Carlos; 4 - Bauru. Brazil map on detail.
Yellow polygon – potential prior distribution; red polygon
– new area of potential occurrence.
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Accepted by Angelica Crottini