Taxomic Status Atelophryniscus chrysophorus McCranie, Wilson and Williams, 1989, (Anura Bufonidae) Inferred from Phylogeny

Publication Date

December 2005

Abstract

The family Bufonidae is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution and contains 33 genera. The monotypic bufonid genus Atelophryniscus was described relatively recently from Honduras. This taxon was distinguished from Buto on the basis of its unusual gastromyzophorus tadpole. Stream-dwelling gastromyzophorus tadpoles are atypical within Bufonidae and when Atelophryniscus was described, this type of tadpole was unknown among members of the genus Buto. To investigate the phylogenetic placement of this taxon, we analyzed 83 previously published morphological characters for a sampling of Old and New World bufonids and included newly coded data. The data indicate that (1) there are no autapomorphies supporting the recognition of Atelophryniscus; (2) this taxon is embedded within the genus Buto; and (3) it is sister to Buto veraguensis of South America.

Disciplines

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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