''Adelophryne pachydactyla'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family Eleutherodactylidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the coastal area of south-central

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

state,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Some specimens first identified as ''A. pachydactyla'' have later been found to represent a new species, '' Adelophryne mucronatus''; the two species can occur in

sympatry In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''pachydactyla'' is derived from Greek ''pachys'' (=thick) and ''daktylos'' (=finger), referring to the thick, short, swollen fingers of this frog.

Description

''Adelophryne pachydactyla'' was described based on a single specimen, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

. It is an adult male measuring in snout–vent length, and with a subgular

vocal sac The vocal sac is the flexible membrane of skin possessed by most male frogs and toads. The purpose of the vocal sac is usually as an amplification of their mating or advertisement call. The presence or development of the vocal sac is one way o ...

. The head is slightly longer than it is wide. The snout is rounded. The tympanic annulus is incomplete, obscured by skin in its upper parts. There is no supra-tympanic fold and the canthus rostralis is indistinct. The limbs are relatively short. The fingers are short and have swollen, subdigital pads but no discs. The toes have small discs and no webbing. The body is blackish brown with grey spots dorsally and black under. The iris is reddish.

Habitat and conservation

Little is known of this species; the holotype was collected at night on a cacao farm under cacao trees, bananas, and some larger shade trees, found on the ground in the leaf-litter near a small creek. At another site they were collected in terrestrial

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

s in a forest. The records are from below . The probable threat to this species is

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

caused by agriculture, wood plantations, collection of bromeliads, and logging. It occurs in the Serra do Jequitibá Natural Heritage Reserve.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2208616 pachydactyla Endemic fauna of Brazil Amphibians of Brazil Amphibians described in 1994 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Marinus Steven Hoogmoed