genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
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 Central America, specifically to Honduras and Guatemala. The generic name refers to its distribution on the Atlantic side of the isthmus (from ''Atlantis''+''hyla''). The members of the genus are known as stream frogs.
Taxonomy
The genus was established based on molecular data in a revision of the subfamily Hylinae by Julián Faivovich and colleagues in 2018. In order to obtain a
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
'' Ptychohyla'', Faivovich and colleagues moved two former ''Ptychohyla'' species to ''Atlantihyla'' and four former ''Ptychohyla'' species to '' Quilticohyla.'' ''Atlantihyla'' has a
sister group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and t ...
relationship to a poorly-supported
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
that includes ''
Bromeliohyla
''Bromeliohyla'', sometimes known as the bromeliad treefrogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. This genus was erected in 2005 following a major revision of the Hylidae. The original two species in this genus were previously placed in th ...
'', '' Duellmanohyla'', and ''Quilticohyla''. A third ''Atlantihyla'' species was described in 2020.
Description
The only, tentative phenotypic synapomorphy of this genus is the presence of a well-defined ventrolateral white stripe. A vertical
rostral
Rostral may refer to:
Anatomy
* Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region
* Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs
* Rostral organ, of certain fish
* Rostral scale, in snakes and scaled reptiles
Other uses
* Rostral colu ...
keel is present. Males measure and females in
snout–vent length
Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...
. The
tadpole
A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...
s have large oral discs.
Species
There are currently three recognized species:
* '' Atlantihyla melissa'' Townsend, Herrera-B., Hofmann, Luque-Montes, Ross, Dudek, Krygeris, Duchamp, and Wilson, 2020
* '' Atlantihyla panchoi'' (Duellman and Campbell, 1982) – Guatemala stream frog
* '' Atlantihyla spinipollex'' (K. P. Schmidt, 1936) – Ceiba stream frog
The AmphibiaWeb lists this genus as monotypic, with ''Atlantihyla melissa'' as the sole species.