Mount Duida frogs (''Dischidodactylus''), is a genus of craugastorid
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 ...
s
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
tepui
A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...
s of southern
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. The scientific name is derived from the Greek ''dischidos'', meaning divided, and ''dactylos'', meaning finger or toe, in reference to the divided ungual flap (see below).
Taxonomy
Placement of ''Dischidodactylus'' in the subfamily Ceuthomantinae (=Pristimantinae), family Craugastoridae, is based on morphology because no DNA sequence data are available. ''Dischidodactylus'' is closely related to ''
Ceuthomantis
''Ceuthomantis'' is a small genus of craugastorid frogs, also treated as comprising their own monogeneric family Ceuthomantidae. They are found in the southern and eastern parts of the Guiana Highlands in Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil. The generi ...
'', with which they share a
synapomorphy
In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...
: completely or almost completely divided
ungual
An ungual (from Latin ''unguis'', i.e. ''nail'') is a highly modified distal toe bone which ends in a hoof, claw, or nail. Elephants and ungulates have ungual phalanges, as did the sauropods and horned dinosaurs. A claw is a highly modified ungual ...
flaps. Both genera also have dorsal skin composed of small, flat, pliable (not keratinized) warts, and lack nuptial pads in adult males. They differ in that ''Dischidodactylus'' possess a dentigerous process of the
vomer
The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...
, and in that ''Ceuthomantis'' lack basal toe webbing. However, the AmphibiaWeb places ''Dischidodactylus'' in an entirely different family,
Strabomantidae
The Strabomantidae are a family of frogs native to South America. These frogs lack a free-living larval stage and hatch directly into miniature "froglets". This family includes ''Pristimantis'', the most speciose genus of any vertebrate.
System ...
, implying a distant relationship with ''Ceuthomantis''.
Description
''Dischidodactylus'' are smallish frogs that reach a maximum snout–vent length of in females. Their head is not as wide as body. Tympanic membrane is not differentiated and tympanic annulus is visible below skin. Cranial crests are absent. Vomers have small, oblique dentigerous processes. Terminal discs are expanded, rounded, and bifurcate; circumferential groove is present and terminal phalanges are T-shaped. Dorsum is granular and venter is areolate.
Dischidodactylus duidensis
''Dischidodactylus duidensis'' (common name: Mount Duida frog) is a species of frog in the family Craugastoridae. It is endemic to Venezuela and only known from its type locality, Cerro Duida. It was formally described in 1968 by Juan A. River ...