Systematic Status of a South American Frog, Allophryne ruthveni Gaige

Excerpt

Gaige (1926) described Allophryne ruthveni as a new genus and species of diminutive bufonid from British Guiana. Noble (1931) considered A. ruthveni to be a toothless relative of Centrolenella and placed the genus in the Hylidae. Gallardo (1965) suggested that Allophryne is a leptodactylid of uncertain affinities. Other references to the monotypic genus have consisted only of a listing of the name or of its inclusion in a key. To date the holotype and one paratype (both females) have been reported (Gaige, 1926), and the family position of the genus remains unsettled.

A male of Allophryne ruthveni is among the amphibians and reptiles collected in southern British Guiana by William A. Bentley in January, 1962, and deposited in the Museum of Natural History at The University of Kansas (KU). Four additional specimens (females) are in the American Museum of Natural History; only one of the latter has definite locality data.

Acknowledgments.—We are grateful to Dr. Ernest E. Williams, Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) and Dr. Richard G. Zweifel, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) for the loan of specimens. We are further indebted to Dr. Zweifel for permission to clear and stain one specimen. Dr. William E. Duellman and Linda Trueb offered many constructive criticisms. Miss Trueb executed the drawings of the skull and finger bones. Mr. Martin Wiley provided x-ray photographs of Allophryne.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Six of the seven known specimens were available for study. Measurements were taken in the manner described by Duellman (1956). One specimen was cleared and stained, using the technique of Davis and Gore (1936), in order to study the skeleton. X-ray photographs were made of another specimen for comparison.

Specimens examined.—Six, as follows: BRITISH GUIANA, Dist. Demarara: Marudi Creek, AMNH 44749; Dist. Equibo: Tumatumari, MCZ 11790 (paratype); Dist. Rupununi (Berbice): Wai Wai Country, N of Acarahy Mountains, west of New River (2°N, 58°W), KU 69890. Also, 3 specimens from "probably British Guiana," AMNH 70108-10 (70110 cleared and stained).

The availability of additional material and the new information pertaining to osteology permit an amplification of Gaige's (1926) description.

Genus Allophryne Gaige

Allophryne Gaige, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan, 176:1, Oct. 14, 1926. Crawford, Annals Carnegie Mus., 21(1):29, 32, Nov. 14, 1931. Noble, The biology of the amphibia. McGraw-Hill, p. 510, 1931. Ruthven, Herpetologica, 1:3, July 11, 1936. Gallardo, Papéis Avulsos, 17:79, Jan. 1, 1965.

Type species.—Allophryne ruthveni Gaige.

Diagnosis and definition.—A genus of diminutive frogs; vomers, maxillae, and premaxillae edentate; skin of head strongly anchored to connective tissue on cranium; prepollical spine absent in males; disk of third finger larger than tympanum, smaller than eye; no humeral hook in either sex; ilia extending anteriorly beyond sacral expansions; adults attaining snout-vent length of 31 mm.; male having darkened external subgular vocal sac; skin of dorsum pustulate.

Allophryne ruthveni Gaige

Allophryne ruthveni Gaige, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan, 176:1-3, pl. I, Oct. 14, 1926. Crawford, Annals Carnegie Mus., 21(1):32, Nov. 14, 1931. Ruthven, Herpetologica, 1:3, July 11, 1936. Barbour and Loveridge, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 96(2):64, Feb., 1946. Peters, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan, 539:10, Sept. 19, 1952.

Holotype.—University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 63419, adult female, from Tukeit Hill, below Kaiteur Falls, Equibo District, British Guiana; obtained in May, 1924, by E....