'^ MAR 1 8 lyob HARVARD B R E V I 0"'TR"A Tuseiim of Comparative Zoology us ISSN 0006 9698 Cambridge, Mass. January 31, 1980 Number 457 TWO NEW SPECIES OF ELEUTHERODACTYLUS (AMPHIBIA: LEPTODACTYLIDAE) FROM THE LOWLANDS AND LOWER CLOUD FORESTS OF ^, WESTERN ECUADOR John D. Lynch' and Kenneth Miyata^ Abstract: EleuiheroJaciylus nmricatus sp. nov., an ally of the large, flare-snouted frogs of the ruhicundus assembly, is named from lowland and lower cloud forest localities in Pro\incia Pichincha. Ecuador. The new species is smaller than its sympatric allies £. crenun^uis and E. laiidiscus. Eleutherodactylus tenehrionis sp. nov., is also found in primary lowland and lower cloud forests in west-central Ecua-dor. It is allied to a species found in the high cloud forests in western Ecuador but differs in color pattern and lacks a calcar and ulnar tubercles. Introduction Approximately 15 species of Eleutherodactylus inhabit the Pacific lowlands of Ecuador (Lynch, in press) and perhaps another 40 species are found in the cloud forests of the Pacific versant in the Ecuadorian Andes. Most of these frogs are small organisms (less than 35 mm SVL) but two members of the ruhicundus assembly [Eleutherodactylus crenunguis Lynch and E. latidiscus {Bou\enger)] are much larger species having long, slender limbs and digits and large emarginate (or notched) digital pads. Our field work in western Ecuador over the past several years has revealed that crenunguis is a frog of the lower cloud forests (800-1500 m) and is not an altitudinal replacement for latidiscus (20 1500 m). In the course of this field work two additional species having notched or indented digital pads were found in sympatry 'John D. Lynch. School of Life Sciences. The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 -Kenneth Miyata, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
BioStor
