A Review of the Middle American Tree Frogs of the Genus PtychohylaDuellman, William Edward
Science
A Review of the Middle American Tree Frogs of the Genus Ptychohyla
Duellman, William Edward
Amphibians -- Central America; Amphibians -- Mexico; Ptychohyla
_Life History._--This frog has been found along streams in cloud
forests and in pine-oak forest. Males call from vegetation along the
stream or from rocks in and at the edge of the stream. The call is a
single, long, soft "wraack," repeated at intervals of anywhere from
several seconds to three or four minutes. Each note has a duration of
0.62 to 0.95 of a second and a rate of 76 to 78 pulses per second; the
dominant frequency falls between 2700 and 2800 cycles per second
(Pl. 11C).
Tadpoles were found in several streams in northern Oaxaca. A tadpole
having a total length of 21.1 mm. has three upper and four lower
tooth-rows well developed; the fourth upper and fifth lower rows are
weakly present, and the sixth lower row has not started to develop.
Two metamorphosed young have snout-vent lengths of 15.2 and 15.5 mm.
_Remarks._--Four specific names have been applied to this species. Ahl
(1934:185) based his description of _Hyla leonhardschultzei_ on a
small, poorly preserved female. Taylor (1944:41) proposed the generic
name _Ptychohyla_ for a species (named therein as _P. adipoventris_)
of hylid having ventrolateral glands and horn-covered nuptial spines.
Obviously, Taylor was unaware that _Hyla leonhardschultzei_ was the
same species. Earlier Taylor (1937:46) described _Hyla pinorum_. The
types of all of these species came from the Pacific slopes of the
Sierra del Sur in Guerrero. Examination of the types and other
available specimens shows that they are representatives of a single
species. The type of _Hyla pinorum_ is an immature male having a
snout-vent length of 26.7 mm. All of these specimens have the square
snout and black and white flanks characteristic of _Ptychohyla
leonhard-schultzei_. Although Shannon (1951:473) based his description
of _Hyla milleri_ on a male having well-developed ventrolateral
glands, he overlooked the presence of these glands in his description
and discussion of relationships. The acquisition of more specimens
from northern Oaxaca has shown that _Hyla milleri_ is the same as
_Ptychohyla leonhardschultzei_.
_Distribution._--This species is known from pine-oak forest and cloud
forest on the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero
and Oaxaca and from the Atlantic slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental
in northern Oaxaca. Specimens have been collected at elevations
between 700 and 1650 meters. Probably the species occurs in humid
forests at similar elevations around the eastern end of the Mexican
Highlands in Oaxaca.
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