Atelopus cruciger (Lichtenstein and Martens, 1856)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Atelopus > Species: Atelopus cruciger

Phrynidium crucigerum Lichtenstein and Martens, 1856, Nomencl. Rept. Amph. Mus. Zool. Berol.: 41. Syntypes: Including ZMB 3381 (3 specimens) according to Lötters, 1996, Neotrop. Toad Genus Atelopus: 23; although Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 32, reported MNHNP 5020 as syntypes, these three specimens are not from the stated type locality, rather they are from Caracas, Venezuela, rendering suspect their status as types. Possible syntypes set aside and ZSM 93/1947/10 designated neotype by Lötters and La Marca, 2001, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 58: 119–121, and accepted by Opinion 2013, Anonymous, 2002, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 59: 226. Type locality: "Veragoa" [= Veragua, Panama]; see discussion of this locality by Savage, 1970, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 38: 273–288, and Lötters, 1996, Neotrop. Toad Genus Atelopus: 23. Type locality corrected to coastal range of Venezuela by Rivero, 1961, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 126: 173. Locality of neotype is "vicinity of Rancho Grande on the road from Maracay to Ocumare de la Costa (ca. 1000 m above sea level), Estado Aragua, Venezuela".

Phryniscus crucigerGünther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 44.

Atelopus crucigerBoulenger, 1894, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 14: 374–375.

Atelopus varius crucigerDunn, 1931, Occas. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 5: 395. Based on apparently misidentified specimens from Panama.

Atelopus cruciger crucigerMüller, 1934, Zool. Anz., 108: 151. .

Atelopus crucigerumLa Marca, 1983, Milwaukee Public Mus. Contrib. Biol. Geol., 54: 5. Incorrect gender of species name.

English Names

Veragua Stubfoot Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 39).

Distribution

Northern and southern versants of the central Cordillera de la Costa of Venezuela (historically in the states of Aragua, Carabobo, Cojedes, Miranda, Vargas, Yaracuy, and the Distrito Federal), 100–2200 m elevation. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Venezuela

Endemic: Venezuela

Comment

For synonymy, review, and subspecies, see Rivero, 1961, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 126: 171–174. Cocroft, McDiarmid, Jaslow, and Ruiz-Carranza, 1990, Copeia, 1990: 638, discussed the call. In the Atelopus flavescens group of Lynch, 1993, Alytes, 11: 77–87. La Marca, 1992, Cuad. Geograf., Mérida, 9: 13, and Barrio-Amorós, 1999 "1998", Acta Biol. Venezuelica, 18: 1–93, suggested that the Sucre state locality required verification and did not accept it as valid. See account by Lötters, La Marca, and Vences, 2004, Copeia, 2004: 224–228. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 164. Señaris, 2005, in Rueda-Almonacid et al. (eds.), Ranas Arlequines: 67, provided a brief account. Yerena and Rivero-Blanco, 2008 "2007", Herpetotropicos, Mérida, 4: 7–9, provided a range extnsion interior Serrania of the coastal range of Venezuela. See brief notes for Venezuela by Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic, and Señaris, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (1: e180): 7–9, who considered it to be extinct in all but two localities in the state of Aragua. 

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