Brachycephalus ephippium (Spix, 1824)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Superfamily: Brachycephaloidea > Family: Brachycephalidae > Genus: Brachycephalus > Species: Brachycephalus ephippium

Bufo ephippium Spix, 1824, Animal. Nova Spec. Nov. Test. Ran. Brasil.: 48. Type(s): Not designated although including animal figured on pl. 20, fig. 2; ZSM 1021/0 considered holotype by Hoogmoed and Gruber, 1983, Spixiana, München, Suppl., 9: 374, and Glaw and Franzen, 2006, Spixiana, München, 29: 158. Type locality: "Provincia Bahiae"; given as "provávelmente região de Ilhéus", Bahia, Brazil, according to Bokermann, 1966, Lista Anot. Local. Tipo Anf. Brasil.: 39. This doubted by Pombal, 2001, Amphibia-Reptilia, 22: 179–185, and Pombal and Gasparini, 2006, S. Am. J. Herpetol., 1: 87–93, and Napoli, Caramaschi, Cruz, and Dias, 2011, Zootaxa, 2739: 39, who suggested the specimens actually came from the mountains in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Brachycephalus ephippium — Fitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 65.

Ephippipher spixii Cocteau, 1835, Mag. Zool., Guérin, 5: 12. Types: ZSM ("museo Monachii") according to original publication. This specimen being ZSM 10021/0 according to Glaw and Franzen, 2006, Spixiana, München, 29: 158. Type locality: "Brasiliae in provincia Bahiae" = Province of Bahia, Brazil. Provisional synonymy by Cocteau, 1835, Mag. Zool., Guérin, 5: 12. Synonymy by Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 87; Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 729; Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 45; Steindachner, 1867, Reise Österreichischen Fregatte Novara, Zool., Amph.: 35; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 156; Cochran, 1955 "1954", Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 206: 5–7. Considered a replacement name for Bufo ephippium Spix by Hoogmoed and Gruber, 1983, Spixiana, München, Suppl., 9: 374.

Ephippipher aurantiacus Cocteau, 1835, Mag. Zool., Guérin, 5: 12. Types: MNHNP according to original publication, though not mentioned in subsequent type lists or the current online collection database (22 Aug 2009) so therefore presumed lost. Type locality: Province of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Synonymy by Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 87; Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 729; Steindachner, 1867, Reise Österreichischen Fregatte Novara, Zool., Amph.: 35; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 156; Cochran, 1955 "1954", Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 206: 5–7.

Brachycephalus aurantiacus — Girard, 1858, U.S. Explor. Exped. 1838–1842, 20: 100.

Brachycephalus ephippium var. atelopoide Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920, Rev. Mus. Paulista, São Paulo, 12: 313. Holotype: MZUSP 534 (one in the lot of 31), by original designation and according to Pombal, 2010, Bol. Mus. Nac., Rio de Janeiro, N.S., Zool., 526: 4. Type locality: "Piquete, S[ão]. Paulo", Brazil. See comment. 

Brachycephalus atelopoide — Pombal, 2010, Bol. Mus. Nac., Rio de Janeiro, N.S., Zool., 526: 4.

Common Names

Botão-de-ouro (IUCN, 2023).

Spix's Saddleback Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 38).

Pumpkin Toadlet (Pombal, 1999, Rev. Brasil. Zool., 16: 967).

Distribution

Eastern and southeastern Brazil (in the states of Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo) from Ilheus (Bahia) in the north, south to Campinas (São Paulo), sea level up to 1200 m elevation. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Brazil

Endemic: Brazil

Comment

See Cochran, 1955 "1954", Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 206: 5–7, and Hoogmoed and Gruber, 1983, Spixiana, München, Suppl., 9: 374, for synonymy. Izecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva, 2001, Anf. Municipio Rio de Janeiro: 27, provided a brief account and photo. Pombal, Sazima, and Haddad, 1994, J. Herpetol., 28: 516–519, reported on advertisement call and breeding behavior. Dayrell, Oliveira, Cassini, and Feio, 2006, Herpetol. Rev., 37: 357, provided the record for Minas Gerais. Clemente-Carvalho, Montero, Bonato, Rocha, Pereira, Oliveira, Lopes, Haddad, Martins, and Reis, 2008, J. Herpetol., 42: 176–185, reported on cranial geographic variation. Synonymy of the varieties of Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920, Rev. Mus. Paulista, São Paulo, 12: 313–314, by Cochran, 1955 "1954", Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 206: 5–7, was regarded as premature by R.W. McDiarmid in Frost, 1985, Amph. Species World: 24, and unsurprisingly several species have subsequently been named out of the original range of nominal Brachycephalus ephippium (DRF). Clemente-Carvalho, Alves, Perez, Haddad, and Reis, 2011, J. Herpetol., 45: 94–99, reported on molecular and morphological variation that suggests that the Macaé de Cima, Rio de Janeiro, population is a different species than the population found in the state of São Paulo. See Brachycephalus rotenbergae of the South Mantiqueira mountain range in São Paulo, which was confused with this species until 2021. Folly, Luna-Dias, Miguel, Ferreira, Machado, Lopes, and Pombal, 2023, Acta Zool., Stockholm, 104: 71–105, reviewed the osteology.

Brachycephalus atelopoide was removed from the synonymy of Brachycephalus ephippium by Pombal, 2010, Bol. Mus. Nac., Rio de Janeiro, N.S., Zool., 526: 1-12, where it was placed by Cochran, 1955 "1954", Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 206: 5-7. Nunes, Guimarães, Moura, Pedrozo, Moroti, Castro, Stuginski, and Muscat, 2021, PLoS One, 16 (4: e0244812): 1–30, discussed the status of this nominal species, which is unassigned to species group, and has never been recollected; these authors considered this to be a nomen inquirienda. Bornschein, Ribeiro, and Pie, 2021, Phyllomedusa, 20: 109–115, discussed and revised the diagnosis of this species compared with other members of the genus and provisionally returned it to the synonymy of Brachycephalus ephippium.  Bornschein, Ribeiro, and Pie, 2023, Phyllomedusa, 20: 109–115, considered the status (and current synonymy) of Brachycephalus atelopoide to be arguable but followed its current placement in the synonymy of Brachycephalus ephippium. 

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