Craugastor podiciferus (Cope, 1875)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Superfamily: Brachycephaloidea > Family: Craugastoridae > Genus: Craugastor > Species: Craugastor podiciferus

Lithodytes podiciferus Cope, 1875 "1876", J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 8: 107. Syntypes: Including UMMZ 92433 (formerly USNM 30664), USNM 30662, 30665-75, and MCZ 11841 (formerly USNM 30663) according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 66. Type locality: "from the level of 5000 to 7000 feet [elevation] . . . from Pico Blanco", eastern Costa Rica. Corrected to "Cerro Utyum, 5000–7000 ft, Cantón de Talamanca, Provincia de Limón; 1524–2134 m", Costa Rica, by Savage, 1974, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 22: 110.See discussion of type locality by Arias and Chaves, 2014, Mesoam. Herpetol., 1: 176–180, who concluded that the type locality is actually "Between Cerro Pat and the headwaters of the Río Lari, elev. 1,520–2,135 m", Provincia de Limón, Costa Rica.

Lithodytes muricinus Cope, 1875 "1876", J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 8: 107. Types: USNM or ANSP, not located and presumed lost. Type locality: "Pico Blanco", eastern Costa Rica. Corrected to "Cerro Utyum, 5000–7000 ft, Cantón de Talamanca, Provincia de Limón; 1524–2134 m", Costa Rica, by Savage, 1974, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 22: 110. Synonymy with Lithodytes rhodopis by Cope, 1893, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 31: 337. Synonymy by Taylor, 1952, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 35: 717.

Lithodytes habenatus Cope, 1875 "1876", J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 8: 109. Holotype: USNM or ANSP, not located and presumed lost. Type locality: "Pico Blanco", 5000–7000 feet, eastern Costa Rica. Corrected to "Cerro Utyum, 5000-7000 ft, Cantón de Talamanca, Provincia de Limón; 1524–2134 m", Costa Rica, by Savage, 1974, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 22: 110. Considered a likely synonym of Lithodytes muricinus by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 203. Synonymy with Lithodytes rhodopis by Cope, 1893, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 31: 337. Synonymy by Taylor, 1952, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 35: 717.

Hylodes podiciferus — Brocchi, 1881, Miss. Scient. Mex. Amer. Centr., Rech. Zool., 3(2, livr. 1): 56.

Hylodes muricinus — Brocchi, 1881, Miss. Scient. Mex. Amer. Centr., Rech. Zool., 3(2, livr. 1): 56.

Hylodes habenatus — Brocchi, 1881, Miss. Scient. Mex. Amer. Centr., Rech. Zool., 3(2, livr. 1): 56.

Lithodytes muricinus muricinus — Cope, 1887, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 32: 16.

Lithodytes muricinus habenatus — Cope, 1887, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 32: 16.

Eleutherodactylus podiciferus — Stejneger, 1904, Annu. Rep. U.S. Natl. Mus. for 1902: 582-583, by implication; Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 263.

Eleutherodactylus jota Lynch, 1980, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 83: 101. Holotype: KU 115212, by original designation. Type locality: "along the Río Changena, Provincia Bocas del Toro, Panamá, 830 m". Synonymy by Arias, Hertz, and Parra-Olea, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13: 177. 

Eleutherodactylus (Craugastor) jota — Hedges, 1989, in Woods (ed.), Biogeograph. W. Indies: 317, by implication.

Eleutherodactylus (Craugastor) podiciferus — Hedges, 1989, in Woods (ed.), Biogeograph. W. Indies: 317, by implication; Lynch, 1996, in Powell and Henderson (eds.), Contr. W. Indian Herpetol.: 154; Heinicke, Duellman, and Hedges, 2007, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 104: 10094.

Craugastor podiciferus — Crawford and Smith, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 35: 551, by implication; Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 360.

Craugastor jota — Crawford and Smith, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 35: 551, by implication; Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 360.

Craugastor (Craugastor) podiciferus — Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008, Zootaxa, 1737: 41.

Craugastor (Craugastor) jota — Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008, Zootaxa, 1737: 41.

Common Names

Cerro Utyum Robber Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 78).

Piglet Flesh-bellied Frog (Cossel, Twining, Di Stefano, O’Brien, Reich, and Sandoval-Alanis, 2019, Herpetol. Conserv. Biol., 14: 237). 

Rio Changena Robber Frog (Craugastor jota [no longer recognized: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 76).

Polymorphic Dirt Frog (Arias, Hertz, and Parra-Olea, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13: 178). 

Distribution

Primary forest in the highlands of the Cordillera Volcánica Central in Costa Rica and Caribbean slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and western Panama, 1700 to 2700 m elevation. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Costa Rica, Panama

Comment

In the less Eleutherodactylus gollmeri group of Savage, 1980, Prelim. Handlist Herptofauna Costa Rica: 7. In the Eleutherodactylus (Craugastor) rhodopis group according to Lynch and Duellman, 1997, Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. Spec. Publ., 23: 231. See account by Savage, 2002, Amph. Rept. Costa Rica: 259–260, who included this species in his Eleutherodactylus rhodopis series, Eleutherodactylus rhodopis group. In the Craugastor rhodopis species series, Craugastor podiciferus species group of Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008, Zootaxa, 1737: 41, and of Padial, Grant, and Frost, 2014, Zootaxa, 3825: 123. 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: 308. Streicher, Crawford, and Edwards, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 53: 620–630, suggested on the basis of molecular data that the western Panama and eastern Costa Rica populations may represent distinct species. Köhler, 2011, Amph. Cent. Am.: 140–191, provided a key to the genera and species of Brachycephaloidea (= Craugastoridae, Eleutherodactylidae) in Central America and provided maps and photographs of the species, including this one. Estupiñán, Ferrari, Gonçalves, Barbosa, Vallinoto, and Schneider, 2016, ZooKeys, 637: 89–106, suggested on the basis of COI barcodes that cryptic species are likely. Cossel, Twining, Di Stefano, O’Brien, Reich, and Sandoval-Alanis, 2019, Herpetol. Conserv. Biol., 14: 235–249, reported on vocalization. Arias, Hertz, and Parra-Olea, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13: 173–197, assessed nominal Craugastor podiciferus, restricting that name to the lineage in the Cordillera Volcánica Central and Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and western Panama, and referring the lineage in the Cordillera de Talamanca and Cordillera Central in western Panama to the resurrected Craugastor blairi and named two other lineages, Craugastor sagui, from western Panama, on the Pacific slopes of Cordillera Central, and Craugastor zunigai from southwestern Costa Rica, on the Pacific slopes of Cordillera de Talamanca. In addition these authors placed Craugastor jota into the synonymy of Craugastor podiciferus and noted several other phylogenetic units within nominal Craugastor podiciferus that deserve additional scrutiny. 

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