Dendropsophus microcephalus (Cope, 1886)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hylidae > Subfamily: Hylinae > Genus: Dendropsophus > Species: Dendropsophus microcephalus

Hyla microcephala Cope, 1886, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 23: 281. Syntypes: USNM 13473 (2 specimens), now lost. Type locality: "Chiriqui", Panama; at the time of the description "Chiriqui" included both Atlantic and Pacific versants of extreme western Panama according to Myers, 1982, Am. Mus. Novit., 2721: 5. Smith and Taylor, 1950, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33: 316, restricted the type locality of Hyla underwoodi (a replacement name for this taxon) to "Bebedero, Costa Rica".

Hyla cherrei Cope, 1894, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 46: 195. Holotype: Originally No. 253 in the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, possibly now in AMNH, but likely lost. Type locality: "Alajuela", Costa Rica. Savage, 1974, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 22: 75, on the type locality. Synonymy by Duellman and Fouquette, 1968, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 17: 527, and Savage and Heyer, 1969, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 16: 17, and concerns about this synonymy voiced by Duellman, 1970, Monogr. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas: 650. Synonymy supported by Savage, 2002, Amph. Rept. Costa Rica: 318.

Hyla microcephala Boulenger, 1898, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898: 481. Not of Cope, 1886. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.23.28-29 (formerly 94.11.15.32-33) according to Condit, 1964, J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc., 4: 91. Type locality: "Bebedero, [Cantón de Cañas, Province of Guanacaste,] Costa Rica". Type locality commented on by Savage, 1974, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 22: 78. Homonym of Hyla microcephala Cope, 1886. Synonymy by Savage and Heyer, 1969, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 16: 1-127.

Hyla underwoodi Boulenger, 1899, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 3: 277, or Boulenger, 1899, Zool. Rec., 35: 27. Replacement name for Hyla microcephala Boulenger, 1898, a junior homonym of Hyla microcephala Cope, 1886.

Hyla cherrii — Günther, 1901, Biol. Centr. Amer., Rept. Batr., Vol. 7, Part 165: 264. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Hyla misera Werner, 1903, Zool. Anz., 26: 252. Holotype: IRSNB 4549, according to Duellman, 1977, Das Tierreich, 95: 73; subsequently reported as IRSNB 1.017 by Lang, 1990, Doc. Trav., Inst. R. Sci. Nat. Belg., 59: 8. Type locality: "Caracas, Venezuela". Synonymy by Fouquette, 1968, Herpetologica, 24: 324.

Hyla goughi Boulenger, 1911, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911: 1082. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.13.12 (formerly 1911.9.8.5), 1947.2.13.83 (formerly 1911.9.8.6) according to Condit, 1964, J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc., 4: 75, who noted a paralectotype (BMNH1947.2.13.83) to be Dendropsophus aff. minutus. Synonymy by Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic, and Señaris, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (1: e180): 74. 

Hyla microcephala martini Smith, 1951, Herpetologica, 7: 187. Holotype: UIMNH 20965, by original designation. Type locality: "Encarnación, Campeche", Mexico. Synonymy by Duellman and Fouquette, 1968, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 17: 529.

Hyla goughi goughi — Cochran, 1953, Herpetologica, 8: 114.

Hyla microcephala underwoodi — Duellman and Fouquette, 1968, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 17: 529.

Hyla microcephala misera — Fouquette, 1968, Herpetologica, 24: 324.

Hyla microcephala cherrei — Duellman, 2001, Hylid Frogs Middle Am., Ed. 2: 856.

Dendropsophus microcephalus — Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 294: 92.

Dendropsophus goughi — Gehara, Crawford, Orrico, Rodriguez, Lötters, Fouquet, Barrientos, Brusquetti, De la Riva, Ernst, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Glaw, Guayasamin, Hölting, Jansen, Kok, Kwet, Lingnau, Lyra, Moravec, Pombal, Rojas-Runjaic, Schulze, Señaris, Solé, Rodrigues, Twomey, Haddad, Vences, and Köhler, 2014, PLoS One, 9(9: e103958): 1–16 (tentative arrangement); Hedges, Powell, Henderson, Hanson, and Murphy, 2019, Caribb. Herpetol., 67: 13.

Common Names

Yellow Treefrog (Hyla microcephala: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 23; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 56; Lee, 2000, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Maya World: 101).

Underwood's Yellow Treefrog (Hyla microcephala underwoodi: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 23).

Small-headed Treefrog (Hyla microcephala: Lee, 1996, Amph. Rept. Yucatan Peninsula: 95; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 11). ).

Yellow Cricket Treefrog (Hyla microcephala: Campbell, 1998, Amph. Rept. N. Guatemala Yucatan Belize: 80).

Yellow Treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus cherriei: Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 12).

Small-headed Dwarf Treefrog (Hedges, Powell, Henderson, Hanson, and Murphy, 2019, Caribb. Herpetol., 67: 13). 

Distribution

Open lowlands from southeastern Mexico (southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca), through Central America, to Colombia and thence south through the Guianas to Amazonian Brazil and possibly into Amazonian Peru and Bolivia. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

Likely/Controversially Present: Bolivia, El Salvador, Peru

Comment

For accounts see Lutz, 1973, Brazil. Spec. Hyla: 214; Duellman, 1974, Occas. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas, 27: 9; and Duellman, 1970, Monogr. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas: 210–217, who recognized five subspecies, and Duellman, 2001, Hylid Frogs Middle Am., Ed. 2: 856. Duellman, 1997, Sci. Pap. Nat. Hist. Mus. Univ. Kansas, 2: 16, commented on a population in southern Venezuela. Lips and Savage, 1996, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 109: 17–26, included this species (as Hyla microcephala) in a key to the tadpoles found in Costa Rica. See also accounts by Lee, 1996, Amph. Rept. Yucatan Peninsula: 95–97; Campbell, 1998, Amph. Rept. N. Guatemala Yucatan Belize: 80–81, and Lee, 2000, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Maya World: 101–103. See account by Savage, 2002, Amph. Rept. Costa Rica: 313–318, who discussed evidence for the possibility that this species is composite, and placed this species in his Hyla leucophyllata group, Hyla microcephala subgroup. McCranie and Wilson, 2002, Amph. Honduras: 271–275, provided an account. Reports of this species for southeastern Brazil are based on Hyla meridiana and Hyla werneri, formerly regarded as races of Hyla microcephala. Kenny, 1969, Stud. Fauna Curaçao and other Caribb. Is., 29: 42–45 (as Hyla misera), and Murphy, 1997, Amph. Rept. Trinidad Tobago: 69, provided accounts for the Trinidad population. In the Dendropsophus microcephalus group of Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 294: 91–92. Gutsche, 2005, Herpetol. Rev., 36: 199, provided a record for Utila I., Honduras. McCranie, 2007, Herpetol. Rev., 38: 37, summarized the departmental distribution in Honduras. Vera Candioti, 2007, Zootaxa, 1600: 1–175, reported on detailed larval morphology. Armesto Sanguino, Esteban, and Torrado, 2009 "2008", Herpetotropicos, Mérida, 5: 57–63, provided a range extension to Norte de Santander, northeastern Colombia. Bolívar-García, Ospina-Sarria, Méndez-Narváez, and Burbano-Yandi, 2009, Check List, 5: 926–928, discussed the range in Colombia. See comments by Sunyer, Páiz, Dehling, and Köhler, 2009, Herpetol. Notes, 2: 189–202, regarding Nicaraguan populations. Köhler, 2011, Amph. Cent. Am.: 216–218, provided a brief summary of natural history of the Central American species, including this one, and provided a range map and photograph. Palacio Baena, Muñoz Escobar, Gallo Delgado, and Rivera-Correa, 2006, Anfibios y Reptiles del Valle de Aburrá: 69–71, provided a brief account and photograph. Acosta-Galvis, 2012, Biota Colomb., 13: 213–231, reported the species in the Departamento Sucre, northern Colombia, and briefly discussed habitat. See account, photograph, and dot map for Colombia by Buitrago-González and Vargas-Salinas, 2017, Catal. Anf. Rept. Colombia, Medellín, 2(2): 37–42. Ovalle-Pacheco, Camacho-Rozo, and Arroyo, 2019, Check List, 15: 396–397, reported the species from Boyacá, Colombia, and commented on the range. See Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic, and Señaris, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (1: e180): 74, for comments on range, systematics (including synonymy of Dendropsophus goughi), and literature. Señaris and Rojas-Runjaic, 2020, in Rull and Carnaval (eds.), Neotrop. Divers. Patterns Process.: 571–632, commented on range and conservation status in the Venezuelan Guayana. In the Dendropsophus microcephalus group of Orrico, Grant, Faivovich, Rivera-Correa, Rada, Lyra, Cassini, Valdujo, Schargel, Machado, Wheeler, Barrio-Amorós, Loebmann, Moravec, Zina, Solé, Sturaro, Peloso, Suárez, and Haddad, 2021, Cladistics, 37: 73–105. The status of Dendropsophus minutus lineages 7–18 of Gehara, Crawford, Orrico, Rodriguez, Lötters, Fouquet, Barrientos, Brusquetti, De la Riva, Ernst, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Glaw, Guayasamin, Hölting, Jansen, Kok, Kwet, Lingnau, Lyra, Moravec, Pombal, Rojas-Runjaic, Schulze, Señaris, Solé, Rodrigues, Twomey, Haddad, Vences, and Köhler, 2014, PLoS One, 9(9: e103958): 1–12, is unclear. Comments under that account should be examined for relevant literature. Taucce, Costa-Campos, Carvalho, and Michalski, 2022, Eur. J. Taxon., 836: 114, suggested that records east of Venezuela probably apply to Dendropsophus minusculus or Dendropsophus guacheri. 

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