Trachycephalus quadrangulum (Boulenger, 1882)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hylidae > Genus: Trachycephalus > Species: Trachycephalus quadrangulum

Hyla spilomma Cope, 1877, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 17: 86. Types: Deposition not stated; presumably USNM and now lost according to Kellogg, 1932, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160: 177. Type locality: "Cosamaloapam[, ] Vera Cruz", Mexico. Synonymy with Rana venulosa by Kellogg, 1932, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160: 176. Placed on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology by Anonymous, 1958, Opin. Declar. Internatl. Comm. Zool. Nomencl., 19: 172. Tentative senior synonym by implication of  Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533. 

Hyla paenulata Brocchi, 1879, Bull. Soc. Philomath., Paris, Ser. 7, 3: 21. Holotype: MNHNP, apparently lost as not mentioned in subsequent type list. Type locality: "versant occidental du Guatemala". Synonymy with Rana venulosa by Günther, 1901, Biol. Centr. Amer., Rept. Batr., Vol. 7, Part 166: 272. Tentative synonym by implication of  Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533. 

Hyla nigropunctata Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 366. Syntypes: Including BMNH 1859.9.20.2 and 1881.10.31.20, and several of the syntypes of Hyla lichenosa implied by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 366; and according to Kellogg, 1932, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160: 177. Type localities: "Jalapa" (1 specimen), "Veracruz" (4 specimens), "Cordova" (1 specimen), and "Mexico" (3 specimens). Synonymy with Rana venulosa Laurenti, 1768, by Kellogg, 1932, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160: 176. Tentative synonym by implication of  Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533. 

Hyla quadrangulum Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 367. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.13.75 (formerly 1860.6.16.120) according to Condit, 1964, J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc., 4: 94, this specimen figured on plate 25, fig. 2 of the original publication. Type locality: "W. Ecuador".

Acrodytes inflata Taylor, 1944, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30: 63. Holotype: EHT-HMS 17890, by original designation; now FMNH 100046 according to Marx, 1976, Fieldiana, Zool., 69: 42. Type locality: "near La Venta, Guerrero", Mexico. Synonymy with Rana venulosa Laurenti, 1768, by Duellman, 1966, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 17: 277, and McDiarmid, 1968, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 134: 1–25. Tentative synonym of Trachycephalus quadrangulum by implication of Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533. 

Acrodytes spilomma — Taylor, 1944, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30: 64.

Acrodytes modesta Taylor and Smith, 1945, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 95: 594. Holotype: USNM 115013, by original designation. Type locality: "Cruz de Piedra, near Acacoyagua, Chiapas, Mexico". Synonymy with Rana venulosa Laurenti, 1768, by Duellman, 1966, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 17: 277.

Phrynohyas latifasciata Duellman, 1956, Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 96: 24. Holotype: BMNH 1883.2.7.1, by original designation. Type locality: "Presidio, Sinaloa, Mexico". Synonymy with Rana venulosa Laurenti, 1768, by McDiarmid, 1968, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 134: 2. Tentative synonym of Trachycephalus quadrangulum by implication of Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533. 

Phrynohyas inflata — Duellman, 1956, Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 96: 22.

Phrynohyas modesta — Duellman, 1956, Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 96: 25.

Phrynohyas spilomma — Duellman, 1956, Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 96: 28.

Phrynohyas corasterias Shannon and Humphrey, 1957, Herpetologica, 13: 15. Holotype: FAS 11307, by original designation; now UIMNH 67060 according to Duellman, 1977, Das Tierreich, 95: 155. Type locality: "4.8 miles east of San Blas, Nayarit", Mexico. Synonymy with Rana venulosa Laurenti, 1768, by Duellman, 1961, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 15: 45. Tentative synonym of Trachycephalus quadrangulum by implication of Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533.

Trachycephalus quadrangulum — Ron, Venegas, Ortega-Andrade, Gagliardi-Urrutia, and Salerno, 2016, ZooKeys, 630: 143. 

Common Names

Quadrangular Sticky Frog (Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: xxxiv). 

Rana Gomosa Cuadragular (Spanish: Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: xxxiv).

Chocoan Milk Frog (Armijos-Ojeda, Székely, Székely, Cogǎlniceanu, Cisneros-Heredia, Ordóñez-Delgado, Escudero, and Espinosa, 2021, ZooKeys, 1063: 32). 

Milky Treefrog (Campbell, 1998, Amph. Rept. N. Guatemala Yucatan Belize: 83, as Phrynohyas venulosa).

Veined Treefrog (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 25; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 61; Lee, 1996, Amph. Rept. Yucatan Peninsula: 101; Lee, 2000, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Maya World: 107; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 26, as Phrynohyas venulosa and Trachycephalus venulosus).

Distribution

Pacific coast and west slope of the western Andes of Ecuador from western Esmeraldas Province south and as far east as Los Rios Province, and south to Loja Province; likely to extend into adjacent extreme northwestern Peru. Likely to include populations formerly referred to Trachycephalus typhonius from Mexico, Central America, and Pacific slope of Colombia. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Ecuador

Likely/Controversially Present: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru

Endemic: Ecuador

Comment

Removed from the synonymy of Trachycephalus coriaceus by Ron, Venegas, Ortega-Andrade, Gagliardi-Urrutia, and Salerno, 2016, ZooKeys, 630: 143, where it had been placed by Duellman, 1971, Occas. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas, 4: 10 (previously placed in the synonymy of Hyla mesophaea by Condit, 1964, J. Ohio Herpetol. Soc., 4: 94). Armijos-Ojeda, Székely, Székely, Cogǎlniceanu, Cisneros-Heredia, Ordóñez-Delgado, Escudero, and Espinosa, 2021, ZooKeys, 1063: 32, provided a record from near Boaspamba, Loja Province, Ecuador, and provided a dot map for western Ecuador. Coloma and Duellman, 2025, Amph. Ecuador. Vol. 2: 533–534, provided an account, with photographs, which summarized identification, adult morphology, systematics, natural history, distribution (including a dot map for Ecuador), and conservation and tentatively allocated populations from Mexico and Central America to Ecuador to this species, although, if true, that will require that this taxon be called Trachycephalus spilomma (DRF). 

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