Telmatobius halli Noble, 1938

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Telmatobiidae > Genus: Telmatobius > Species: Telmatobius halli

Telmatobius halli Noble, 1938, Am. Mus. Novit., 973: 1. Holotype: AMNH 44753, by original designation. Type locality: "Warm spring near Ollague, Chile, 10,000 ft. altitude". Type locality considered in error by Fibla, Salinas, Lobos, del Pozo D., Fabres, and Méndez, 2018, Zootaxa, 4527: 61–74, who suggested that the correct type locality is "near Collahuasi, about 50 km northwest of Ollagüe . . . [in] the area of the Copaquire ravine", Región de Tarapacá, Chile. Cuevas, Formas, Alvarado-Rybak, Peñafiel-Ricaurte, and Azat, 2020, Zootaxa, 4834: 195–206, also considered the stated type locality to be incorrect and suggested that it is actually "Aguas Calientes", near Ollague, Chile. Correa-Quezada, 2021, ZooKeys, 1060: 183–192, further discussed the erroneous type locality and suggested that "Miño, an abandoned mining camp located near the origin of the Loa River", 3870 m elevation, Antofagasta, Chile, is the type locality. Von Tschirnhaus and Correa-Quezada, 2021, ZooKeys, 1079: 1–33, further documented the type locality with photographs and journal entries, specifying it as "Miño (21°12'S, 68°40'W; 3900 m elevation; Calama Commune, El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile".  

Telmatobius halli halli — Capurro-S., 1955, Invest. Zool. Chilen., 2: 150, by implication of naming Telmatobius halli edentatus (= Rhinella spinulosa).

Telmatobius dankoi Formas, Northland, Capetillo, Nuñez, Cuevas, and Brieva, 1999, Rev. Chilena Hist. Nat., 72: 429. Holotype: IZUA 2108, by original designation; destroyed by fire on 3 December 2007. Type locality: "Las Cascadas, 22° 29′ 54 S—68° 58′ 18 W, 2260 m de altitud, 3 km al sur de Calama, Provincia El Loa, Región de Antofagasta, vertiente occidental de la Cordillera de los Andes, Chile". Synonymy by Von Tschirnhaus and Correa-Quezada, 2021, ZooKeys, 1079: 1. 

Telmatobius vilamensis Formas, Benavides, and Cuevas, 2003, Herpetologica, 59: 255. Holotype: IZUA 3080, by original designation; destroyed by fire on 3 December 2007. Type locality: "Río Vilama (22° 51′ 43 S, 68° 23′ 25 W; 3110 m), 6.5 km NE (by road) of San Pedro de Atacama, Provincia El Loa, Region de Antofagasta, Chile". Synonymy by Von Tschirnhaus and Correa-Quezada, 2021, ZooKeys, 1079: 1. 

Common Names

Hall's Water Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 84).

Distribution

Vicinity of Mino (21°12'S, 68°40'W) in the north, south along the Loa River to Ojo de Opache and Las Cascadas (both near Calama), with an isolated record on the Vilama River near San Pedro de Atacama (22°55' S, 68°12'W), Antofagasta Region, Chile. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Chile

Endemic: Chile

Comment

Veloso, Sallaberry-Ayerza, Navarro, Iturra-Constant, Valencia, Penna, and Diaz, 1982, in Veloso and Bustos (eds.), El Ambiente Nat. y Los Pobl. Humanas de los Andes: 175–180, provided an account. Diaz and Valencia, 1985, Copeia, 1985: 175–181, described larval morphology (from a population from Vilama, Chile). Penna and Veloso, 1987, Herpetologica, 43: 208–216, discussed vocalization. De la Riva, Köhler, Lötters, and Reichle, 2000, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 14: 58, and Köhler, 2000, Bonn. Zool. Monogr., 48: 69, thought this species possibly to occur in Bolivia, although no records currently exist. See Lobos, Vidal-Maldonado, Correa-Quezada, Labra-Lillo, Díaz-Páez, Charrier, Rabanal, Díaz-Vidal, and Tala, 2013, Anf. Chile Conserv.: 1–104, for comments on conservation status (as Telmatobius vilamensis and Telmatobius dankoi) and range.  Formas, Benavides, and Cuevas, 2003, Herpetologica, 59: 262–266, redescribed the holotype, rediagnosed the species and restricted the known distribution to the vicinity of the type locality. See discussion (as Telmatobius vilamensis, Telmatobius dankoi, and Telmaobius halli) by Formas, Veloso, and Ortiz, 2005, in Lavilla and De la Riva (eds.), Monogr. Herpetol., 7: 103–114. See Lobos, Vidal-Maldonado, Correa-Quezada, Labra-Lillo, Díaz-Páez, Charrier, Rabanal, Díaz-Vidal, and Tala, 2013, Anf. Chile Conserv.: 1–104, for photograph, comments on conservation status, and range. Sáez, Fibla, Correa-Quezada, Sallaberry-Ayerza, Salinas, Veloso, Mella, Iturra-Constant, and Méndez, 2014, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 171: 769–782, reported this species (as Telmatobius dankoi) from Chijlla, Choja, and Copaquire, Tarapacá, Chile, but these populations were subsequently reassigned to Telmatobius halli by Fibla, Salinas, Lobos, del Pozo D., Fabres, and Méndez, 2018, Zootaxa, 4527: 61–74, who discussed the itinerary of the original collectors, the likely type locality, the morphology, habitat, and taxonomic status of the species. Telmatobius vilamensis and Telmatobius dankoi placed in the Telmatobius marmoratus group of Barrionuevo, 2017, Cladistics, 33: 41–68.  Cuevas, Formas, Alvarado-Rybak, Peñafiel-Ricaurte, and Azat, 2020, Zootaxa, 4834: 195–206, reported on the rediscovery, tadpole morphology, adult morphology and conservation status. Correa-Quezada, 2021, ZooKeys, 1060: 183–192, discussed the type locality in detail and while the author suggested Mino, Chile, as the correct type locality, he also suggested that carefully sampling of Telmatobius frogs in that region will be necessary to confirm the type locality and resolve the ambiguity of the systematics of Telmatobius in that region. Von Tschirnhaus and Correa-Quezada, 2021, ZooKeys, 1079:1–33, further discussed the type locality, placed Telmatobius dankoi and Telmatobius vilamensis into the synonymy of Telmatobius halli, and assigned it to the Telmatobius pefauri group. 

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