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Monday, January 1st, 2024

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    10:00a
    [Herpetology • 2023] Pristimantis koki, P. kopinangae & P. kalamandeenae • Exceptional Diversity of Pristimantis Landfrogs (Anura: Terraranae) on the Wokomung Massif, Guyana, with Descriptions of Three New Species

     a) Pristimantis koki, b) P. kopinangae,
    c) P. kalamandeenae, d) P. dendrobatoides,
    g) P. marmoratus, h) P. pulvinatus 
      
    Means, Heinicke, Blair Hedges, Macculloch & Lathrop, 2023

     Abstract
    We describe three new species of landfrogs, genus Pristimantis, from near the summit of Mt. Kopinang, one of the several high points of the Wokomung Massif, a large horseshoe-shaped tepui (= mesa) in west-central Guyana. Pristimantis koki n. sp. is known from 1,067 to 1,525 m elevation. It is characterized by small-sized adults averaging 12.4 mm SVL (snout-vent length) in males and 18.4 mm in females; a pointed, depressed, elongated snout; lack of an obvious tympanum, vocal slit, or sac; and diagnostically black pigment prominently arranged around the anus fringed by light pigment. When handled, P. koki seems to emit volatile organic compounds and leaves a slightly numbing taste at the base of the human tongue. Pristimantis kopinangae n. sp. is known from three specimens collected at approx. 1,385 m elevation on the Wokomung Massif and two specimens from slightly higher in elevation on Mt. Ayanganna. About the size of most Pristimantis inhabiting the Guyana uplands and highlands (20-30 mm SVL), it is characterized by 2-3 light yellow inguinal flash-mark blotches, short broadly round snout, large eye with a blue iris, white skin of chin and areolate belly with dark brown vermiculations; and absence of a tympanum. Pristimantis kalamandeenae n. sp. is known from three specimens collected on the Wokomung Massif including an amplexing pair at approx. 1,550 m elevation. Similar in size to P. kopinangae, it is characterized by an acuminate snout, black iris, obvious tympanum, and uniform tan pigmentation dorsally after dark that becomes uniformly dark brown in daytime. Phylogenetic results show that P. koki and P. kopinangae are sister species and are members of a larger assemblage of related species endemic to the Pantepui Region within the P. unistrigatus species group. Pristimantis kalamandeenae is not closely related to these species, instead forming a clade with the P. lacrimosus species group. The three new species occur in sympatry with at least five other Pristimantis species on the Wokomung Massif, the greatest known Pristimantis species richness on a single tepui of the Guiana Shield.  

    KEYWORDS: Brachycephaloidea, Craugastoridae, Pantepui, South America, Strabomantidae, systematics, tepui, volatile skin secretions


    Exceptional diversity of Pristimantis (family Strabomantidae) on a single tepui;
     a) Pristimantis koki, b) Pristimantis kopinangae, c) Pristimantis kalamandeenae,
    d) Pristimantis dendrobatoides, e) Pristimantis jester, f) Pristimantis saltissimus, g) Pristimantis marmoratus, h) Pristimantis pulvinatus, i) Ceuthomantis smaragdinus (family Ceuthomantidae) sympatric with all the above and similar in size and general appearance.


    D. Bruce Means, Matthew P. Heinicke, S. Blair Hedges, Ross D. Macculloch and Amy Lathrop. 2023. Exceptional Diversity of Pristimantis Landfrogs (Anura: Terraranae) on the Wokomung Massif, Guyana, with Descriptions of Three New Species. Journal of Vertebrate Biology. 72(23026), 23026.1-26. DOI: 10.25225/jvb.23026  
    10:55a
    [Mollusca • 2023] Xenassiminea nana • A New Genus and Species of the Assimineidae (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea) from temperate mainland Japan


    Xenassiminea nana 
    Fukuda, 2023

     
    ABSTRACT
    Xenassiminea nana n. gen. and n. sp. is described from estuaries of temperate mainland Japan (central to western Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū). This species has a minute, colourless, translucent, depressed and helicoid shell and resembles some so-called skeneimorphs. However, the anatomical characters of the head–foot, radula and reproductive system indicate that this species belongs to the Assimineidae, in spite of the dissimilarity in shell features. The presence of basal cusps of the central radular teeth and the extremely rudimentary cephalic tentacles indicate that it should be assigned to the subfamily Assimineinae. The shell size (0.8 mm in length, 1.1 mm in diameter) is the smallest among known assimineids. It lives beneath stones deeply buried in sandy mud flats at the innermost parts of large bays and can be regarded as threatened by the rapid loss of these habitats in recent years.

    KEYWORDS: Anatomy, conservation, description, estuary, new species, salt marsh, taxonomy, tidal flats, vulnerable species, Xenassiminea nana

    Xenassiminea nana a novel, rare, molluscan species with a translucent, spiral shell, discovered in mainland Japan.



     Hiroshi Fukuda. 2023. A New Genus and Species of the Assimineidae (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea) from temperate mainland Japan. Molluscan Research. DOI: 10.1080/13235818.2023.2278070


    福田　宏：日本本土温帯域産カワザンショウ科（新生腹足類：クビキレガイ上科）の新属新種
    和文摘要: 本州中〜西部・四国・九州の河口域から Xenassiminea nana n. gen. and n. sp. カハタレカワザンショウを記載する。この種の殻は微小・無色半透明・螺塔低平な蝸牛形でいわゆるシタダミ様を呈するが, 頭部−腹足・歯舌・生殖器などの解剖学的特徴はカワザンショウ科に属すことを示す。歯舌中歯に下歯尖を持ち, 頭触角が極端に短いことからカワザンショウ亜科の一員である。殻の大きさ（殻長0.8 mm, 殻径1.1 mm）はカワザンショウ科の全既知種中で最小である。大規模な内湾最奥部の砂泥干潟に深く埋もれた転石下に棲み, 近年は棲息環境の急速な消失によって危機に瀕していると見做される。
     

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