A New Species of Pristimantis (Anura: Strabomantidae) from the Eastern Slope of the Cordillera Oriental, Arauca, Colombia

Abstract

We describe a new species of Pristimantis from one of the most isolated regions of Colombia, at elevations of 700–800 m in the Tame River basin at the eastern slope of the Cordillera Oriental in Colombia (Department of Arauca). This locality has been in the grasp of guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries, and as a consequence, this region has been historically inaccessible or risky for researchers. The new species is a diurnal forest dweller, similar to Pristimantis savagei and P. vilarsi. It is distinguished from its congeners by having finely shagreened dorsum skin, areolate ventral skin, moderate tympanic membrane size (length = 37.2–58.8% of eye length), long hind limbs (tibia length = 53.6–63.6% of snout–vent length), and an advertisement call composed of a short single note, while lacking ridges on scapula, tubercles on upper eyelid and heel, and basal webbing in toes. In addition to the new species described herein, we demonstrate that subarticular tubercles display more variation than what is commonly described in taxonomic studies of terraranan frogs.