Advertisement Call of Sphaenorhynchus mirim Caramaschi, Almeida and Gasparini, 2009, (Anura: Hylidae)

Author(s) :Joo Victor Andrade de Lacerda, Marcos Bilate and Renato Neves Feio Source: South American Journal of Herpetology, 6(3):211-214. 2011. Published By: Brazilian Society of Herpetology DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2994/057.006.0307 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2994/057.006.0307

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South American Journal of Herpetology, 6(3), 2011, 211-214 2011 Brazilian Society of Herpetology

ADVERTISEMENT CALL OF SPHAENORHYNCHUS MIRIM CARAMASCHI, ALMEIDA AND GASPARINI, 2009, (ANURA: HYLIDAE)
JOO VICTOR ANDRADE DE LACERDA1,3, MARCOS BILATE2 AND RENATO NEVES FEIO1
1.

Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viosa, 36571-000 Viosa, MG, Brasil. 2. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Departamento de Vertebrados. Quinta da Boa Vista, 20940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. 3. Corresponding author: E-mail: jvlmuc@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT. Anuran vocalization is species-specific and bioacoustic analyses are important tools for species delimitation. The present study describes the vocalization of Sphaenorhynchus mirim, recognizing two different types of call, here referred to as call type A and call type B. We analyzed a total of 86 calls of type A and 15 calls of type B. Call type A consists of a single multipulsed note with duration of 34.12-101.00 ms, with 9-25 pulses/note, pulse rate ranges from 240.40-338.21 pulses/sec and the dominant frequency is between 3085.51-3398.86 Hz. We arbitrarily subdivided the type B call into two patterns: Bd (with well-defined notes) and Bnd (with non-defined notes). Call type B with well-defined notes (n = 4) has 3-5 multipulsed notes, duration of 180.12-262.68 ms, note duration of 15.62-100.75 ms, interval between notes with 7.93-23.12 ms, 2-22 pulses/note and dominant frequency of 3067.77-3180.11 Hz. Call type B with non-defined notes (n = 11) has duration of 143.75-218.12 ms; 26-32 pulses/ call and a dominant frequency of 3180.11-3375.22 Hz. Sphaenorhynchus mirim vocalization differs from all other species in the genus by its higher dominant frequency. KEY-WORDS. bioacoustics; vocalization; Mucuri; Amphibia; tree frog.

INTRODUCTION Sphaenorhynchus Tschudi, 1838, is a sister genus of Dendropsophus Fitzinger, 1843, and Xenohyla Izecksohn, 1998 (sensu Faivovich et al., 2005), and is currently composed of 14 species of tree frogs with distribution associated with the Atlantic and Amazonian Forest domains, except for Sphaenorhynchus platycephalus Werner (1894), for which the type locality and exact distribution are unknown (Caramaschi et al., 2009; Frost, 2011). Sphaenorhynchus botocudo Caramaschi, Almeida and Gasparini, 2009, and S. mirim Caramaschi, Almeida and Gasparini, 2009, were recently described from the same pond in Lagoa Nova, Fazenda Gemada, Municipality of Mucurici, State of Esprito Santo, southeastern Brazil (Fig. 1). As anuran advertisement calls are species-specific, bioacoustic analyses are important tools used for species delimitation (Duellman and Trueb, 1994). Thus, the present study aims to improve the knowledge on the taxonomy of Sphaenorhynchus mirim by describing its vocalization. MATERIAL AND METHODS Calls were recorded on January 6, 2011, at 18:30-20:00 h, ca. 25C air temperature, in a flooded open area (180326S; 393216W) located in the Municipality of Mucuri, on the south coast of the State

of Bahia (Fig. 1). One recorded male was collected, photographed and deposited as a voucher specimen in the Museu de Zoologia Joo Moojen (MZUFV 11099; SVL 18.1 mm; Fig. 2), Universidade Federal de Viosa, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Recordings were made with a Sony ICD P620 recorder with an internal microphone. Call oscillogram, spectrogram and amplitude spectrum were analyzed using Sound Ruler 0.9.6.0 (sampling frequency of 16000 Hz and 16 bit resolution) with FFT of 256 points, 0.9 overlap and hanning window type. Oscilogram and spectrogram figures were elaborated using Avisoft SASLab Light version 3.74, FFT of 256, frame 100%, window flat top and overlap of 98.43% (note type B) and 99.21% (note type A). Bioacoustical terminology follows Duellman and Trueb (1994). RESULTS We observed three calling males of S. mirim and 101 calls emitted by two of these males were recorded. One recorded individual was calling at about four meters from a non-recorded calling male. The second recorded individual was calling at about 30 meters from these two observed males and also emitted advertisement and territorial calls. The three males were observed calling from the floating vegetation of a ditch, about two meters deep, located in a flooded open grassland area, at about 700 meters from the beach.

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Advertisement call of Sphaenorhynchus mirim

FIGURE 1. Type locality of Sphaenorhynchus mirim (star), State of Espirito Santo, and the new record (square), State of Bahia, Brazil.

We recognized two different call types: type A and type B. The type A call corresponds to the advertisement call and the type B call probably has a territorial/aggressive function. The advertisement call of S. mirim consists of a single multipulsed note (Fig. 3A-C), with a duration of 34.12-101.00 ms (x = 44.06; sd = 11.05; n = 86), with 9-25 pulses (x = 11.85; sd = 2.94; n = 48 calls)

FIGURE 2. Male of Sphaenorhynchus mirim collected in the Municipality of Mucuri, State of Bahia, northeastern coast of Brazil (MZUFV 11099; SVL 18.1 mm).

and pulse rate ranges from 240.40-338.21 pulses/s (x = 281.39; sd = 24.21; n = 48 calls). The dominant frequency is between 3085.51-3398.86 Hz (x = 3262.46; sd = 56.39; n = 86 calls). Note type A may present pulses with amplitude reduction (usually the 3rd, and/or 4th, and/or 5th, and/or 6th pulses) in such a way that there appears to be a gap between the pulses, which sometimes appears to be a two note call (Fig. 3C). In some situations, the presence of intermediary patterns (Fig. 3B) was decisive for not considering some notes type A as a two note call. These amplitude reductions are not audibly distinguishable but visible when comparing the sonograms (Fig. 3A-C). Thirty-eight calls were not considered in the pulse counting neither in the pulse rate due to the presence of merged pulses in their second third. In order to facilitate future comparisons, we arbitrarily subdivided the type B call into two patterns: Bd and Bnd patterns. The Bd pattern has well-defined notes (n = 4; Fig. 3D) and the Bnd pattern has non distinguishable notes (n = 11; Fig. 3E). Thus, we consider the Bnd pattern as a single note call. The four recorded calls with a Bd pattern had 3-5 multipulsed notes, duration of 180.12-262.68 ms (n = 4 calls); note duration of 15.62-100.75 ms (n = 16 notes); interval of notes with 7.93-23.12 ms (n = 12

Lacerda, J. V. A. de et al.

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TABLE 1. Characteristics of the advertisement calls described for Sphaenorhynchus species from eastern Brazil. Species Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii Sphaenorhynchus mirim Sphaenorhynchus palustris Sphaenorhynchus pauloalvini Sphaenorhynchus prasinus Sphaenorhynchus surdus Call duration (s) 5.23-10.21 0.034-0.101 0.02-0.22 1.7 Number of notes 22-43 1 1-3 6-8 5 18-22 Note duration (s) 0.04-0.07 0.01-0.05 0.05 0.04 0.01-0.03 Dominant Pulses frequency (kHz) per note 2.50-2.76 3.085-3.398 9-25 2.24-2.84 3-6 1.3-1.5 2.24-2.37 Reference Toledo et al. (2007) present study Nunes et al. (2007) Bokermann (1973) Bokermann (1973) Toledo et al. (2007)

intervals); 2-22 pulses/note (n = 16 notes); and dominant frequency of 3067.77-3180.11 Hz (n = 4 calls). The Bnd pattern had duration of 143.75-218.12 ms (x = 180.97; sd = 25.54; n = 11 calls); 26-32 pulses/ call (x = 29.36; sd = 2.33; n = 11 calls) and a dominant frequency of 3180.11-3375.22 Hz (x = 3275.25; sd = 60.67; n = 11 calls). DISCUSSION Among all Sphaenorhynchus species occurring in eastern Brazil [S. botocudo, S. bromelicola Bokermann, 1966, S. caramaschii Toledo, Garcia,

Lingnau and Haddad, 2007, S. mirim, S. orophylus (Lutz and Lutz, 1938), S. palustris Bokermann, 1966, S. pauloalvini Bokermann, 1973, S. planicola (Lutz and Lutz, 1938), S. prasinus Bokermann, 1973, and S. surdus (Cochran, 1953)], only the advertisement calls of S. caramaschii, S. palustris, S. pauloalvini, S. prasinus and S. surdus have been described. The characteristics of the vocalization of these species available in the literature were here compared to the advertisement call (note type A) of S. mirim (Table 1). The vocalization of S. mirim differs from the calls of all other Sphaenorhynchus species by its higher dominant frequency, which is expected as it is the smallest species of the genus. This parameter usually increases

FIGURE 3. Oscillogram and spectrogram of Sphaenorhynchus mirim advertisement call. A: pulses with no amplitude reduction; B: pulses with intermediary amplitude reduction; C: pulses with high amplitude reduction. Note two different patterns of the second type of call: D: with well defined notes; E: with non defined notes.

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with the decrease of the mass of the vocal cords, which is positively correlated to the overall body size (Martin, 1972). Besides this, the advertisement call of S. mirim can be distinguished from S. caramaschii and S. surdus calls by its shorter duration; from S. palustris by its lower number of pulses/note; from S. prasinus and S. pauloalvini by its lower number of notes. The type of habitat in which we found the males was expected for S. mirim as this species was described from a pond that also had emergent and floating vegetation, located in open artificial grassland (see Caramaschi et al., 2009). Another population of S. botocudo, which was described from the same pond as S. mirim, was recently reported by Lacerda et al. (2010) from a pond with similar characteristics, also in the Municipality of Mucuri, Bahia. Caramaschi et al. (2009) mentioned that all species of Sphaenorhynchus live in open areas. Herein we report the second known population of Sphaenorhynchus mirim and the first record for the State of Bahia, located 95 km (straight-line distance) eastward from the type locality, the only known site of occurrence until now (Fig. 1). Since the species has recently been described and, like other species in the genus, it seems to be a good colonizer of degraded areas (Caramaschi et al. 2009), we believe that other populations might be found with the increase of field work in the region. RESUMO A vocalizao dos anuros espcie-especfica sendo a anlise bioacstica uma importante ferramenta taxonmica. O presente estudo descreve a vocalizao de Sphaenorhynchus mirim, reconhecendo dois tipos de canto distintos, aqui referidos como canto tipo A e canto tipo B. Foram analisados 86 cantos tipo A e 15 cantos tipo B. O canto tipo A consiste de uma nica nota multipulsionada com durao de 34,12-101,00 ms, com 9-25 pulsos/nota, 240,40-338,21 pulsos/segundo e frequncia dominante entre 3085,51-3398,86 Hz. O canto tipo B foi arbitrariamente subdividido em: Bd (com notas bem definidas) e Bnd (com notas no definidas). O canto tipo B com notas bem definidas (n = 4) possui 3-5 notas multipulsionadas, durao de 180,12-262,68 ms, durao das notas entre 15,62-100,75 ms, intervalo

entre notas entre 7,93-23,12 ms, 2-22 pulsos/nota e frequncia dominante 3067.77-3180,11 Hz. O canto tipo B com notas no definidas (n = 11) possui durao de 143,75-218,12 ms; 26-32 pulsos/canto e frequncia dominante de 3180,11-3375,22 Hz. A vocalizao de S. mirim difere das demais espcies do gnero por apresentar maior frequncia dominante. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renovveis (IBAMA) for the collection permits 10504-1. JVAL and MB thank CAPES for the current scholarships.

LITERATURE CITED
Bokermann, W. C. A. 1973. Duas novas espcies de Sphaenorhynchus da Bahia (Anura, Hylidae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia, 33:589-594. Caramaschi, U., A. P. Almeida, and Gasparini, J. L. 2009. Description of two new species of Sphaenorhynchus (Anura, Hylidae) from the State of Esprito Santo, Southeastern Brazil. Zootaxa, 2115:34-46. Duellman, W. E. and L. Trueb. 1994. Biology of Amphibians. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 670 p. Faivovich, J., C. F. B. Haddad, P. C. A. Garcia, D. R. Frost, J. A. Campbell, and W. C. Wheeler. 2005. Systematic review of the frog family hylidae, with special reference to hylinae: phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 294:1-240. Frost, D. R. 2011. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 5.5 American Museum of Natural History, New York (accessed 01 March 2011). (31 January, 2011). Available from <http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/ amphibia/>. American Museum of Natural History, New York (accessed 01 March 2011). Lacerda, J. V. A., D. J. Santana, E. T. Silva, and R. N. Feio. 2010. Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae, Sphaenorhynchus botocudo Caramaschi, Almeida and Gasparini, 2009: First state record and first record out of the type locality. Check List, 6:242-243. Martin, W. F. 1972. Evolution of vocalization in the genus Bufo; pp. 280-309. In: W. F. Blair (Ed.), Evolution in the genus Bufo. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Nunes, I., L. A. Fusinato, and C. A. G. Cruz. 2007. The tadpole and advertisement call of Sphaenorhynchus palustris Bokermann, 1996 (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae). South American Journal of Herpetology, 2:123-128. Toledo, L. F., P. C. A. Garcia, R. Lingnau, and C. F. B. Haddad. 2007. A new species of Sphaenorhynchus (Anura: Hylidae) from Brazil. Zootaxa, 1658:57-68. Submitted: 09 September 2011 Accepted: 10 December 2011