Aspecto da história natural e análise genética de duas espécies da família Odontophrynidae do Nordeste Brasileiro

Abstract

The Neotropical region harbors the highest abundance of anuran amphibians in the world, with 8,729 species currently described, of which 1,144 are recorded for Brazil. Studies involving population ecology help to understand species abundance and distribution processes, their relationships with environmental characteristics, interactions, and phylogenetic proximities. The morphological similarity of some animal populations complicates their identification, causing confusion regarding their actual distribution, particularly when there is geographic variation among populations. Our objective was to describe the genetic structure, analyze morphometric, bioacoustic variation, and ecological parameters in populations of Proceratophrys renalis and Odontophrynus carvalhoi in areas of Northeast Brazil. So far, these species have been recorded in high- altitude swamps, regions within the Caatinga domain representing isolated fragments of Atlantic Forest and Amazonia, which serve as refuges for relict fauna and flora, potentially characterizing these regions as important centers of endemism. Thus, this work aims to primarily revise the taxonomy and haplotypic structuring of populations of P. renalis and O. carvalhoi present in high-altitude swamps in Ceará and along their distribution in the Northeast. To this end, sequences of the mitochondrial gene 16S rDNA were obtained from muscle tissue and subsequently sequenced and analyzed, as well as sequences deposited in GenBank. Morphometric and meristic characters were analyzed through a sampling of specimens deposited in herpetological collections containing representative materials of the group. Specimens' calls were obtained through recordings during the reproductive period and using calls available in the Neotropical Sound Archive Jacques Vielliard (FNJV) of the Audiovisual Collection of the Museum of Biological Diversity of Unicamp, which were analyzed through spectrograms and oscillograms. The morphology and characteristics of tadpoles were also observed. For ecological parameters, the composition of helminths and parasitological descriptors of an O. carvalhoi population, and the reproductive behavior among P. aff renalis males, were considered.