Frogs of the Genus Eleutherodactylus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) in the Andes of Northern Peru

Abstract

We recognize 45 species in the leptodactylid frog genus Eleutherodactylus in the Andes of northern Ecuador. Twenty-one of these species have been known previously from Peru, but three of them are reported for the first time from the Andes. Six other species known previously from Ecuador are recorded for the first time in Peru, and 18 species are described as new. The majority (31) of the 45 species are members of the large Eleutherodactylus unistrigatus group, and nine species belong to the Eleutherodactylus conspicllatus group; one species belongs to the Eleutherodactylus nigrovittaus group, and four Peruvian species are in the Eleutherodactylus orestes group, which otherwise is known from three species in the Andes of southern Ecuador. Each species is treated in an account that includes a diagnosis, description or reference to a description, habitat, and distribution. Keys in English and Spanish to the species in the Andes of northern Peru, all members of the Eleutherodactylus conspicillatus group occur at elevations of less than 1500 m, but two species extend to elevations in excess of 2000 m. Members of the Eleutherodactylus nigrovittatus and orestes groups mostly are confined to elevations above 3000 m, whereas species in the Eleutherodactylus unistrigatus group range throughout the elevations in the Andes to 3200 m. AMong the isolated mountain ranges in northern Peru, the Cordillera del Condor has the largest number of species of Eleutherodactylus (19); of these, 11 are shared with Cordillera Oriental in Ecuador, nine with the Cordillera de Cutucu in Ecuador, and only five are among the 16 species known from the northern part of the Cordillera Central in Peru. The Cordillera Colan has five species of Eleutherodactylus; one is shared with the Cordillera Oriental in Ecuador and another with the Cordillera Central in Peru. Of the 11 species inhabiting the Cordillera de Huancabamba, three are shared with the Cordillera Occidental in Ecuador, two with the Cordillera Oriental in Ecuador, and two with the Cordillera Occidental in Peru. The absence of collections of Eleutherodactylus from many mountain ranges in northern Peru suggests that the number of species far exceeds that reported here.