Telmatobius rubigo Barrionuevo & Baldo 2009

Diagnosis Can be distinguished from any other species of Telmatobius by the following combination of characters: (1) snout-vent length (SVL) of males to 50.4 mm, females to 52.2 mm; (2) head in lateral profile variable (depressed or high) with sloping snout; (3) head subacuminate in dorsal view; (4) upper lips flared, notched medially; (5) postcommisural gland absent or a set of small, separated glands; (6) tympanic annulus visible under the skin in the most of specimens; (7) forelimb of males moderately robust, without humeral spine; (8) dermal fringes of finger variable; base of thumb bearing nuptial pad in contact with the inner palmar tubercle; nuptial spicules small, closely arranged; (9) toes moderately webbed; plantar surface without spicules; (10) tarsal fold present; (11) skin smooth with pustules in the flanks and dorsal surface of thighs; (12) in life greenish-grey dorsum, uniform or with darker gray blotches, always scattered with rusty lichenous blotches; (13) belly pale orange, ventral surfaces of limbs bright orange, yellow and reddish; and (14) iris light grey without flecks; (15) skull well ossified; (16) frontoparietal fenestra bottle shape; (17) zygomatic ramus of squamosal long, slim and bended medially; (18) anterior end of cultriform process irregularly truncate and reaching the level of vomers; (19) posterior half of maxilla slim and straight in lateral view; (20) premaxilar alae inclined posteriorly in lateral view; (21) pars media plectri (columella) very thin; (22) hyoid plate extensively calcified; (23) clavicle and scapula fused; (24) tadpole without intramarginal mental papillae in the oral disc; (25) color in life of larvae brownish with characteristic bright yellow spots

Know only from a few localities, from the endorheic basin of Laguna de Los Pozuelos in the Central Andean Puna Ecoregion, Jujuy province, Argentina.

Description of holotype An adult male, medium-sized, snout-vent length 50.4. Head length (measured from commissural angle to tip of snout) 33.6% of snout-vent length, wider than long; head width (measured at level of commissural angle) 35.8% of snout-vent length; head length 93.9% of head width; head subacuminate in dorsal view, slightly depressed with sloping snout in lateral profile; nostrils small, not protruding, oriented dorsolaterally, approximately at the same distance to tip of the snout and to the eye; internarial region convex; canthus rostralis indistinct, loreal region slightly concave; upper lips flared, notched medially; maxilla and premaxillae with small curved and pointed teeth, embedded in the labial mucosa; teeth of vomers not visible; small, oval choanae; tongue rounded, attached anteriorly to floor of mouth, free posteriorly for about one-fourth of its length; vocal slits absent; tympanum and tympanic annulus absent; supratympanic fold extending obliquely from behind eye to posterior margin of postcommisural gland and in continuity with suprahumeral fold. Forelimbs moderately robust; relative length of fingers II < I < IV < III; webbing absent between fingers; tips of fingers swollen; fingers with almost unnoticeable lateral fringes; thenar tubercle large, elliptical, depressed; palmar tubercle rounded, approximately the same size as thenar tubercle; one subarticular tubercle on the base of each finger and at penultimate phalangeal articulation on Fingers II and IV; one round supernumerary tubercle between inner and outer palmar tubercles; palmar surface smooth, without keratinized spicules; base of thumb broadened proximally, bearing a nuptial pad composed of small keratinized, black and conical spicules closely arranged, reaching posterior margin of thenar tubercle, and extending dorsally from the base of thumb to the base of the distal phalange of thumb. Hind limbs moderately robust; tibia length 44.7% of snout-vent length; tibia length 88.8% of foot length (measured from the proximal border of the inner metatarsal tubercle to the tip of the fourth toe); relative length of toes I < II < III < V < IV (Fig. 2 F); toes webbed; webbing extending as lateral fringes to tips of toes; tips of toes swollen, approximately of the same size as those of fingers; outer metatarsal tubercles rounded, slighthly smaller than one-fourth size of the elliptical inner metatarsal tubercle; subarticular tubercles rounded and well developed; supernumerary tubercles absent; plantar surface smooth; tarsal fold developed. Skin of the dorsum and dorsal surface of the head relatively smooth; skin of flanks with pustules, some of them with keratinized tip; some small tubercles are present on the lateral region of the head; dorsal surface of limbs with flat pustules; skin of venter and ventral surfaces of limbs smooth except for keratinized spicules in the chest; cloacal opening unornamented, located just below the dorsal level of thighs. Coloration of the Holotype: In life, grey dorsum, with darker gray solid blotches and scattered with orange lichenous blotches; venter pale orange, throat pale pink, ventral surfaces of limbs bright orange, yellow and reddish; iris light grey without flecks. In preservative brownish-gray dorsally with solid darker grey blotches; the belly, throat and the ventral surfaces of limbs are pale cream. The palmar and plantar surfaces are dark gray with the tubercles pale gray. Measurements of the Holotype: snout-vent length 50.4; head width 18.0; head length 16.9; eye diameter 4.5; interorbital distance 6.6; eyelid width 2.9; eye-nostril distance 3.1; internarinal distance 3.0; snout length 7.5; eye-mouth distance 3.9; nostril-mouth distance 4.3; body width 19.2; body height 12.4; hand length 12.4; radio-ulna length 10.9; femur length 22.0; tibia length 22.5; foot length 37.6; web length 14.1; inner metatarsal tubercle length 2.0; outer metatarsal tubercle length 0.8. Variation Range of measurements of 20 adult specimens (average given in parentheses): snout-vent length 39.9-54.0 (47.7); head width 13.9-19.8 (16.9); head length 12.3-17.5 (15.1); eye diameter 4.0-4.9 (4.5); interorbital distance 5.2-7.0 (6.4); eyelid width 1.8-3.2 (2.5); eye-nostril distance 2.7-4.5 (3.2); internarinal distance 2.5-3.6 (2.9); snout length 4.1-7.6 (6.4); eye-mouth distance 2.8-4.8 (3.8); nostril-mouth distance 3.6-4.9 (4.2); body width 14.5-20.6 (17.9); body height 10.4-16.2 (11.8); hand length 10.4-13.5 (11.7); radio-ulna length 8.3-11.2 (10.0); radio-ulna width 3.3-5.8 (4.3); femur length 17.4-25.1 (20.8); tibia length 18.2-24.0 (21.0); foot length 29.6-39.4 (34.3); web length 10.7-14.5 (12.6); inner metatarsal tubercle length 1.4-2.6 (1.9); outer metatarsal tubercle length 0.4-1.4 (0.8). As in other Telmatobius species head shape is extremely variable, from moderately depressed with a long snout to a high head with a short snout. The supratympanic fold is strong to almost unnoticeable. The number of vomeral teeth range from 0 to no more than 3, sometimes completely covered by the palatal mucosa. The skin on the flanks is more tuberculate in some specimens, especially those from Cuesta de Fundiciones and in large females from El Queñoal. The skin of specimens from Arroyo Farrallón is similar [-].

NE.Not evaluated.