The frog genus Pleurodema Tschudi, 1838 is distributed from Panama throughout South America to southern Chile and Argentina and currently is represented by fifteen species (Faivovich, 2012), of which ten have been recorded in Argentina. Pleurodema kriegi and P. cordobae (Fig. 1) are endemic species from Sierra Grande of Cordoba (Valetti, Salas and Martino, 2009). Sierra Grande includes Sierra de Achala to the north and Sierra de Comechingones to the south and occupies a band about 50–60 km wide with mountain chains oriented in a north-south direction over approximately 300 km (Miró, 1999). The previous tectonic processes and the current morphology from Sierra Grande favoured the topographical isolation that has produced a remarkable endemic flora and fauna due to allopatric speciation processes (Cei, 1972).

Although the specimens of P. cordobae are generally bigger than those of P. kriegi and Valetti, Salas and Martino (2009) demonstrated that 10 of 17 morphometric variables were statistically different, all of them presented a wide overlap and none of them was diagnostic. Therefore, Pleurodema kriegi and P. cordobae are cryptic species that only can be differentiated on the basis of ploidy level. P. kriegi has a tetraploid chromosomic complement, while P. cordobae is octoploid (Valetti, Salas and Martino, 2009).

The P. kriegi/P. cordobae complex has a restricted distribution known from Pampa de Achala and Sierra de Comechingones, Cordoba province, between the parallels of latitude 31º26’S and 32°36´S (Ferraro and

Casagranda, 2009; Valetti, Salas and Martino, 2009; Fig. 2), while P. cordobae was only reported with taxonomic assignment from its Terra typica, Estancia Los Tabaquillos (32,399º S; 64,926º W, approximately 2105 m a.s.l.) and two temporary ponds located 5 kilometers away from the former (Valetti, Salas and Martino, 2009). Considering that the knowledge of the distribution of P. kriegi and P. cordobae at a smaller spatial scale is very poor, the aim of the present study is to determine the currently know geographic distribution of P. cordobae.

We realized field trips during the years 2005-2011 in the distribution area of the Pleurodema kriegi/P. cordobae complex. We realized night tours and identified the reproductive aggregations of Pleurodema kriegi/cordobae populations by means of their advertisement calls. We captured some individuals at each locality. The geographic locations of the sampling

Herpetology Notes, volume 6: 559-561 (2013) (published online on 28 November 2013)

Currently known geographical distribution of Pleurodema cordobae Valetti, Salas & Martino 2009 (Anura:

Leptodactylidae: Leiuperinae) in Sierra Grande of Córdoba,

Julián A. Valetti, Manuel A. Otero, Pablo R. Grenat, Nancy E. Salas and Adolfo L. Martino*

Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Ruta Nacional N° 36 - km 601, (X5804BYA) Río Cuarto, Argentina.

* Correspondig author. E-mail: amartino@exa.unrc.edu.ar, adolfomartino@gmail.com; +54 358 4676167

Figure 1. Adult male of Pleurdema cordobae. Estancia Los tabaquillos, Sierra de Comechingones, Córdoba province, Argentina. Picture A. L. Martino.

Julián A. Valetti et al.560

sites were obtained using a Garmin global positioning system (GPS).

The individual assignment to the species P. cordobae was performed through ploidy level. Ploidy of the individuals was determined by cytogenetic analysis following the technique used by Baraquet et al. (2011) and estimated by comparing erythrocyte nuclei size of adult individuals following Grenat, Salas and Martino (2009) with those individuals of Pleurodema kriegi/P. cordobae of known ploidy level (Valetti, Salas and Martino, 2009).

Reproductive aggregations of the Pleurodema kriegi/cordobae populations were found both in temporary and semipermanent ponds. A total of 17 localities and 135 individuals of the Pleurodema kriegi/P. cordobae

complex were registered. Cytogenetic and erythrometric analyses permitted the identification of 101 individuals as P. cordobae. These specimens were present in nine different ponds:

Estancia Los Tabaquillos, Sierra de Comechingnes, three ponds. Type locality, 32,399º S; 64,926º W; 2105 m a.s.l. (31 individuals). Camino cruce Comechingnes, 32,401º S; 64,916º W; 2082 m a.s.l. (5 individuals). Camino al filo, 32,370º S; 64,932º W; 2022 m a.s.l. (8 individuals).

Los Linderos, Sierra de Comechingnes , two ponds. Bifurcación, 32,039º S; 64,900º W; 2641 m a.s.l. (8 individuals). Explanada, 32,018º S; 64,939º W; 2640 m a.s.l. (22 individuals).

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of Pleurodema cordobae. The area marked in (A) shows the study area in the Sierra Grande of Cordoba, Argentina. The star in (B) represent the type locality of Pleurodema cordobae. The dots represent the new records. 1-Estancia Los Tabaquillos; 2-Los Linderos; 3-Puesto Pereyra; 4-Mal Paso. The dotted lines indicate the northern and southern limit of P. cordobae distribution.

Puesto Pereyra, Pampa de Achala , two ponds. Pond 1, 31,957º S; 64,912º W; 2290 m a.s.l. (6 individuals). Pond 2, 31,955º S; 64,909º W; 2306 m a.s.l. (5 individuals).

Mal Paso, Pampa de Achala , two ponds. Pond 3, 31,830º S; 64,861º W; 2309 m a.s.l. (10 individuals). Pond 4, 31,829º S; 64,855º W; 2284 m a.s.l. (6 individuals).

Therefore, the currently know geographic distribution of this species has an area of ca. 560 km2 occupying a band of about 65 km in a north-south direction along the mountain chains (Fig. 2). The new localities cited here extend the geographic distribution of P. cordobae. The locality more distant of the Terra typica is ca. 62 km northeast. Individuals deposited in museums who have been assigned to P. kriegi prior to the scientific description of P. cordobae and have not been accompanied with cytogenetic or erythrometric data, do probably not belong to this species. Future analyzes will be needed to confirm or rectify the taxonomic assignment of these voucher.

Acknowledgements. The Secretary of Research and Technology of National University of Río Cuarto (SECyTUNRC) provided funds by Grant PPI 18/C350. JAV and PRG thank CONICET – Argentina (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas) for fellowship granted. Our study was authorized by Córdoba Environmental Agency (ACASE).

References

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Valetti, J.A., Salas, N.E., Martino, A.L. (2009): A new polyploid species of Pleurodema (Anura: Leiuperidae) from Sierra de Comechingones, Córdoba, Argentina and redescription of Pleurodema kriegi (Müller, 1926). Zootaxa 2073: 1-21.

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Accepted by Mirco Solé