Napoli, M.F., 2005. A new species allied to Hyla circumdata (Anura: Hylidae) from Serra da Mantiqueira, Southeastern Brazil. Herpetologica, 61(1):63-69.

Abstract: Hyla circumdata (Cope, 1870) occurs in subtropical and tropical rain forests, distributed over mountain ranges of the Brazilian Plateau, mainly in the Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira ranges. Samples of the northern sector of Serra da Mantiqueira revealed distinctive characters when compared to samples from the southern sectors of Serra da Mantiqueira and Serra do Mar, which suggest that the former is a new species. The new species is characterized mainly by large size (snout–vent length 57.5–70.0 mm in males; 55.3–67.2 mm in females), absence of vocal slits in adult males, and a large tympanum.

Napoli, M. F. & Cruz, I. C. S., 2005. The advertisement call of Hyla atlantica (Anura, Hylidae), with considerations on its taxonomic status. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, 63(2):1-6.

Abstract: The advertisement call of Hyla atlantica is described upon specimens from the Municipality of Ituberá, Bahia, Brazil. The call comprises four to eight notes. Call duration 0.19-0.44s, and note duration 12-22.37ms. Two spectral bandwidths (harmonics) are distinct. The lowest-pitched harmonic ranges from 0.68-1.90kHz, and the highest from 2-3.68kHz. Overall dominant frequencies 0.84-1.28kHz (fundamental frequency), with exception of four calls (3.25%) in which values reached 2.18-2.53 kHz. Comparisons of the advertisement calls of H. atlantica and H. punctata resulted in two different suppositions in respect to the taxonomic status of the former. The overall analysis of the literature indicated that the calls of H. atlantica and H. punctata from Manaus (Amazonas, Brazil), Santa Cecilia (Ecuador), and Puerto Almacén (Bolivia) are similar, which does not support H. atlantica as a valid species. In a complementary analysis, using recordings of the call of H. punctata available on commercial digital media from Bolivia and French Guiana, and another from Maranhão (Brazil), significant differences between the calls of H. atlantica and H. punctata were obtained, which lead to the conclusion that may exist at least three distinct species involved: H. atlantica from Bahia (Brazil); H. punctata from northern South America (Manaus/Amazonas and Maranhão, Brazil; Ecuador; French Guiana; Suriname); and a third species from Bolivia (type locality of H. p. rubrolineata), Acre (Brazil), and Chacoan Argentina. The latter hypothesis is more congruent with the geographic distribution of the samples analyzed, and also with the current taxonomic positions of the taxa involved.

Abstract: A new species of the Bokermannohyla circumdata group, B. diamantina sp. nov., is described from Serra dos Barbados, Municipality of Abaíra, State of Bahia, Brazil. This locality belongs to Chapada Diamantina, a semiarid region in central Bahia. This is the first record of a species of the B. circumdata group from the Brazilian semiarid. Bokermannohyla diamantina is diagnosed by the medium size (snout-vent length 47.0–51.7 mm in adult specimens); head length 2.8–2.9 times smaller than snout-vent length; tympanum medium-sized, its diameter 1.3–1.5 times smaller than eye diameter (tympanum diameter/snout-vent length 0.07); thigh and tibia lengths 0.48–0.52 and 0.49–0.51 of snout-vent length, respectively; dorsum medium to blackish brown, with weak transverse dark brown bars; flanks, anterior, and posterior surfaces of thighs with dark transverse brown stripes, lacking additional thin stripes between them; distinct vocal slits in adult males; advertisement call with 2–4 notes, and dominant frequency from 0.39–0.56 kHz.

Abstract: Taxonomic considerations on Thoropa miliaris (Spix, 1824), with revalidation and redescription of Thoropa taophora (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1923) (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae). Through the evaluation of the variation of morphometric and external morphologic characters of different population samples along its geographical distribution, Thoropa miliaris (Spix, 1824) is taxonomically characterized, with designation and description of a neotype for the species. The same analysis evidenced that the samples from the coast and part of the interior of the State of São Paulo are consistently different from the nominal species. Thoropa taophora (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1923) is revalidated and redescribed to designate these populations. The geographic distribution of both species is presented.

Bastazini, C. V., Munduruca, J. V., Rocha, P. L. B. & Napoli, M. F. 2007. Which environmental variables better explain changes in anuran comunity composition? a case study in the Restinga of Mata de São João, Bahia, Brazil. Herpetologica 63(4):459-471.

Abstract: Most studies of amphibian communities are restricted to aquatic environments, which precludes sound descriptions of changes in composition throughout entire habitats. Moreover, few works focus on the environmental processes that shape the composition of these communities, particularly in tropical ecosystems. In this study, we investigated which environmental variables were able to predict the main changes in anuran community composition in a shrub-to-forest Restinga on the northeastern coastline of Bahia State, Brazil. In 30 plots (60 3 25 m) along a continuous Restinga area, we determined, over two consecutive rainy seasons, the abundances of anuran species and 20 primary environmental variables. We represented the main environmental gradients of the Restinga using the first axes derived from a principal component analysis (PCA) of the matrix of environmental variables. We represented the main changes in community composition using a synthetic axis built by applying the nonmetric multidimensional scaling technique (NMS) on the matrix of species abundances. We then evaluated, using a multiple linear regression test, which environmental gradients, if any, were able to explain changes in community composition. We recorded 737 anurans, belonging to 8 families, 17 genera, and 30 species. Five orthogonal environmental gradients were extracted, representing ca. 80% of the variance of the matrix of environmental variables; the first PC represented the covariation among the amount of leaves in the stratum from 6 to 10 m high, percentage of leaf litter, percentage of terrestrial bromeliads with direct sunlight, number of terrestrial bromeliads, and soil moisture. The NMS axis explained 50% of the variance of the abundance matrix and ordered the plots through the sequence (1) beach zone, (2) arboreal vegetation with temporary ponds and/or permanent lakes, (3) arboreal vegetation with rivers or streams, and (4) arboreal vegetation without bodies of water. Only PC1, which represented a shrub-to-forest gradient, was significantly related to the NMS axis. The change on plant communities, allied to soil moisture and type of water body, was the most important environmental factor acting on the structure of the anuran community herein studied.

Cruz, C. A. G.; Caramaschi, U.; Napoli, M. F. 2007. A new species of Chiasmocleis (Anura, Microhylidae) from the Atlantic Rain Forest of northeastern Bahia, Brazil. South American Journal of Herpetology, 2(1):47-52.

Abstract: A new species of the genus Chiasmocleis is described from the Reserva Sapiranga, an Atlantic Rain Forest remnant in the Municipality of Mata de São João, northeastern State of Bahia, Brazil. This species belongs to the C. leucosticta group, characterized by well-developed webbing on feet. Chiasmocleis sapiranga sp. nov. is diagnosed by having the fingers extensively fringed in males and only slightly fringed in females, and by the dorsal region uniformly dark brown and ventral region finely marbled in brown and pale cream.

Ananias, F.; Modesto, A. D. S.; Mendes, S. C. & Napoli, M. F. 2007. Unusual primitive heteromorphic ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes in Proceratophrys boiei (Anura, Cycloramphidae, Alsodinae), with description of C-Band interpopulational polymorphism. Hereditas 144: 206-212.

Abstract: We performed cytogenetic analyses on specimens from three population samples of Proceratophrys boiei from southeastern and northeastern Brazil. We stained chromosomes of mitotic and meiotic cells with Giemsa, C-banding and Ag-NOR methods. All specimens of P. boiei presented a karyotype with a full chromosome complement of 2n=22, metacentric and submetacentric.We observed the secondary constriction within the short arm of pair 8, which was in the same position of the nucleolus organizer region (NOR). NOR heteromorphism was observed within two specimens from the municipality of Mata de São João (northeastern Bahia State). The C-banding evidenced an unusual heterochromatic pattern in the genome of P. boiei. In the southernmost population samples (São Paulo State), we observed large blocks of heterochromatin in the centromeric regions of all chromosomes, whereas the northernmost samples (Bahia State) presented a small amount of constitutive heterochromatin. We suppose that this geographic variation in heterochromatin quantities could be due to heterochromatinization of some chromosome regions in the genome of the São Paulo samples. Furthermore, females from São Paulo presented, within chromosome pair 1 from C-banded karyotypes, one homologous chromosome almost heterochromatic, whereas males had heterochromatin restricted to the centromeric region. This unusual heterochromatic arrangement led us to assume that P. boiei owns a ZZ/ZW type of sexual determination system. This finding is very important, as this is the first record of ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes within Cycloramphidae. We believe that the cytogenetic differences found between southeastern and northeastern Brazilian population samples of P. boiei strongly supports the existence of a species complex under the name P. boiei, and the requirement of taxonomic and systematic reviews by morphological, bioacoustical, molecular, and cytogenetic data could define this taxonomic issue in the future.