First record of the genus Leptodactylus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) in Cuba: Leptodactylus fragilis, a biological invasion?

ABSTRACT

The Neotropical genus Leptodactylus is currently represented by three species in the West Indies (Leptodactylus albilabris, Leptodactylus fallax and Leptodactylus validus). Based on morphological, acoustic and molecular evidence, we document the presence of a fourth species in the Caribbean region, Leptodactylus fragilis (Brocchi, 1877). The species was found at two localities in western Cuba, and molecular data suggest a northern South American origin, possibly Venezuela, for these populations. We discuss the potential invasive status of L. fragilis, based on its known distribution, relative abundance, behaviour and possible impacts on native species of Cuban amphibians.

KEYWORDS:

• Advertisement call
• 16S mitochondrial DNA
• Greater Antilles
• introduced species
• range extension

Acknowledgements

We thank Raimundo López-Silvero and Alejandro M. Rodríguez for their valuable field assistance and photographs. The expedition to Guane was made under the project ‘Ecology and conservation of the endemic scorpion genus Tityopsis in native forests of western Cuba (II)’, funded by The Rufford Foundation to the senior author (project #19261-2). Jorge L. Perez provided the meteorological data from station 313 at Isabel Rubio, Pinar del Río province, Cuba. Rafael Borroto, Sheila Rodríguez, Natan Medeiros and Thiago R. de Carvalho provided constructive suggestions on the earlier version of the manuscript. The manuscript also benefitted from helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers. Molecular work was done under Research Agreement 15-276 between Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH) and the University of Richmond. We also thank Maria Estefanía López for help at the Colección de Tejidos (IAvH-CT) of the Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Funding

This work was supported in part by the The Rufford Foundation (www.rufford.org) to the senior author under Grant 19261-2 (“Ecology and conservation of the endemic scorpion genus Tityopsis in native forests of western Cuba II”).