Intraspecific morphological variation and its implications in the taxonomic status of ‘Bufo pisanoi,’ a Pliocene anuran from eastern Argentina

ABSTRACT

The true toad family Bufonidae is one of the most speciose and widespread clades of neobatrachian anurans. Despite being well represented in South America at present, bufonids have a poor fossil record on this continent. ‘Bufo pisanoi’ from Pliocene outcrops of coastal Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, is the only extinct South American bufonid taxon recognized to date. In this study, we investigated the validity of the putative diagnostic characters of this extinct species to confirm its taxonomic status based on revision of the holotype and referred material. Comparisons with several extant bufonid species led us to include the taxon represented by this fossil material within the Rhinella marina clade, close to R. arenarum. Further comparisons and a geometric morphometric analysis based on a relatively large sample of the latter species demonstrated that the morphology of ‘B. pisanoi’ falls within the variation range of R. arenarum. Therefore, we consider that the names ‘B. pisanoi’ and R. arenarum represent the same taxon, with the latter having priority. This work emphasizes the importance of considering intraspecific variation whenever possible, because this leads to a more rigorous approach to the identification of fossil specimens and tests the taxonomic value of different osteological characters.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge the contribution of A. Dondas (Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales “Lorenzo Scaglia”, Mar del Plata) and J. Powell (Instituto Miguel Lillo, Tucumán) for the loan of specimens under their care. They also thank L. Trueb (University of Kansas), R. Maneyro (Universidad de la República, Uruguay), and L. Ambrósio (Universidade de Brasília, Brasil) for providing information or photographs of specimens housed in their respective institutions. Thanks are extended to D. Blackburn, Z. Roček, and the Handling Editor, J. Anderson, for their suggestions that improve the manuscript. This work was funded through a grant (PICT 1895/11) from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica to A. M. Báez.

Handling editor: Jason Anderson