Francisco Brusquetti

Instituto de Investigación Biológica del Paraguay

In this work, we reanalyzed specimens from Paraguay assigned to the species Rhinella icterica from the departments of Canindeyú and Amambay located in the Cerrado ecoregion. Based on the evaluation of external morphological characters, we conclude that they should be assigned to the species Rhinella cerradensis. On the other hand, we consider that...

Oval frogs (Elachistocleis) have a broad geographic distribution covering nearly all of South America and parts of Central America. They also have a large inter- and intraspecific variation of the few morphological characters commonly used as diagnostic traits among species of the genus. Based on molecular data, we provide the most complete phyloge...

In this work, we show that Bufo levicristatus Boettger, 1885 is a senior synonym of Bufo scitulus Caramaschi & Niemeyer, 2003, and not a junior synonym of Bufo ornatus Spix, 1824, as previously considered. In addition, we present evidence that Bufo scitulus Caramaschi & Niemeyer, 2003 complies with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature...

The Leptodactylus latrans species group currently comprises eight medium-to large-sized frog species with a convoluted taxonomic history, particularly related to the specific limits of the L. latrans complex, and the species pair Leptodactylus chaquensis-Leptodactylus macrosternum. Their homogeneous external morphology and continental geographic di...

It is well known that body size variation can be related to genetic and environmental factors and that this variation may occur among species, and among and within populations. Scinax fuscomarginatus is a widely distributed Neotropical anuran that occurs in open areas of several South American ecoregions, exposed to different climatic conditions an...

Although there are many studies that analyse and describe the distribution patterns of diverse organisms in South America at different scales, Paraguay has been poorly assessed from a biogeographic point of view. Some of the available contributions on the biogeography of Paraguay are based on different taxonomic groups, such as mammals, birds, rept...

Ontogenetic colour change (OCC) is defined as the progressive and non-reversible process of changes in colouration of organisms associated with their development. Among the many vertebrate groups, amphibians are particularly impressive for their strikingly wide variety of colours, colour patterns, and signals, whose evolutionary and ecological sign...

Using as tool the ecological niche modeling technique (ENM), in this work we look for to estimate the potential geographic distribution of Phyllomedusa tetraploidea in Paraguay. We used occurrence data of the species and climatic layers extracted from the WorldClim database. The models were generated using the Maxent program. Our results identified...

A new species of Leptodactylus frog (Anura: Leptodactylidae) from the South American Gran Chaco, morphologically similar and previously confused with the widespread Leptodactylus mystacinus, is described through the use of multiple sources of evidence (molecular, external morphology, coloration, osteology, bioacoustics, and behavior). The phylogene...

The Chaco is a semi-arid biome that has been influenced by Miocene marine introgressions and relatively recent glaciations. Marine introgressions have been suggested as an important driver of biodiversity for some Chacoan frog species, but the effects of Pleistocene glaciations have not previously been assessed. We used mitochondrial and nuclear ma...

The enigmatic toad Bufo diptychus was described by Cope (1862) based on a single individual (USNM 5841, now lost) of about 25 mm of SVL, collected during the expedition to La Plata River and tributaries, conducted by Captain Page between 1853 and 1856. As no dwarf species of toad was ever recorded in the surveyed area, and based on some tips that a...

The Chaco is one the most neglected and least studied regions of the world. This highly-seasonal semiarid biome is an extensive continuous plain without any geographic barrier, and in spite of its high species diversity, the events and processes responsible have never been assessed. Miocene marine introgressions and Pleistocene glaciations have bee...

Variation in body size represents one of the crucial raw materials for evolution. However, at present, it is still being debated what is the main factor affecting body size or if the final body size is the consequence of several factors acting synergistically. To evaluate this, widespread species seem to be suitable models because the different pop...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Toads belonging to genus Rhinella are used in Paraguayan traditional medicine to treat cancer and skin infections. Aim of the study: The objective of the study was to determine the composition of venoms obtained from three different Paraguayan Rhinella species, to establish the constituents of a preparation sold i...

The Caatinga is a widespread but poorly known biome in South America. Its historical stability is controversial and different types of evidence provide support to contrasting hypotheses. We investigate how past biome dynamics may have caused diversification in the endemic four-eyed frog genus Pleurodema. Caatinga biome. We sampled 353 individuals o...

We describe the chromosome morphology, C-bands, NORs position, and DAPI/CMA3 staining of five species of Pseudopaludicola (P. boliviana, P. canga, P. falcipes, P. mystacalis, and P. ternetzi) from several populations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In addition, the telomeric sequence locations of P. mystacalis and P. canga are evalua...

Character displacement is commonly observed when species occur in secondary contact zones and traits related to resource competition or reproduction diverge in sympatry. However, few studies have considered the factors determining and delimiting the direction of character evolution in this context. We studied displacement in advertisement calls in...

Species distributed across vast continental areas and across major biomes provide unique model systems for studies of biotic diversification, yet also constitute daunting financial, logistic and political challenges for data collection across such regions. The tree frog Dendropsophus minutus (Anura: Hylidae) is a nominal species, continentally dist...

Scinax fuscomarginatus, Scinax parkeri, Scinax trilineatus, Scinax lutzorum, and Scinax pusillus are morphologically similar species with controversial taxonomy associated with open formations of South America east of the Andes. We used external morphology, advertisement call, and molecular sequences to assess the taxonomy of these species. Phyloge...

We present a comprehensive review of larval morphology in the Neotropical toad genus Melanophryniscus. The taxa studied included 23 species with representatives of recognized phenetic groups and different larval ecomorphological guilds: pond, stream, and phytotelm-dwelling tadpoles. Their external morphology variation is congruent with current phen...

Here we describe a new species of the Ischnocnema parva species series from the Parque Estadual do Desengano, in the northern part of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We use morphology and mtDNA sequences to allocate the new species into the I. parva species series. The new species is closely related to I. parva genetically and morphologically,...

We present a cytogenetic survey of the basal bufonid genus Melanophryniscus that covered 14 of the 25 species currently recognized, representing the three phenetic species groups: M. moreirae, M. stelzneri, and M. tumifrons. All species presented a diploid chromosome complement constituted by 11 bi-armed chromosome pairs (2n = 2x = 22; FN = 44). So...

Knowledge of the osteology of species of the Leptodactylus melanonotus group is limited. Nevertheless, osteological characters are useful to diagnose species to, to propose phylogenetic relationships, to understand patterns of morphological evolution, and to predict biological function associated with morphology. Here, we describe the whole osteolo...

El género Simophis incluye serpientes de Brasil y Paraguay, las cuales poseen un patrón de coloración mimético con serpientes de coral con tríadas. Actualmente se cree que el género contiene dos especies: Simophis rhinostoma, descrita de Brasil y también registrada en la literatura paraguaya, y Simophis rohdei considerada como una especie endémica...

Se presentan los resultados de la categorización de la herpetofauna de la República del Paraguay, utilizando las categorías propuestas por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN). El 10,9% de las 82 especies de anfibios analizados y el 14,9% de las 161 especies de reptiles, se encuentra en alguna de las categorías de rie...

Paraguay, Departamento Ñeembucú, Distrito General Díaz, Estancia San José (27º12'05,7" S, 58º26'54,8" O). Colectores y fecha de colección: F. Brusquetti y F. Netto; 18, 19 y 20 de noviembre de 2006. El material de referencia se encuentra depositado en el Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay (MNHNP 11137-57), 17 machos y 4 hembras; y en l...

, were reported as capable of displacing native ones (Hanley et al. 1998, Dame and Petren 2006, Rivas Fuenmayor et al. 2005). Interestingly, human related translocations aided some of these invasive lizards to have currently an almost cosmopolitan distribution in tropical and temperate regions (Vences et al. 2004, Carranza and Arnold 2006). Two of...

Hypsiboas curupi was recently described by Garcia et al. (2007), based on material – previously considered as H. semiguttatus – from several localities of the province of Misiones, Argentina. In a recent checklist of the amphibians of Paraguay, Brusquetti and Lavilla (2006) included the name Hypsiboas aff. semiguttatus for some of the specimens hou...

Francisco Brusquetti¹ Diego Baldo² Martha Motte³ ¹Instituto de Herpetologia, Fundacion Miguel Lillo. Miguel Lillo 251. 4000, Tucuman, Argentina. E-mail: franbrusquetti@gmail.com ²Laboratorio de Genetica Evolutiva y Molecular, Departamento de Genetica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Quimicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones. CONICET. Fel...

In this paper we characterize the morphology of Leptodactylus elenae tadpoles (L. fuscus group) from central Paraguay, considering external morphology, oral disc, buccopharyngeal cavity, skeleton and musculature (N = 17; Gosner Stage 36–37; Central, Paraguay). Specimens were fixed with 10% formaline and were prepared according to a classic staining...

La fauna de anfibios de Paraguay es una de las menos conocidas si la comparamos con la de otros países del sur de América del Sur. Luego de una exhaustiva revisión de las colecciones de diversos museos, así como de la bibliografía pertinente, estamos en condiciones de presentar una lista comentada que incluye tres especies de cecilias y 79 taxa de...