A new subspecies of glass frog, Nymphargus grandisonae orense ssp. n. (Anura: Centrolenidae), from southwestern Ecuador

We describe a new subspecies of glass frog within Nymphargus grandisonae from El Oro province, southwestern Ecuador, based on morphological, genetic, ecological and geographic data. Nymphargus grandisonae is characterized by having red dots on a green dorsum, white urinary bladder, males with humeral spines, and snout–vent length 27.5–31.5 mm in adult females and 25.1–29.4 mm in adult males. The new subspecies is distinguished from N. g. grandisonae and all other members of the family Centrolenidae by its distinctive colouration with red dots on a green dorsum, snout–vent length 32.1–36.2 mm in adult females and 31.5–33.6 mm in adult males, proportionally larger hands than the nominal subspecies, humeral spines in males, lobed liver, transparent hepatic peritoneum, white oesophagus and stomach fundus peritonea, and clear urinary bladder. The new subspecies was discovered at the Buenaventura Reserve in Seasonal Foothill forests at elevations between 950 and 1140 m and is probably endemic to the southern section of the Western Ecuador biogeographic province. Unfortunately, the extinction risk of the new subspecies is relatively high due to the impact of mining activities and habitat destruction. In addition, based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences, we present a new phylogeny for Nymphargus and comment on the phylogenetic relationships within the genus. The new subspecies is nested within N. g. grandisonae and is separated by low genetic distances (0.1 to 0.5% for gene 12S), suggesting a recent origin.