Lagoa Santa's Tree Frog

The SVL varies from 18-23 mm in males and from 21-25 mm in females. Snout truncate or rounded. Head as long as wide. The tympanum is distinct and nearly circular. Nostrils dorsolateral. The dorsal surface is smooth. Hands with a distinct palmar tubercle; subarticular tubercles rounded. Prepollex distinct. Legs slender. Toes not robust. The color in life also varies, but almost all the specimens have a dark green or dark brown color pattern. A dark brown stripe bordered by a white stripe is visible on the flanks and canthus rostralis. Belly white. Toe and finger discs are reddish. Many specimens bear two divergent dorsal brown stripes, from the anterior section of the head to nearly the middle of the body (Napoli and Caramaschi 1999).The tadpole has a total length of 30 mm at Gosner stage 35. The body is depressed dorsoventrally in lateral view and violin-shaped in dorsal view; body length approximately 35% of total length; snout slightly triangular in dorsal and ventral views; nostrils large, elliptical. Spiracle sinistral, short, not projecting, located at the beginning of the posterior third of the body, with inner wall present. Vent tube short, dextral, attached to ventral fin. Tail has terminal flagellum; dorsal fin begins at the posterior edge of the body. Oral disc anteroventral reduced to U-shaped yoke around mouth and modified into a projecting tube. Papillae, denticles, and dermal ridges between the beak and lower lip are absent. In life, the tadpole body is reddish brown with a conspicuous median brown mark dorsally and a brown stripe from the tip of the snout through the eye to the posterior margin of the body. Tail pale brown anteriorly, reddish brown with yellowish spots posteriorly (Pugliese et al. 2001).Dendropsophus rubicundulus belongs to the D. microcephalus species group (Faivovich et al., 2005); it was formerly placed in the D. rubicundulus species group (Napoli and Caramaschi 1999). Rabello (1970) and Gruber et al. (2005) reported a 30-chromosome karyotype in D. rubicundulus, with the majority being telocentric and subtelocentric chromosomes.

Dendropsophus rubicundulus lives in open areas, near temporary and permanent ponds. The species' distribution is associated with the biome Cerrado, in the States of Minas Gerais, Goiás, Distrito Federal, Bahia, Tocantins, Piauí and in the far northern of São Paulo, Brazil (Napoli and Caramaschi 1999).

This species can be found from October to January, at the forest edge and in open areas, such as grasslands, pasturelands and natural Cerrado fields (Brasileiro et al. 2008; pers. obs.).Males of Dendropsophus rubicundulus call at the beginning of the night (19:00 to 21:00) from herbaceous vegetation, on branches or leaves (usually 40-50 cm above the ground) near temporary ponds (such as rain-filled pools, rice fields, farm ponds, and swamps) and permanent ponds (such as pools and rivulets) (Cardoso and Vielliard 1985; Haddad et al. 1988; Bastos et al. 2003). The chorus size can vary from 10-40 calling males (pers. obs.). The advertisement call was described by Cardoso and Vielliard (1985) and Napoli and Caramaschi (1999). Call is composed of 2 notes; notes are given at the interval of 0.3s; note duration: 0.02s. The advertisement call can be heard in Toledo et al. (2008). Amplexus is axillary (Bastos et al. 2003). Adults lay eggs in lentic water bodies (reproductive mode 1 of Haddad and Prado, 2005); the tadpole is benthic and can be found from November to April (Barreto and Moreira 1996; pers. obs.). Development lasts about 30 days (Barreto and Moreira 1996).

Its range is within several protected areas, like the Parque Estadual Nova Baden, at Lambari-MG, Floresta Nacional de Silvania, at Silvania-GO (Bastos et al. 2003), Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipo, at Jaboticatubas-MG (Pugliese et al. 2001), Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, at Delfinopolis-MG (Haddad et al. 1988), Parque Nacional Grande Sertao Veredas, and others located in the Cerrado domain in the State of Minas Gerais, Estação Ecologica de Aguas Emendadas, at Planaltina-DF (Brandao and Araujo 1998)., Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades, at Piracuruca-PI (Annunziata et al. 2007). It is a relatively common species within its range (Brandao and Araujo 1998).

Dendropsophus rubicundulus (common name: Lagoa Santa treefrog) is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. It is found in Bolivia and Brazil. Earlier records from Paraguay are probably based on misidentified Dendropsophus jimi and Dendropsophus elianeae, but it is still likely to be also found in that country.

Dendropsophus rubicundulus is very common in Brazil but not elsewhere. It is found in the cerrado ecoregion and inhabits emergent or marginal herbaceous vegetation near ponds, pools, or lagoons in open areas. It is suffering from habitat loss.