Researcher describes species more than half a century after sound recording made by naturalist Werner Bokermann
The Jacques Vielliard Neotropical Fonoteca (FNJV), at the Unicamp Zoology Museum, holds some of the records made in the field by naturalist Werner Bokermann (1929-1995), famous for his study of so-called anuran amphibians, that is, frogs, toads and tree frogs. An audio collected by him in February 1965 - to access the audio, enter the number 31921 at the top of page, on the right, under “search collections”) brings the song of a frog that until then no one knew and which, at that time, was found in Lagoa da Pampulha, in Belo Horizonte. More than half a century later, it is now known that the little frog that sang very quickly there is the Pseudopaludicola matuta, a recent discovery by biologist Felipe Silva de Andrade, a doctoral student at Unicamp. The find turned into a article published in November in European Journal of Taxonomy. Andrade co-authored the article with researchers Isabelle Haga, Mariana Lyra, Thiago de Carvalho, Célio Haddad, Ariovaldo Giaretta and Luís Felipe Toledo.
In the publication, Felipe, as the main author, describes the morphology of the frog, the analyzes of its genetic material, and, above all, its song, which is an important differentiator for these species. “The announcement song of P. matuta is a vocalization composed of series of short pulsed notes, each note having two pulses. The main difference is the speed with which the notes are emitted by the males”, describes the biologist.
Felipe talks about the difference between matuta and Pseudopaludicola mineira, its closest relative, identified by Argentine researcher Fernando Lobo, in 1994. In Bokermann's record, available at Fonoteca, the song of P. matuta ended up being confused for many years with the song of P. mining. If it weren't for Felipe's keen ear, perhaps the mistake would persist. “The males of P. mining they emit their pulsed notes more slowly”, he explains.
The expedition in search of the little frog that sang differently took Felipe to the city of Curvelo and the Serra do Cipó National Park, in Minas Gerais. The researcher was lucky because the day before a storm hit and the frogs appeared. “Silence in the marsh is bad and, if it doesn’t rain, the animal doesn’t sing”, he warns.
With recorder and microphone in hand, he went to “interview the frogs” as it seemed to local residents. Felipe reports that it is very difficult to separate the song of a single individual for later analysis. The species is usually just over an inch long and the researcher needs to get the microphone very close to get a good sample.
Curvelo is the place where the Pseudopaludicola giarettai, another frog related to P. matuta. It was in the description of this species that the researcher reported that there was another that lived in the place, which had not yet been identified. “That’s when the interest in returning to Curvelo arose. Pseudopaludicola matuta e P. giarettai occur together in the region. There is the type locality of the two species”, highlights Felipe.
The city is less than 200 kilometers away from Serra do Cipó, where the P. matuta can also be found, in addition to the “sister” P. mining. The mystery is that the species discovered by Felipe is at the bottom of the mountain while the P. mining occurs in the highest part. “We found within the park an opportunity for future studies to understand the role of Serra do Cipó in the process of formation of these species”, says the doctoral student.
A P. matuta It is the fourth species of frog described by the student and researcher and the second in his doctoral project supervised by professor and namesake Felipe Toledo. Professor at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU) Ariovaldo Giaretta is co-advisor of his thesis. The doctoral student cataloged, while still an undergraduate, the Pseudopaludicola facureae which was named in honor of professor Kátia Facure, from UFU. During his master's degree, Felipe cataloged the P. jaredi in honor of researcher Carlos Jared, from the Butantã Institute. Already in the doctorate and before P. matuta, Felipe discovered the P. florencei named after the photographer Hércules Florence, considered one of the “fathers” of bioacoustics.
Biodiversity
Brazil is the number one country in the world in terms of biodiversity and it could not be any different in relation to amphibians. Professor Felipe Toledo, also coordinator and curator of Fonoteca, calculates that there are thousands of different species of tree frogs, toads and toads already registered and thousands more still unknown. Bioacoustics analyzes are fundamental to understanding the behavior of species. Usually the male sings to attract the female.
Felipe Toledo highlights the importance of museums and music libraries for the preservation of these collections. “We live in a complex sociopolitical moment. We had the fire at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro and we have been living with a reduction in incentives for research.” The teacher believes that it is necessary to highlight the importance of museums not only for the specimens of animals deposited, but also for the collection of sounds.
In this sense, the professor, students and employees of Fonoteca Jacques Vielliard wrote a letter to the magazine Nature, also published in November.
In the letter, the authors highlight the security system of the Museum of Zoology and the sound collection of the Unicamp Fonoteca, considered the fourth largest in the world and the main in Latin America. “If our collection catches fire, we have copies in several locations and even in virtual warehouses. We also draw the attention of governments and researchers to the importance of depositing their recordings and preserving the collection. Without this type of biodiversity collection, we cannot even discover that the species are new”, comments the professor.
“Every nation that dreams of one day being developed has invested heavily in basic research like the ones we are doing. Brazil can be a model in this, treating biodiversity in a different way”, adds the doctoral student.
Listen to the recording made in Curvelo, MG, by Felipe Silva de Andrade