''Dendrophryniscus proboscideus'' is a species of

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

in the family

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Southeastern Brazil The Southeast Region of Brazil ( ) is composed of the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo State, São Paulo. It is the richest region of the country, responsible for approximately 53% of t ...

and known from isolated records in fragments of Atlantic Forest in eastern

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

and northeastern

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

states.

Taxonomy

This species has been through a series of taxonomic changes. It was originally named ''Phryniscus proboscideus'', and then ''Rhamphophryne proboscidea''. A merge of the genus ''Rhamphophryne'' into ''

Rhinella ''Rhinella'', commonly known as South American toads, beaked toads or Rio Viejo toads, is a genus of true toads native to Neotropical parts of Mexico, Central and South America. Additionally, the cane toad has been Introduced species, Introduced ...

'' briefly placed this species into junior

homonymy In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; ''homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or ''homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciatio ...

with a different species, '' Rhinella proboscidea''. To resolve this, it was renamed ''Rhinella boulengeri'' in 2007. A 2012 analysis moved the species into the genus ''

Dendrophryniscus ''Dendrophryniscus'' is a genus of Bufonidae, true toads in the family Bufonidae, sometimes known as tree toads. They are endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Taxonomy Until 2012, the genus ''Dendrophryniscus'' included the species now sepa ...

'' and renamed it ''Dendrophryniscus proboscideus''.

Description

''Dendrophryniscus proboscideus'' are relatively large among the ''Dendrophryniscus'', measuring in snout–vent length. The body is slender and warty. The snout is protruding. The males have

nuptial pad A nuptial pad (also known as thumb pad, or nuptial excrescence) is a secondary sex characteristic present on some mature male frogs and salamanders. Triggered by androgen hormones, this breeding gland (a type of mucous gland) appears as a spike ...

Habitat and conservation

''Dendrophryniscus proboscideus'' inhabits pristine and somewhat disturbed lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s, often in association with small streams. It is a leaf-litter species active during the day. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

caused by expansion of agriculture, wood plantations, and human settlements, livestock grazing, clear-cutting, and collection of

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q22112556 proboscideus Amphibians of the Atlantic Forest Endemic frogs of Brazil Amphibians described in 1882 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot