Telmatobiinos de las lagunas basálticas de Neuquén (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

Abstract

The Telmatobiinae from the Province of Neuquen constitute a very significant batracological element of the basalt-infiltration lakes, which spread over the plains with Tertiary and Quaternary eruptive rocks, between Zapala and the hills of Catán-Lil. These extra-Andean areas were glaciated only in part and represent a remodelling of the ancient Miocene "praebasaltic" landscape of Groeber. The presence of Telmatobiinae could constitute a relict aspect of an ancient Patagonian Cenozoic colonization. The characteristics of the Neuquenian species are too poor for their inclusion in the genus Batrachophrynus, and they are better adscribed to Telmatobius. Two species are recognized : T. patagonicus (Gallardo), for the "lagunas" Blanca, del Teru and del Burro and de los Flamencos, and T. praebasalticus sp. n. for the «lagunas» del Teru and del Burro. The remarkable polymorphism of T. patagonicus allows one to recognize distinct morphological populations in each lake, characterized through their topographic and genetic isolation. In the Laguna Blanca two morphological forms are recognized, an "aquatic" one and a "littoral" one, whose sympatry suggests the existence of cryptic species in those isolated water-bodies. The ecological differences between T. patagonicus and T. praebasalticus suggest a probable primitivity of the last named.