After four decades, a new record of the rare Ceratophrys aurita (Raddi, 1823) (Anura, Ceratophryidae) for the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Similar to other horned frogs (Ceratophryidae), Ceratophrys aurita is emblematic due to its rarity and cryptic habits (Jorge et al., 2015). The species typically inhabits well-conserved forest fragments, burying itself in the leaf litter on the forest floor (Heyer et al., 1990; Izecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva, 2001). Its distribution spans coastal rainforest from Rio Grande do Sul to southern Bahia, with a few records extending into eastern Minas Gerais (Faivovich et al., 2014; Vieira et al., 2018; Augusto-Alves et al., 2023). Although C. aurita is the only species of the genus occurring in the Atlantic Forest (Faivovich et al., 2014), the geographically closest congener to our record is C. joazeirensis, and distinguishing both species may be relevant in transitional areas of eastern Minas Gerais. C. aurita can be readily differentiated by its markedly larger body size, a well-developed digitiform palpebral crest, and a non-cornified inner metatarsal tubercle (Lynch, 1982; Mercadal, 1986).