Amphibia , Anura , Dendropsophus ruschii : Distribution extension , new state record , and geographic distribution map .

Dendropsophus ruschii (Weygoldt & Peixoto, 1987) is a small sized hylid frog (snout-vent lenght 24.5-27.9 mm in males, 26.7-29.0 mm in females) described from Domingos Martins and Santa Teresa, state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil, on elevations of approximately 800 m (Weygoldt and Peixoto 1987). The holotype of D. ruschii (deposited at the "Eugenio Izecksohn" collection, in the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; EI 7741) was collected in a forest fragment belonging to the farm of Mr. Angelo Bellon. This forested area is continuous to that of the Parque Estadual da Pedra Azul, a protected area at the municipality of Domingos Martins (C. A. G. Cruz, pers. obs.). Dendropsophus ruschii is considered Vulnerable by the Red List of Threatened Species from the state of Espírito Santo (Espírito Santo 2005), and Data Deficient by the IUCN list (IUCN 2006). Recently, Peloso and Gasparini (2006) rediscovered the species near the park (ca. 2024' S, 4101' W; 1200 m).

Dendropsophus ruschii (Weygoldt & Peixoto, 1987) is a small sized hylid frog (snout-vent lenght 24.5-27.9mm in males, 26.7-29.0mm in females) described from Domingos Martins and Santa Teresa, state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil, on elevations of approximately 800 m (Weygoldt and Peixoto 1987).The holotype of D. ruschii (deposited at the "Eugenio Izecksohn" collection, in the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; EI 7741) was collected in a forest fragment belonging to the farm of Mr. Angelo Bellon.This forested area is continuous to that of the Parque Estadual da Pedra Azul, a protected area at the municipality of Domingos Martins (C. A. G. Cruz, pers.obs.).Dendropsophus ruschii is considered Vulnerable by the Red List of Threatened Species from the state of Espírito Santo (Espírito Santo 2005), and Data Deficient by the IUCN list (IUCN 2006).Recently, Peloso and Gasparini (2006) rediscovered the species near the park (ca.20 o 24' S, 41 o 01' W; 1200 m).
Herein we report a new record for Dendropsophus ruschii on the neighboring state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil.Specimens were found at Fazenda Floresta (20º47' S, 42º10' W; 1087 m), within the Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) da Pedra Dourada, municipality of Pedra Dourada, state of Minas Gerais.Species range is extended ca.165 airline km southwestern from the Parque Estadual da Pedra Azul, the southernmost locality from where it was previously known (Figure 1).Nacional, Rio de Janeiro; MNRJ 47849-47857, males, snout-vent lenght 17.5-19.1 mm).All specimens were found at night, perching on branches of bushes and small trees near small rivulets, one to two meters above the ground.
The specimens from Pedra Dourada are smaller than those studied by Weygoldt and Peixoto (1987).We have examined three other female specimens (MNRJ 31548-31550, collected at the Parque Estadual da Pedra Azul, Domingos Martins, on September 2000, by G. M. Prado), which are similar in size (snout vent-length 16.5-20.9mm) to specimens from Pedra Dourada.Weygoldt and Peixoto (1987) observed the presence of a white line from the canthus rostralis to the tympanic ring or from the canthus rostralis along the sides of the dorsum to the foot.Most specimens we examined present these lines from the canthus rostralis to the tympanic ring, but they are interrupted in the midbody and reappear at the inguinal region (Figure 2).The APA of Pedra Dourada has about 5300 ha, altitudes varying from 480 to 1400 m, mean annual temperature of 18.8 ºC, and annual rain rate of 1339.7 mm.The region is characterized by small but well-preserved patches of Atlantic Rain Forest, associated to eucalyptus plantations.Two rivulets (Ribeirão Jacutinga and Ribeirão São João) belonging to the basin of Paraíba do Sul river provide a great volume of water in this forested area.During our field works, we have recorded 30 anuran species distributed in seven families: Brachycephalidae (2), Bufonidae (1), Hylidae (18), Cycloramphidae (3), Leiuperidae (3), Leptodactylidae (2), and Microhylidae (1).
As Dendropsophus ruschii, some species like Aplastodiscus cavicola, Ischnocnema verrucosa, and Zachaenus carvalhoi, previously known only from the north portion of the Mantiqueira mountain range, also had their ranges expanded on the last years with new records within this area (R. N. Feio pers.obs.; Caramaschi and Canedo 2006;and Dayrell et al. 2006, respectively).Otherwise, a different pattern is observed for Aplastodiscus weygoldti, Proceratophrys schirchi, and Phyllodytes kautskyi, which had their geographical distribution extended from the north portion of the Mantiqueira mountain range to the northeastern of the state of Minas Gerais and southern of the state of Bahia (Pimenta et al. 2005;Pimenta and Silvano 2001;and C. A. G. Cruz, pers. obs., respectively).
The present record of Dendropsophus ruschii for the state of Minas Gerais represents a relevant contribution for the knowledge of the geographic distribution and hence of the real conservation status of this species.