Checklist of the genus Aparasphenodon Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920 (Anura: Hylidae): Distribution map, and new record from São Paulo state,

: The distribution of the genus Aparasphenodon is mapped and we report the southernmost record of Aparasphenodon

The distribution of the genus can be summarized as follows: Aparasphenodon venezolanus is found in the Amazon forest of southwestern Venezuela, eastern Colombia and northern Brazil, and is known only from a few localities (Table 1) along the Rio Negro basin; A. arapapa is known from a few localities only (Table 2), in the Atlantic Forest, between Paraguaçu and Jequitinhonha rivers, in Bahia state; A. bokermanni is also known only from a few localities (Table 3) in the subtropical Atlantic Forest of southern São Paulo and Santa Catarina states, and is expected to occur in the geographically intermediate state of Parana, although no individuals have been recorded there yet; A. brunoi is widely distributed over the Atlantic Forest, and is reported from several localities (Table 4) between northern coastal São Paulo state and Bahia ( Figure 1). Sazima and Cardoso (1980), and later Gioia and Souza-Lima (1988) recorded Aparasphenodon brunoi in the restingas of Lázaro beach, Ubatuba municipality, in São Paulo state. More than twenty years have passed and no other locality of A. brunoi in São Paulo state has been recorded.
In August 2009 we collected, a juvenile male of Aparasphenodon brunoi (snout-vent length 41.1 mm) (Figure 2), which was found immobile inside an epiphytic bromeliad, 50 cm above the ground, at about 20:00 h, on the border of a small restinga forest fragment, no longer than 200 m, in Caraguatatuba municipality, coastal São Paulo state (23°39'26.6" S, 45°25'56.62" W, WGS 84, 5 m a.s.l.). Our record confirms that A. brunoi is still present in the area, and represents the second locality for the species in São Paulo, as well as the southernmost locality of its distributional range, extending it approximately 35 km southwestwards along the coast of São Paulo ( Figure 3).
The specimen was euthanized using a lethal dose of anesthesics, fixed in 10% formalin, preserved in 70% alcohol (ICMBio permit number l4555-3), and deposited in the herpetological collection of Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (MZUSP 149809 ). Although very common in coastal restingas and some inland forests in the northern part of its distribution, Aparasphenodon brunoi seems to be relatively rare at the southern end of its distribution, although ground and epiphytic bromeliads are very abundant in that area. This local rarity could be related to subtropical conditions, which cause lower temperatures along the coastal plain, thus working as a putative physiological barrier. Recently substantial populations of the collared lizard Tropidurus torquatus (Sena et al. 2008) and of an anole lizard (the authors, unpublished data) have been found on the northern São Paulo coast, where despite large previous sampling efforts they had never been recorded, (or only from a few specimens). This southern expansion was hypothesized to be related to global warming, allowing those lizards to disperse southwards and colonize new regions that they could not reach before (Sena et al. 2008).
It is difficult to evaluate whether the occurrence of Aparasphenodon brunoi south of Ubatuba is a recent expansion or the result of increased herpetofaunal sampling efforts. However habitat destruction is certainly shrinking the species distribution. The area in Caraguatatuba where we found the specimen is a small circular fragment of restinga forest, no more than 200 m long, and not connected with any larger continuous piece of forest. The collection locality is concealed within a highly populated region where most of the original habitat has been completely removed. Coordinates: 1=as given in the publication; 2=from city town; 3=obtained through Google Earth software. Coordinates: 1=as given in the publication; 2=from city town; 3=obtained through Google Earth software.  Sazima and Cardoso (1980); Gioia and Souza-Lima (1988) Coordinates: 1= given in the publication; 2=from city town; 3=obtained through Google Earth software; 4= given on SpeciesLink web portal; 5=took with a GPS.
Aparasphenodon brunoi is currently considered of "least concern" by the IUCN because it is widely distributed (Rocha et al. 2004). However the populations are decreasing, probably due to habitat loss as we observed in Caraguatatuba, and due to other human activities along the Brazilian sandy coastal plains, like human settlements (Rocha et al. 2004).
Thus the new record presented here is of interest to the understanding of how climatic changes can affect species range expansion, a relatively well documented phenomenon for species inhabiting temperate areas (Melles et al. 2011;Imbert et al. 2012;Mair et al. 2012), but that is still poorly addressed in tropical environments, such as the Atlantic Forest. Our results also point out that after more than 20 years without any further record Aparasphenodon brunoi is still present in the restinga forests of São Paulo state, a very anthropized environment in the São Paulo's Atlantic Forest, which obviously needs urgent conservation plans.