Weeping Frog

Known from Argentina (provinces of Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Córdoba, Chaco, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, Salta, Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, and Tucumán); adjacent Bolivia (departments of Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz, Tarija); Paraguay (departments of Alto Paraguay, Amambay, Boquerón, Central, Concepción, Áeembucú, Paraguarí, and Presidente Hayes); Uruguay (departments of Artigas, Cerro Largo, Paysandu, Rivera, Río Negro, Rocha, Salto, Soriano, Tacuarambo, Treinta and Tres) and southern and central Brazil. It occurs from 0-1,400m asl.

Adult morphology Snout-vent of about 35-40 mrn. No sex dimorphism in size. Head small, triangular and broad. Snout rounded when seen in dorsal. profile, with swelling latero-dorsal nostrils, located at the tip; in lateral profile gently truncate, slightly protruding an the lower jaw. Interocular distance rather equal to the internarial interval and to the upper eyelid. Canthus rostralis bluntly rounded; loreal region almost indistinct. Maxillary teeth very faint: vornerjne teeth absent. Tongue small, oval, wide only 1/3 of the width of the mouth opening, entire and free behind. Eyes moderately prominent, laterally locatted; their diameter about the length of the snout. Tympanum not visible. Supratympanic ridge weak, indistinct. Fingers slender, free; rate of the finger lengths I-II=IV-III. Metacarpal and subarticular tubercles developed and rounded. Toes free, narrowly fringed; subarticular tubercles conical and prominent. Metatarsal tubercles very strong and sharply prominent, shovel-shaped. Tarsal tubercle small but distinct; no heel tubercle; not tarsal fold. When hindleg is adpressed, heel reaches the tympanic region in males, the shoulder in females. When the femurs are bent at right angles to body the tibio-tarsal articulations fail to meet. Skin loose, dorsally smootls, with flat rounded glandular patches; ventrally very smooth, closely granular on the lower surface of thighs. Thoracic and discoidal folds present. Deep dark skin folds on the gular region of males, the external vocal sac apparently extending across the throat, A large centrally-spotted inguinal gland, its diameter being about 1/8 or 1/9 of the bodv length. Dorsal color pattern very variable: from a greenish or brownish uniform background to a longitudinally dark striped pattern or to an irregular marbled drawn, with an ?-shaped glandular line between the shoulders. Dark bands on the limb. Belly white, immaculate. Larval morphology At stages 34-36 (Gosner, 1960) they are about 23.6 ± 1.3 mm of total length, and they have a depressed body. The body length is about 40% of total length, body shape is ovoid in dorsal view and the maximum width is placed at the middle of the body. In lateral view, the ventral contour is slightly convex in the gular region and convex in the branchial and abdominal regions. The snout is slightly rounded in dorsal view, and truncated in lateral view. The nostrils are rounded and placed in a depression; they are dorsolaterally positioned, closer to the eyes than to the tip of the snout, more visible dorsally than laterally. Their openings are anterodorsally directed and present a slightly elevated marginal rim. The eyes are large and dorsal, dorsolaterally oriented and not visible from ventral view. Pineal organ is not visible. The spiracle is single, lateral, sinistral, short, posterodorsally directed and placed in the second third of the body, with its inner wall fused to it except for the distal end; its opening is rounded or oval, placed approximately at the body midline, being its diameter smaller than the tube diameter, and it is visible laterally and dorsally. The intestinal assa was observed approximately at the center of the abdominal ventral surface or slightly displaced to the left. The vent tube is dextral; it starts at midline but runs on the right side of the longitudinal axis, and is attached to a fold of the ventral fin. A weakly noticeable transversal skin fold separates the vent tube from the abdominal skin. The tail is large, and both fins are slightly higher than the body height. The dorsal fin originates on the body-tail junction or slightly anteriorly to it, and has a regularly curved, convex free margin. It is somewhat higher than the ventral fin, which originates from the longitudinal axis of the posterior wall of the vent tube, and presents a smoothly convex free margin, almost flat. The tail axis is straight, and the tail smoothly stretches towards the tip in its last third, ending acutely rounded. The tail musculature almost reaches the tail end, and myomeres are more visible in the distal half. Neuromasts of the angular, anterior oral, supraorbital, Infraorbital, dorsal, middle and ventral lines are weakly visible. The middle line extends over the tail musculature for a short run, and the dorsal one over the first third of the dorsal fin. The oral disc is anteroventral, small, emarginated, and has a large dorsal gap. Marginal papillae are arranged in a single row on both sides of the dorsal gap and angular region; they are in single (sometimes alternate) and/or double row in the ventral region. Papillae are simple, longer than wide, subconical, with rounded tip. Submarginal papillae are absent. The upper jaw sheath is convex in the middle, near trapezoid, and the lower jaw sheath is U-shaped. Both jaw sheaths are finely serrated and pigmented distally for about 1/3 of their widths. Labial tooth row formula is 2(2)/2(1), P2 is slightly shorter than P1, the gap in A2 is evident but that of P1 is very narrow.

LC. Least Concern.

Physalaemus biligonigerus is a species of frog in the family Leptodactylidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, temperate grassland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, sandy shores, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, urban areas, heavily degraded former forest, water storage areas, ponds, irrigated land, seasonally flooded agricultural land, and canals and ditches.