*Article* **A New Genus of Terrestrial-Breeding Frogs (Holoadeninae, Strabomantidae, Terrarana) from Southern Peru**

#### **Alessandro Catenazzi 1,\*, Luis Mamani 2,3, Edgar Lehr 4 and Rudolf von May 5**


http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0B8FFBEE-96AA-46E1-BA6F-541DC9FA73BF Received: 7 April 2020; Accepted: 6 May 2020; Published: 8 May 2020

**Abstract:** We propose to erect a new genus of terrestrial-breeding frogs of the Terrarana clade to accommodate three species from the Province La Convención, Department of Cusco, Peru previously assigned to *Bryophryne*: *B. flammiventris*, *B. gymnotis*, and *B. mancoinca*. We examined types and specimens of most species, reviewed morphological and bioacoustic characteristics, and performed molecular analyses on the largest phylogeny of *Bryophryne* species to date. We performed phylogenetic analysis of a dataset of concatenated sequences from fragments of the 16S rRNA and 12S rRNA genes, the protein-coding gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), the nuclear protein-coding gene recombination-activating protein 1 (RAG1), and the tyrosinase precursor (Tyr). The three species are immediately distinguishable from all other species of *Bryophryne* by the presence of a tympanic membrane and annulus, and by males having median subgular vocal sacs and emitting advertisement calls. Our molecular phylogeny confirms that the three species belong to a new, distinct clade, which we name *Qosqophryne*, and that they are reciprocally monophyletic with species of *Microkayla*. These two genera (*Qosqophryne* and *Microkayla*) are more closely related to species of *Noblella* and *Psychrophrynella* than to species of *Bryophryne*. Although there are no known morphological synapomorphies for either *Microkayla* or *Qosqophryne*, the high endemism of their species, and the disjoint geographic distribution of the two genera, with a gap region of ~310 km by airline where both genera are absent, provide further support for *Qosqophryne* having long diverged from *Microkayla*. The exploration of high elevation moss and leaf litter habitats in the tropical Andes will contribute to increase knowledge of the diversity and phylogenetic relationships within Terrarana.

**Keywords:** amphibian; Andes; Cusco; high elevation; Neotropical; *Qosqophryne*; tropical mountain; systematic; taxonomy
