Osornophryne bufoniformis (Peracca 1904)

Atelopus bufoniformis Peracca, 1904:20

SYNTYPES.—Two specimens, UT An. 561, in the Zoological Museum of the University of Torino, Italy.

DESCRIPTION.—Snout from above angulate and pointed, with a sharp angle at level of nostril; canthi from nostril to eye almost parallel, without a curve; eye strongly protruding and directed slightly forward; canthus fleshy and raised above median area of snout; dorsum of eye fleshy with many wrinkles and grooves. Dorsolateral area of head behind eye with a prominent ridge from eye level extending posteriorly along back, converging on ridge from opposite side to a point above shoulder, at which point they diverge until they disappear. Second, more glandular ridge arises at corner of eye and runs over tympanic region, either ending in small boss at end of head, or continuous with a glandular dorsolateral fold. Rest of head dorsally covered with wrinkles, grooves, and pustules. Snout from side extends very slightly beyond end of lower jaw, and is either bluntly rounded or weakly pointed. Loreal region vertical, not concave; entire side of head with rather thick skin, wrinkled, grooved, and with small, fleshy, flattened warts, increasing in prominence over tympanic area. Entire body, limbs, chin, throat, and belly heavily pustulate or warty, with pustules low and flattened.

Forelimb very short, slender. When limb is carried along body, digits barely reach insertion of hind leg. Hand with very fleshy webbing enclosing first digit completely, second and fourth almost as completely, and on third digit to tip as fringe, with whole foot giving appearance of toad wearing a mitten. Entire lower surface of hand as heavily pustulate as rest of body, obscuring subarticular tubercles completely; plantar tubercle very vaguely defined. Hind limb short, slender; tibiotarsal articulation reaches to points on side well behind axilla when leg is carried forward along body; heels widely separated when tibiofibulae are parallel to femora at right angles to body. Entire foot with very thick, fleshy webbing, enclosing fully all digits except fourth, which is fringed to tip by web. No distinguishable tubercles on sole, which is fleshy and wrinkled; outer metatarsal tubercle vaguely defined, inner metatarsal tubercle even more vaguely defined.

COLOR IN ALCOHOL.—Dorsum of body, head, and limbs entirely very dark brown to black; only occasional individuals with somewhat lighter brown vermiculations on back. Venter of body brown, with more or less vague dull yellowish mottling. Sole of feet lighter than rest of ventral surfaces.

COLOR IN LIFE.—USNM 193537 was very reddish in life, and the warty pustules on the venter were a very bright red. USNM 193538 had yellow pustules on the venter.

SYNTYPES.—The two syntypes are badly dried, but it is still possible to identify them as bufoniformis in the sense of this paper. The larger of the two syntypes is the individual for which measurements are presented in the original description. The second specimen is about 20 millimeters long. The larger specimen fits the description above except as follows: the glandular ridges arising at the corners of the eye are continuous with the glandular dorsolateral folds. The snout from the side is bluntly rounded. The specimen is too badly dried to carry foot forward, but Peracca said that the tibiotarsal articulation “raggiunge scarsamente la spalla.”

Osornophryne bufoniformis is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is found in the Andes of southern Colombia (Colombian Massif) and northern Ecuador. Common name Peracca's plump toad has been proposed for it, in allusion to Mario Giacinto Peracca, the scientist who described this species in 1904.