Bryophryne wilakunka, Riva & Chaparro & Castroviejo-Fisher & Padial, 2018

Bryophryne View in CoL

Two allopatric species from the Carabaya mountains of Puno, B. wilakunka sp. nov., from the Ayapata Valley at c. 3940 m, and B. tocra sp. nov., from Ollachea valley at c. 3840 m, are found as sister groups in maximum likelihood analyses with maximum support while they collapse into a polytomy in parsimony analyses ( Fig. 1B). The polytomy might result from partial overlap in homologous sequences between these two species, leading to inconclusive phylogenetic signal (optimal trees placed B. wilakunka sp. nov. as either the sister to or embedded within B. tocra ). Still, the two species are morphologically distinct and reciprocally diagnosable (see diagnoses), and genetic distances are 3.5% ( Table 1). The two species occur isolated from each other in the headwaters of their, respectively, glacial valleys, which run in parallel and are separated by the highest parts of the Carabaya massif.

Bryophryne quellokunka sp. nov. from the Marcapata Valley of the Vilcanota (Willkanuta) mountains in department Cusco at c. 3960 m was inferred as the sister group of B. cophites and they have genetic distances of 3.8%–4.0% ( Fig. 1B). Bryophryne cophites occurs in the Paucartambo valley, c. 70 km north of the Marcapata Valley. These two species show qualitative differences in external morphology (see Diagnosis of the new species). They are allopatric and are separated by a long series of steep crests, mountains and deep valleys that run from west to east along the eastern versant of the Vilcanota range.