A new cryptic species of terrestrial breeding frog of the Pristimantis danae Group (Anura, Strabomantidae) from montane forests in Ayacucho, Peru

Based on morphological and molecular characters, we describe a new species of terrestrial breeding frog of the Pristimantis danae Group from montane forests of La Mar Province, Ayacucho Department in southern Peru, at elevations from 1200 to 2000 m a.s.l. The phylogenetic analysis, based on concatenated sequences of gene fragments of 16S rRNA, RAG1, COI and TYR suggests that the new species is a sister taxon of a clade that includes one undescribed species of Pristimantis from Cusco, Pristimantis pharangobates and Pristimantis rhabdolaemus . The new species is most similar to P. rhabdolaemus , which differs by lacking scapular tubercules and by its smaller size (17.0–18.6 mm in males [n = 5], 20.8–25.2 mm in females [n = 5] in the new species vs. 22.8–26.3 mm in males [n = 19], 26.0–31.9 mm in females [n = 30] of P. rhabdolaemus ). Additionally, we report the prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in this species.