Deep divergences among inconspicuously colored clades of Epipedobates poison frogs

[Display omitted] •The poison frog genus Epipedobates is ∼11 My old and contains eight putative species.•Inconspicuous Epipedobates spp. are more deeply diverged genetically than aposematic spp.•We reorganize the E. boulengeri/espinosai species complex into four species.•We synonymize E. darwinwallacei with E. espinosai.•We provide the first genetic data for E. narinensis. Poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) are famous for their aposematic species, having a combination of diverse color patterns and defensive skin toxins, yet most species in this family are inconspicuously colored and considered non-aposematic. Epipedobates is among the youngest genus-level clades of Dendrobatidae that includes both aposematic and inconspicuous species. Using Sanger-sequenced mitochondrial and nuclear markers, we demonstrate deep genetic divergences among inconspicuous species of Epipedobates but relatively shallow genetic divergences among conspicuous species. Our phylogenetic analysis includes broad geographic sampling of the inconspicuous lineages typically identified as E. boulengeri and E. espinosai, which reveals two putative new species, one in west-central Colombia (E. sp. 1) and the other in north-central Ecuador (E. aff. espinosai). We conclude that E. darwinwallacei is a junior subjective synonym of E. espinosai. We also clarify the geographic distributions of inconspicuous Epipedobates species including the widespread E. boulengeri. We provide a qualitative assessment of the phenotypic diversity in each nominal species, with a focus on the color and pattern of inconspicuous species. We conclude that Epipedobates contains eight known valid species, six of which are inconspicuous. A relaxed molecular clock analysis suggests that the most recent common ancestor of Epipedobates is ∼11.1 million years old, which nearly doubles previous estimates. Last, genetic information points to a center of species diversity in the Chocó at the southwestern border of Colombia with Ecuador. A Spanish translation of this text is available in the supplementary materials. Las ranas venenosas (Dendrobatidae) son famosas por sus especies aposemáticas, que se caracterizan por una combinación de diversos patrones de color y toxinas cutáneas defensivas. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las especies de esta familia tienen colores inconspicuos y no se consideran aposemáticas. Epipedobates se encuentra entre los clados más jóvenes a nivel de género de Dendrobatidae que incluye especies tanto aposemáticas