Resumen En este trabajo reanalizamos especímenes de Paraguay asignados a la especie Rhinella icterica provenientes de los departamentos de Canindeyú y Amambay ubicados en la ecorregión del Cerrado. En base a la evaluación de caracteres morfológicos externos concluimos que los mismos deben ser asignados a la especie Rhinella cerradensis. Por otro lado, consideramos que no hay evidencia de que la especie R. icterica se encuentre en el país.

Abstract In this work, we reanalyzed specimens from Paraguay assigned to the species Rhinella icterica from the departments of Canindeyú and Amambay located in the Cerrado ecoregion. Based on the evaluation of external morphological characters, we conclude that they should be assigned to the species Rhinella cerradensis. On the other hand, we consider that there is no evidence that R. icterica is present in the country.

Resumo Neste trabalho reanalisamos espécimes do Paraguai atribuídos à espécie Rhinella icterica dos departamentos de Canindeyú e Amambay localizados na ecorregião do Cerrado. Com base na avaliação dos caracteres morfológicos externos, concluímos que eles devem ser atribuídos à espécie Rhinella cerradensis. Por outro lado, consideramos que não há evidências de que a espécie R. icterica seja encontrada no país.

Abstract The evolution of reproductive strategies depends on the relative balance between current benefits and future costs. Geographic variation in demographic and ecological factors has the potential to affect reproductive strategies by altering this optimal cost-benefit balance. Here, we studied a population of the harvestmen Discocyrtus prospicuus inhabiting an environment never studied before in this context: a tidal freshwater wetland. We made monthly observations of male-female interactions and their association with egg clutches during a two-year field survey. Our results do not match the expected pattern for this species, consisting of males deserting females immediately after copulation, and females laying isolated eggs and abandoning them after oviposition. Conversely, we show for the first-time pairs D. prospicuus, formed by a female and a male, resting together before and after oviposition. Females of this wetland population lay the eggs in small clutches and some of the clutches had eggs in more than one stage of development. Also, we found many females alone over or near the egg clutch in the typical resting position. These findings markedly widen the behavioral specter previously reported for this species and set the stage for future research to determine the causes of these variations.

Abstract There is a great amount of ecological information for terrestrial arthropods in several types of habitats, but few studies have focused on populations living in tidal freshwater wetlands. During a two-year field survey, we studied the temporal dynamics of the harvestman Discocyrtus prospicuus inhabiting a freshwater wetland exposed to predictable tides and unpredictable floods. We also explored the effects of temperature, precipitation, and tide level on the population dynamics and reproductive phenology. Our findings are markedly different from those reported in other harvestman species living in different habitats and also from conspecific populations living in the mainland. Adults, subadults, and juveniles remain active throughout the year, and a long breeding season was observed. However, the number of adults, subadults, juveniles, and egg clutches showed clear variations over the year without a consistent seasonal pattern. Contrary to the general pattern in harvestmen, no climatic variables were significant predictors of abundance fluctuations. We discuss the potential masking effect of unpredictable flood events, obscuring the relationship between abundance and abiotic factors. In addition, given that climatic conditions seem to favor harvestmen activity throughout the year, we also hypothesized that abundance variations could be driven mainly by biotic rather than by abiotic interactions.