Fifty years after: A taxonomic revision of the amphibian species from the Ecuadorian biodiversity hotspot Abra de Zamora, with description of two new Pristimantis species

Materials and methods Ethics statement This study was carried out in strict accordance with the guidelines for use of live amphibians and reptiles in field research compiled by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpe- tologists, the Herpetologists’ League and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Research permit was issued by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment (MAE-DNB-CM- 2015-0016). This study was evaluated and approved by the Ethics Committee of Universidad Te´cnica Particular de Loja (UTPL-CBEA-2016-001). Specimen collection and study site We focused our study on all the species described from Abra de Zamora. Even though there are no exact limits to the area, as a starting point, we used Abra de Zamora as referenced by Duellman and Lynch—the area between Loja and El Tambo longitudinally crossed by Vı´a Antigua Loja-Zamora and the E50 highway, which connects Loja and Zamora cities (Fig 1). Based on that, we defined our study site as an approximately 50 km2 area which includes all points of collection for amphibian species described from Abra de Zamora, along with Fig 1. Abra de Zamora and nearby study sites. 1. Huacapamba, 2. Reserva Biolo´gica San Francisco, 3. Reserva Madrigal del Podocarpus, 4. Parque Nacional Podocarpus (Cajanuma sector), 5. Reserva El Cristal. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238306.g001 PLOS ONE Taxonomic revision of the amphibian species from Abra de Zamora PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238306 September 10, 2020 3 / 59