Advertisement calls of six glassfrog species in the Colombian Andes, and comments on priorities for future research and conservation

Conservation initiatives are particularly important in light of the high proportion of species threatened with extinction worldwide. Advertisement calls are a valuable resource for conservation given their importance for studies on amphibian taxonomy, systematics, evolutionary biology, ecology, and monitoring strategies. However, advertisement calls are still unknown for many species. Here, advertisement call descriptions are provided for six glassfrog species (Centrolene huilensis, Centrolene hybrida, Nymphargus orenonympha, Rulyrana flavopunctata, Rulyrana susatamai, and Sachatamia punctulata) from six localities in four municipalities in the Andes of Colombia. Based on our current knowledge of the acoustics, distribution ranges, presence in protected areas, and IUCN Red List threat status, some species of glassfrogs are identified as priorities for future studies. The overall parameters measured for the advertisement calls of the species described here fall within those known for other species from the same genus, but the species studied here are differentiated from their congenerics by the pulse rate, number of notes, and/or dominant frequency. To date, advertisement calls are known for approximately 60% of glassfrog species and we identified 23 priority species with unknown calls which should be the focus of future research efforts.