Etymologies of Brazilian Amphibians

Herpetologia Brasileira - Suplemento 1
always in open physiognomies on the top of plateaus and mountains ...”).
Today Pithecopus oreades (Brandão, 2002).
oreites: G. oreites (ορειτης), mountaineer. Dendrophryniscus oreites Recoder et
al., 2010. (“... It is a reference to the locality of the holotype, a steep forest
on the slope of a hill summit ...”).
orejasmirandai: Orejas Miranda + L. -i, suffix indicating the genitive of masculine
names and nouns. Honouring Braulio Rubí Orejas-Miranda (1933-
1985), Uruguayan herpetologist. Melanophryniscus orejasmirandai Prigioni
& Langone, 1987 “1986”. In the synonymy of Melanophryniscus
pachyrhynus (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920).
Oreobates: G. oreos (όρεος), mountain + G. bates (βατες), walker, who walks (in
turn, from βαίνω, move by taking step). Oreobates Jiménez de la Espada,
1872. (Probably related to the provenance of the type material, Quijos, on
the Cordillera Real, Ecuador).
oreomantis: G. oreos (ορέος), mountain + G. mantis (μαντης), tree-frog. Leptodactylus
oreomantis Carvalho et al., 2013. [“... The epithet oreomantis
stands for ‘mountain frog’, from Greek (oreos = mountain; mantis =
anuran/frog). A literal translation for Mantis would be ‘prophet’, but this
term was also employed to refer to amphibians, since they represented the
‘weather prophets’ to ancient Greek civilization ...”] 13 .
Oreoprhyne, Oreophrynella: G. oreos (ορέος), mountain + G. + phrynos
(φρύνος), toad [+ L. -ella, suffix diminutive]. (1) Oreophryne Boulenger,
1895 (preoccupied by Oreophryne Boettger, 1895, anuran amphibian). (“...
Several specimens were found by Messrs. Quelch and McConnell on the
summit of Mount Roraima, between British Guiana and Venezuela, at an
altitude of 8500 feet ...”). (2) Oreophrynella Boulenger, 1895. (“... Since I
drew up ... the description of the new Batrachian discovered by Mr. Quelch,
I have seen the number of the ‘Zoologischer Anzeiger’ ... in which Prof. O.
Boettger describes a new Engystomatoid genus from Halmaheira under
the name of Oreophryne. I therefore propose to change the name
13 See footnote 8.
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