Description

This species can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: body size (females 34-37 mm SVL, males 24-29 mm SVL); smooth dorsal skin; axillary membrane present; fingers one-half webbed; toes two-thirds webbed; dorsum mottled dark and light brown; lighter markings of creamy white to golden yellow with irregular edges: broad light mark on snout, diagonal light mark running from eyelid to mid-flank, diagonal mark on shank; orange coloration on hands, feet, concealed surfaces of limbs, ventral surfaces of limbs; coppery bronze iris; males with yellow vocal sac and lacking nuptial pads; females with white throat (Rodríguez and Duellman 1994).

Similar species: D. sarayacuensis can be distinguished from D. leucophyllatus by coloration (mottled dark and light brown dorsum with white to golden yellow markings for D. sarayacuensis, vs. creamy tan dorsum with a dark brown hourglass marking for D. leucophyllatus. D. sarayacuensis can be distinguished from D. triangulum by coloration (orange hands, feet, and concealed surfaces of limbs in D. sarayacuensis, vs. distinctly red webbing and red concealed surfaces of limbs in D. triangulum) (Rodríguez and Duellman 1994).

Tadpoles reach a maximum total length of 22.5 mm, with 30% of that being body and 70% the tail. The larval body is violin-shaped when viewed from above, with a tail ending in a long filament. The snout is bluntly rounded when viewed from above. Eyes are large and are laterally directed. The oral disc is anterior and is bordered by a single row of papillae laterally and ventrally; denticles are absent. Jaw sheats are finely serrated and are robust. The dorsal tail fin does not extend onto the body and is slightly lower than the ventral tail fin. The larval body is reddish brown to gray, with a metallic gold venter and a black or gray tail with black markings (Rodríguez and Duellman 1994). For a drawing of the tadpole and a key to hylid tadpoles of the eastern lowlands of Colombia see Lynch and Mayorga (2011).

First described by Shreve (1935); the name sarayacuensis refers to the type locality of Sarayacu, province of Pastaza, Ecuador. Faivovich et al. (2005) placed D. sarayacuensis in the leucophyllatus group with D. bifurcus, D. ebraccatus, D. elegans, D. leucophyllatus, D. rossalleni, and D. triangulum, and the analysis of Wiens et al. (2010) also supports this grouping. Wiens and colleagues found that D. anceps did not cluster with this group, in contrast to the analysis of Faivovich et al. (2005).

Click here to download a .pdf of Hödl's (1991) paper describing the film.