Brazil is the country with the greatest wealth of amphibian species in the world. The Iron Quadrangle is a Brazilian mountainous region located in the south center of Minas Gerais. With an area equivalent to less than 0.01% of the national territory, it is home to around 10% of the country's amphibian species and almost half of the state's wealth. Such biological wealth coincides with one of the largest mineral deposits in the country and with the third most populous metropolitan region in Brazil, which includes the capital of Minas Gerais. Given the environmental pressures and high species richness, the Quadrilátero is considered a top priority area for the conservation of herpetofauna in Brazil. Despite this importance, a considerable portion of its species remains little known regarding taxonomy, geographic distribution, conservation status and biology, making it difficult to design and implement efficient conservation strategies that allow for a responsible development model.

Aiming to make the correct determination of species a more accessible task, we provide here an illustrated and interactive tool that enables the identification of species, in the adult and larval stages, of anurans of the Iron Quadrangle. Aided by an illustrated tutorial, specially developed for the species in the region, the user can choose which characteristics to use in the identification process, from those simple and easily visualized in the field, to the more detailed ones, visible only under a magnifying glass. Unlike traditional dichotomous keys in which you have to follow a predetermined order of steps, in many cases, choosing just a few characters is enough to identify a species.

Authors: Leite, F.S.F.; Santos, M.T.T.; Pinheiro, P.D.P.; Lacerda, J.V.; Leal, F.; Garcia, P.C.A.; Pezzuti, T.L.

Original source: This key is part of the Amphibians of the Iron Quadrangle project. More information available at http://saglab.ufv.br/aqf/

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