Remarks.—Hyla staufferi was described by Cope (1865:195) on the basis of specimens from Orizaba, Veracruz, México. He described the color pattern as "color above dark olive, with a short black bar over each scapula, and one from eye to eye, with a trace along the coccyx." Cope (1887:14) placed staufferi as a subspecies of Hyla eximia, but he did not justify his action. Günther (1901:262) also considered staufferi to be conspecific with eximia without making any qualifying statement. Dunn and Emlen (1932:24) named Hyla culex from Tela, Honduras, on the basis of a male (MCZ 16098) having a snout-vent length of 25.1 mm., and a female (USNM 20267) from Patuca, Honduras. They diagnosed the species as having "discs larger than tympanum ... black interorbital triangle, traces of black dorsal marking; three black bars on anterior and posterior face of thighs, two black bars on tibia, on tarsus and on forearm." The holotype now is faded but has some of the pattern described. Dunn and Emlen did not compare culex with staufferi but did compare it with boulengeri and rubra.
Dunn (1933:61) named Hyla altae from Summit, Canal Zone. His description was based on a male (MCZ 17972) having a snout-vent length of 25.1 mm., the color pattern was described as "gray with four darker dorsal stripes ... a faint trace of mid-dorsal striping...." Dunn defined the Hyla rubra group and recognized boulengeri, altae, culex, and rubra as members. Hyla elaeochroa and staufferi were omitted from his key to the group in Central America.
Kellogg (1932:174) compared staufferi with eximia and concluded that the two were probably distinct species. Stuart (1935:38) considered altae to be a synonym of culex. Gaige (1936:293) considered altae and culex to be conspecific but regarded staufferi as a different species. She also suggested that staufferi was not related to eximia but belonged to the rubra group. Taylor (1952:865) and Duellman (1966a:274) considered altae and culex to be synonyms of staufferi.
The only other worker besides Cope and Günther to consider Hyla staufferi as a member of the eximia group was Blair (1960:129), who suggested the relationship on the basis of similarities in the structure of the calls of eximia and staufferi. Taylor (1938:421) and Smith and Taylor (1948:78) excluded staufferi from the eximia group on the basis of morphological characteristics. I consider culex to be inseparable from staufferi, whereas altae is recognizable as a Panamanian subspecies of staufferi.
Hyla staufferi staufferi Cope, New Combination
Hyla staufferi Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 17:195, October 1865 [Holotype.—USNM 15317, Orizaba, Veracruz, México; Francis Sumichrast collector], Brocchi, Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans L'Amerique Centrale, 1881, p. 36. Boulenger, Catalogue, of the Bratrachia Salientia s. Ecaudata, p. 400, February 1, 1882. Kellogg, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160:173, March 31, 1932. Smith and Taylor, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 194:88, 1948. Taylor, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 35:862, July 1, 1952. Rand, Fieldiana Zool. Chicago Nat. Hist. Mus., 34:518, April 18, 1957. Duellman, Univ. Kansas Publ, Mus. Nat. Hist., 17:274, June 17, 1966.
Hyla eximia staufferi Cope, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 32:14, January 16, 1887.
Hyla eximia (part): Günther, Biologia Centrali-Americana, Reptilia and Batrachia, p. 261, June 1901. Nieden, Das Tierreich, Anura I, p. 245, June 1923.
Hyla culex Dunn and Emlen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 84:24, March 22, 1932 [Holotype.—MCZ 16098, Tela Honduras; Raymond A. Stadelman collector]. Stuart, Misc. Publ., Univ. Michigan Mus. Zool., 29:38, October 1935. Gaige, Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ., 457:293, 1936.