Comparisons of nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene revealed that the brown frog from Sakhalin has genetically little differentiated from Rana pirica from Hokkaido. Although they show some differences in adult morphology, they are considered to be conspecific. These frogs have sequences substantially different from R. dybowskii from the Maritime territory of Russia, and the current taxonomic idea to specifically separate them is genetically supported. On the other hand, R. dybowskii from the Maritime territory is genetically well differentiated from a conspecific population from Tsushima.
In order to assess local population differentiation and phylogenetic relationships of a Russian brown frog, Rana amurensis, the sequences of 587 base pairs of the mitochondrial cytochrome b genes are compared with seven species of Japanese and one species complex of Taiwanese brown frogs (R. pirica, R. ornativentris, R. dybowskii, R. japonica, R. okinavana, R. tagoi, R. tsushimensis, and the R. sauteri complex). Genetic differentiation between populations of R. amurensis from Sakhalin and the Maritime Territory was found to be minimal. The resultant phylogenetic tree indicates monophyly of brown frogs and earliest divergence of R. amurensis among all the brown frogs studied. For this reason, separation of R. amurensis from the R. japonica group is suggested, but separation of the R. sauteri complex as a distinct genus or subgenus Pseudorana is not supported.
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