A new species of frog in the genus Microhyla is described from Sumatra, Indonesia based on molecular and morphological characters. This new species was previously confused with M. achatina, a Javan endemic. This new species is diagnosable from its congeners by possessing a medium size (SVL in adult males 18.20–21.32 mm, in adult females 20.37–25.51 mm), a stout body, a nostril–eyelid length being about half of the snout length, having a single outer palmar tubercle, a tibiotarsal articulation reaching the center of the eye (when the hindlimbs are stretched and adpressed to the body), having finger and toe tips dilated, having the dorsum with medial longitudinal grooves, and excibiting a very thin and short dark stripe on the temporal region above a wider cream stripe, extending from the postorbital area to insertion of forelimb. Additionally, the new species is characterized by possessing relatively little foot webbing. Uncorrected 16S rRNA sequence divergences between the new taxon and sequences for other congeneric species available ranged from 4.8 to 15.0%.
Barred mudskipper (Periophthalmus argentilineatus) has a potency to be developed as protein for human consumption and ornamental fish. The fish also has an important role in mangrove ecosystems. Nevertheless, many barred mudskippers have been considered a cryptic species. Therefore, accurate identification is needed to clarify species identification of the barred mudskipper using DNA barcoding. This research aimed to identify barred mudskippers from Tekolok Estuary (East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia) using COI mitochondrial gene as a DNA barcode and analyze genetic relationship with other barred mudskippers from several regions of Indonesia recorded in GenBank. This study used a PCR method with universal primers FishF2 and FishR2. The data was then analysed using DNASTAR, BLAST, Mesquite, MEGA, DnaSP, BEAST, GenAlEx, and NETWORK. The results revealed that barred mudskipper from Tekolok Estuary has been verified as Periophthalmus argentilineatus. The results also exhibited that P. argentilineatus from Tekolok Estuary has a close genetic relationship to P.argentilineatus from Tukad Bilukpoh (Jembrana, Bali). In addition, phylogenetic analysis showed that P.argentilineatus from Indonesia consisted of two clades with a genetic distance of approximately 6.64%. This analysis revealed evidence of the cryptic diversity of P.argentilineatus from Indonesia. Further detailed studies are needed to clarify whether Indonesian P.argentilineatus should be categorized into more than one species or single species with several subspecies.
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