A new frog of the genus Mantidactylus from the rainforests of north-eastern Madagascar, and its karyological affinities

Abstract

We describe a new species of the genus Mantidactylus found during field inventories in the northeastern rainforests of Madagascar. Mantidactylus salegy sp. n. reaches a snout-vent length of 45-50 mm, has evident dorsolateral ridges and whitish spots on the upper jaws (mainly in females). The vocal sacs in males are distinctly visible and paired subgular, without strongly inflatable areas recognizable between the blackish lateral skin flaps on the throat. This frog exhibits a mosaic of characters previously thought to be typical for either the subgenera Gephyromantis or Phylacomantis. Therefore, it is a crucial discovery towards better understanding of the relationships between the taxa included in these two subgenera, supporting previous molecular results which indicated their paraphyly. The call of M. salegy consists of a rapid series of 8-11 rattling notes emitted at 1000-3500 Hz. We also provide karyological data for M. salegy, and for several related species, M. granulatus, M. leucomaculatus, M. moseri, M. redimitus, M. zavona, and M. pseudoasper (attributed to the subgenus Phylacomantis) and M. luteus (subgenus Gephyromantis). In terms of general chromosome morphology and structure, NOR localisation and heterochromatin characteristics, M. salegy shows similarities to M. redimitus, M. zavona and M. leucomaculatus, all included within Phylacomantis. Our data confirm that NOR position is a phylogenetically informative character

Evaluation of the taxonomic status of populations assigned to Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis (Anura, Hylidae, Phyllomedusinae) based on molecular, chromosomal, and morphological approach

“…The distribution (number and position) of rDNA clusters in the genome has been used as a chromosomal marker in cytogenetic studies of a range of taxonomic groups, and in some cases, it has been useful for the discrimination of species [21,24,25] and the interpretation of phylogenic relationships [26-28]. However, the usefulness of this characteristic for the diagnosis of phylogenetic relationships must be assessed carefully, given that the variation in the location of NORs is not necessarily a reliable indicator of the distinction between taxa, and in some cases must be interpreted as variation between populations.…”

Cytosystematics of hyperoliid frogs: Phylogeny ofHeterixalus, low karyotypic variability in hyperoliines and separate phylogenetic position ofLeptopelis

“…Baldissera et al 1999) while others have a very high rate of chromosomal change (e.g. Eleutherodactylus and some lineages of Mantidactylus, Bogart & Hedges 1995;Andreone et al 2003). Apparently, a low rate of chromosomal evolution also characterizes the Hyperoliidae.…”

“…Arthroleptids are characterized by a strong chromosome reduction (2n518, 16 and 14), whereas the two astylosternids studied have higher numbers (2n528 in Nyctibates, and 46554 in Astylosternus diadematus) (references in King 1990), of which the presumably tetraploid numbers in Astylosternus are in need of confirmation. The location of NORs has proven to be of high significance for the assessment of phylogenetic relationships and systematics of amphibians (King 1990), including Malagasy frogs (Andreone et al 2003;Aprea et al 2004), but no banding has been performed so far to localize the NORs in representatives of the Astylosternidae or Arthroleptidae.…”