A new species of leopard frog (Anura: Ranidae) from the urban northeastern US

Abstract

Past confusion about leopard frog (genus Rana) species composition in the Tri-State area of the US that includes New York (NY), New Jersey (NJ), and Connecticut (CT) has hindered conservation and management efforts, especially where populations are declining or imperiled. We use nuclear and mitochondrial genetic data to clarify the identification and distribution of leopard frog species in this region. We focus on four problematic frog populations of uncertain species affiliation in northern NJ, southeastern mainland NY, and Staten Island to test the following hypotheses: (1) they are conspecific with Rana sphenocephala or R. pipiens, (2) they are hybrids between R. sphenocephala and R. pipiens, or (3) they represent one or more previously undescribed cryptic taxa. Bayesian phylogenetic and cluster analyses revealed that the four unknown populations collectively form a novel genetic lineage, which represents a previously undescribed cryptic leopard frog species, Rana sp. nov. Statistical support for R. sp. nov. was strong in both the Bayesian (pp = 1.0) and maximum-likelihood (bootstrap = 99) phylogenetic analyses as well as the Structure cluster analyses. While our data support recognition of R. sp. nov. as a novel species, we recommend further study including fine-scaled sampling and ecological, behavioral, call, and morphological analyses before it is formally described.

Conservation genetics of extremely isolated urban populations of the northern dusky salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) in New York City

“…amphibian chytrid fungus) and further genetic analysis should be conducted on potential source populations before any reintroductions are attempted on Staten Island, as pairwise F S T values were relatively high even between populations on the island. The recent discovery of a new species of leopard frog on Staten Island also raises the possibility of previously underappreciated phylogeographic structure or centers of endemism for amphibians in the NYC metropolitan area (Newman et al, 2012). …”

Species taxonomy of birds: Which null hypothesis?

“…Bird taxonomy, of course, is not the only discipline being challenged; so too is the taxonomy of other classes of vertebrates. For example, Rana pipiens is now 28 species (Moore 1944, Pace 1974, Hillis 1988, Newman et al 2012 and Plethodon glutinosus is now at least 16 contiguous species (Highton et al 1989).…”

Evaluating the diversity of Neotropical anurans using DNA barcodes

“…The taxonomic reviews at the species level now almost always include some form of analysis of mtDNA divergence. A number of species of the genus Rana have been recognized in recent years, based on molecular methods (Newman et al 2012), for example, and through comparisons with other amphibian species (Channing et al 2013; Hasan et al 2014; Biju et al 2014). …”