An investigation into the taxonomy of Abavorana luctuosa (Peters, 1871) (Anura, Ranidae) and the resurrection of Rana decorata Mocquard, 1890 from Borneo

Abstract

The taxonomic status of the ranid frog Abavorana luctuosa (Peters, 1871) was investigated using a combination of molecular and morphological data. The analyses revealed that A. luctuosasensu lato is composed of two species in Borneo. One of these species agrees with the description of Rana decorata Mocquard, 1890 which is resurrected in the combination Abavorana decoratacomb. nov. (Mocquard, 1890). Abavorana decorata is recovered as the sister lineage to the remainder of Abavorana and differs by a 16.0–17.0 % uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence from its congeners A. nazgul and A. luctuosa, respectively. It is distinguishable morphologically from A. luctuosa and A. nazgul by its ventral pattern (bold, black and white reticulations on its venter along with bold banding on the underside of hind limbs vs. generally immaculate and spotted in the latter two species), and a prominent white streak beneath the eye and/or tympanum extending to the corner of the jaw. Abavorana decorata further differs from A. luctuosa by having a significantly wider head and snout, larger interorbital and tympanum diameters, longer femur in both sexes, and various combinations of other mensural characters. Both species are sympatric in Borneo and this discovery adds to a growing number of widespread Sundaic species shown to be species complexes with distinct forms in Borneo.

Phylogenetic and multivariate analyses of Gekko smithii Gray, 1842 recover a new species from Peninsular Malaysia and support the resurrection of G. albomaculatus (Giebel, 1861) from Sumatra

“…Localities from non-peer reviewed literature or unverifiable online data were not included. graphic sub-structuring across well-defined geographic features necessitated their taxonomic partitioning into multiple species (e.g., Grismer et al 2013Grismer et al , 2014aGrismer et al ,b, 2015Grismer et al , 2018aGrismer et al ,b, 2019Loredo et al 2013;Matsui et al 2014;Matsui 2019;Chan et al 2016Chan et al , 2017Chan et al , 2018Chan et al , 2020Harvey et al 2016;Grismer and Davis 2018;O'Connell et al 2018O'Connell et al , 2019Quah et al 2019Quah et al , 2020Quah et al , 2021aWood et al 2020b). Therefore, we initiated the first integrative analysis of G. smithii based on morphology, color pattern, and genetic data derived from the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2).…”

Figure 13 from: Grismer LL, del Pinto L, Quah ESH, Anuar S, Cota M, McGuire JA, Iskandar DT, Wood PL Jr, Grismer JL (2022) Phylogenetic and multivariate analyses of Gekko smithii Gray, 1842 recover a new species from Peninsular Malaysia and support the resurrection of G. albomaculatus (Giebel, 1861) from Sumatra. Vertebrate Zoology 72: 47-80. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e77702

“…Localities from non-peer reviewed literature or unverifiable online data were not included. graphic sub-structuring across well-defined geographic features necessitated their taxonomic partitioning into multiple species (e.g., Grismer et al 2013Grismer et al , 2014aGrismer et al ,b, 2015Grismer et al , 2018aGrismer et al ,b, 2019Loredo et al 2013;Matsui et al 2014;Matsui 2019;Chan et al 2016Chan et al , 2017Chan et al , 2018Chan et al , 2020Harvey et al 2016;Grismer and Davis 2018;O'Connell et al 2018O'Connell et al , 2019Quah et al 2019Quah et al , 2020Quah et al , 2021aWood et al 2020b). Therefore, we initiated the first integrative analysis of G. smithii based on morphology, color pattern, and genetic data derived from the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2).…”

Figure 4 from: Grismer LL, del Pinto L, Quah ESH, Anuar S, Cota M, McGuire JA, Iskandar DT, Wood PL Jr, Grismer JL (2022) Phylogenetic and multivariate analyses of Gekko smithii Gray, 1842 recover a new species from Peninsular Malaysia and support the resurrection of G. albomaculatus (Giebel, 1861) from Sumatra. Vertebrate Zoology 72: 47-80. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e77702

“…Localities from non-peer reviewed literature or unverifiable online data were not included. graphic sub-structuring across well-defined geographic features necessitated their taxonomic partitioning into multiple species (e.g., Grismer et al 2013Grismer et al , 2014aGrismer et al ,b, 2015Grismer et al , 2018aGrismer et al ,b, 2019Loredo et al 2013;Matsui et al 2014;Matsui 2019;Chan et al 2016Chan et al , 2017Chan et al , 2018Chan et al , 2020Harvey et al 2016;Grismer and Davis 2018;O'Connell et al 2018O'Connell et al , 2019Quah et al 2019Quah et al , 2020Quah et al , 2021aWood et al 2020b). Therefore, we initiated the first integrative analysis of G. smithii based on morphology, color pattern, and genetic data derived from the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2).…”