Molecular phylogeny of Rhacophoridae (Anura): A framework of taxonomic reassignment of species within the genera Aquixalus, Chiromantis, Rhacophorus, and Philautus

The Systematic Status of Rhacophorid Frogs

“…One genus appeared to have reached Africa relatively recently. This conclusion was supported by Li et al (2008Li et al ( , 2009 Other studies have focused on rhacophorid systematics. Jiang et al (1987) constructed a phylogenetic hypothesis for Chinese species using morphological characters.…”

“…Grosjean et al (2008) also studied the evolution of reproduction in the Rhacophoridae and found that the ability to produce a foam nest emerged only once, as previously proposed (Wilkinson et al, 2002). Li et al (2008) employed maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference analyses to investigate the molecular phylogenetic relationships of the Rhacophoridae. They used 2904 bp of sequences from both mitochondrial (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, tRNA for valine) and nuclear (tyrosinase, rhodopsin) genes.…”

“…Philautus did not form a monophyletic group because Philautus (Kirtixalus) was the sister group to the clade comprised of Kurixalus and Aquixalus (Aquixalus). However, Li et al (2008) did not make taxonomic changes in Philautus because of inadequate taxonomic sampling. Chiromantis romeri did not cluster with the other species of Chiromantis, but rather formed the sister group to all other rhacophorids save Buergeria.…”

“…Chiromantis romeri did not cluster with the other species of Chiromantis, but rather formed the sister group to all other rhacophorids save Buergeria. Because of the phylogenetic position of Chiromantis romeri, Li et al (2008) Narins et al (1998), Orlov et al (2002), and Trépanier et al (1999). Yu et al (2008) used 23 Chinese rhacophorid species in their phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA sequences.…”

Eight new species of Pseudophilautus (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from Sripada World Heritage Site (Peak Wilderness), a local amphibian hotspot in Sri Lanka

“…These direct developing rhacophorids (Bossuyt & Dubois 2001;Meegaskumbura et al 2002;Bahir et al 2005;Grosjean et al 2008;Li et al 2008Li et al , 2009Biju & Bossuyt 2009;Yu et al 2009) previously belonged to the genus Philautus which were widely distributed throughout tropical Asia (Bossuyt & Dubois 2001;Bossuyt et al 2004;Frost et al 2006;Yu et al 2009). But later, considering molecular phylogenetics, the populations in Sri Lanka and India were found to be a separate radiation belonging to a separate genus known now as Pseudophilautus (Li et al 2009;Yu et al 2010;Meegaskumbura & ManamendraArachchi 2011).…”