Phylogenetic relationships of megophryid frogs of the genus Leptobrachium (Amphibia, Anura) as revealed by mtDNA gene sequences

Reproductive Behavior and Underwater Calls in the Emei Mustache Toad, <I>Leptobrachium boringii</I>

“…Two cases of a single nest being sequentially occupied by gradually larger and/or heavier males were recorded in Matsui et al, 2010;Frost, 2011). Our observations and calls of L. boringii and L. leishanense confirm that both species typically call while completely submerged, as noted in a previous study (Wu and Yang, 1981).…”

“…The dominant frequency (0.5-2.0 kHz), note duration (0.08-0.44 s), and number of pulses in a note (10-40 for species for which data are available) of these terrestrial callers overlap extensively with those (0.4-1.2 kHz, 0.11-0.45 s, and 9-25) of the two species that call underwater (Table 1). In the terrestrial callers L. pullum and L. leucops, which are most closely related to L. boringii and L. leishanense (Brown et al, 2009;Matsui et al, 2010;Stuart et al, 2011), the pulse rate (72-129/s) is similar to that of the latter two species (52-117/s). To the human ear, the calls of these four species also sound similar: "ah" in L. boringii and L. leishanense, "waaaaah" in L. pullum, and "wah" in L. leucops (Stuart et al, 2011).…”

A Biogeographic Synthesis of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Indochina

“…Although it seems likely that historical records of Tylototriton verrucosus in Indochina refer to other species of Tylotriton, we treated it as present in Indochina until otherwise demonstrated (see Nussbaum et al, 1995). There is conflicting evidence as to whether Leptobrachium echinatum is a valid species or synonym of L. ailaonicum (Dubois and Ohler, 1998;Ho et al, 1999;Grosjean, 2001;Ohler et al, 2000;Rao and Wilkinson, 2008;Zheng et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2009;Matsui et al, 2010). The phylogenetic evidence of Matsui et al (2010), and Rao and Wilkinson (2008) conflicts with that of Zheng et al (2008), as the former studies found the two to be distinct lineages, but the latter study found that recognizing L. echinatum renders L. ailaonicum nonmonophyletic.…”

“…There is conflicting evidence as to whether Leptobrachium echinatum is a valid species or synonym of L. ailaonicum (Dubois and Ohler, 1998;Ho et al, 1999;Grosjean, 2001;Ohler et al, 2000;Rao and Wilkinson, 2008;Zheng et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2009;Matsui et al, 2010). The phylogenetic evidence of Matsui et al (2010), and Rao and Wilkinson (2008) conflicts with that of Zheng et al (2008), as the former studies found the two to be distinct lineages, but the latter study found that recognizing L. echinatum renders L. ailaonicum nonmonophyletic. Furthermore, although Zhang et al (2009) found four distinct clades of L. ailaonicum, including one that reaches the type locality of L. echinatum, they refrained from making any taxonomic resolution, owing to absence of enough data.…”

Genetic divergences of South and Southeast Asian frogs: a case study of several taxa based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene data with notes on the generic name Fejervarya

“…For instance, the number of known amphibian species has increased dramatically from 4013 in 1985 to 7164 in 2013 (AmphibiaWeb, August 19, 2013). Numerous researchers have proposed abundant diversity in unrecognized anuran species (in Southeast Asia : Inger, 1999;Emerson et al, 2000;Brown and Guttman, 2002;Bain et al, 2003;Stuart et al, 2006;Chan and Grismer, 2010;Matsui et al, 2010;in Madagascar: Vieites et al, 2009;Glaw et al, 2010;in South America: Jansen et al, 2011;Funk et al, 2012). Inger (1999) proposed that potentially unknown amphibian biodiversity needs to be explored by additional sampling in South Asia as it might disclose detailed information at the species level.…”