Sorting out Lalos: description of new species and additional taxonomic data on megophryid frogs from northern Indochina (genus Leptolalax, Megophryidae, Anura)

Abstract

Frogs in the subgenus Lalos of the genus Leptolalax (Megophryidae) are highly diversified in continental Asia and consist of about 17 nominal species. These frogs are small, inconspicuous, and of high superficial morphological similarity. We here formulate a hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships and assess the amount of genetic variation among genealogical lineages on the basis of 536bp of mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequences. Combining molecular data with a study of morpho-logy, morphometric divergence and geographical proximity, we tested hypotheses of species identity. We (1) used character-based and morphometric analyses to assign the onymophoronts (type specimens) of species in Lalos available to us to respectively one of the main clades, in order to propose the best potential correct taxonomic and nomenclatural allocation for the individuals included in the molecular study, and (2) tried to also assign the historical museum specimens to these molecular taxonomic units and to reclassify them whenever necessary. We also used the molecular data to match tadpoles with adults and provide tadpole descriptions for species the larvae of which were previously unknown. Specimens, that could neither be allocated to a molecularly characterised species (on the basis of their DNA “barcode”) nor to a morphologically defined species named on the basis of a type specimen, are described here as new species. Based on this integrative set of data and analyses we describe two new species, Leptolalax eos n. sp. and Leptolalax nyx n. sp., we resurrect Leptolalax minimus, and reassess the distribution of the species studied. We propose changes in the Red List status of L. pelodytoides and L. ventripunctatus and suggest a conservation status for the new species described herein.

Molecular, morphological and acoustic assessment of the genus Ophryophryne (Anura, Megophryidae) from Langbian Plateau, southern Vietnam, with description of a new species

“…460–500 bp fragment of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced for molecular identification purposes. 16S rRNA is a molecular marker widely applied for biodiversity surveys in amphibians (Vences et al 2005a, 2005b, Vieites et al 2009), and has proven to be particularly useful in studies of megophryid diversity (Matsui et al 2010, 2014, Ohler et al 2011, Stuart et al 2011, 2012, Hamidy et al 2012, Rowley et al 2010a, 2011a, 2012, Jiang et al 2013, Poyarkov et al 2015a and references therein). Amplification was performed in 25 μl reactions using either ca.…”

A new species of Leptobrachella (Anura, Megophryidae) from Guizhou Province, China

“…The trees present identical topologies (Fig. 2) Matsui 2006 40 L. melica (Rowley, Stuart, Neang & Emmett, 2010) Rowley et al 2010b 41 L. minima (Taylor, 1962) Taylor 1962Ohler et al 201142 L. mjobergi Smith, 1925Eto et al 2015 Lathrop et al 1998 44 L. natunae (Günther, 1895) Günther 1895 45 L. nokrekensis (Mathew & Sen, 2010) Mathew and Sen 2010 46 L. nyx (Ohler, Wollenberg, Grosjean, Hendrix, Vences, Ziegler & Dubois, 2011) Ohler et al 2011 47 L. oshanensis (Liu, 1950) Fei et al 2009 48 L. pallida Rowley et al 2016 49 L. palmata Inger & Stuebing, 1992 Inger and Stuebing 1992 50 L. parva Fig. 1), Suiyang County, Guizhou Province, China.…”

Review of morphometric measurements used in anuran species descriptions and recommendations for a standardized approach

“…A key observation made in this survey is that the field of anuran systematics is experiencing a rapid growth of taxonomic descriptions, yet is accompanied by a disproportionately slower increase in authoritative studies cited, and often absent or poorly described methodological guidelines for subsequent researchers to use. For example, the character Tympanum Diameter (TD) was defined as such in the surveyed literature: (1) diameter of tympanum, (2) greatest diameter of tympanum, (3) horizontal diameter of tympanum, (4) horizontal width of tympanum (5) maximum tympanum diameter (Grant et al 2007;Onn et al 2009;Mo et al 2010;Ohler et al 2011 (Table 1), which would then provide the researcher with the unambiguous information on how to interpret and measure the character Tympanum Diameter. There can be no consistency in measurements if the same term can mean several different things depending on who is measuring and how they define it, which can lead to an inability to compare morphometric measurements across broad anuran taxa.…”