Three new species of Callulina (Amphibia: Anura: Brevicipitidae) highlight local endemism and conservation plight of Africa's Eastern Arc forests

Abstract

Material ascribed to the genus Callulina from north-east Tanzania and south-east Kenya is assessed. Three new species of Callulina are described from the North (Callulina laphami sp. nov.) and South (Callulina shengena sp. nov. and Callulina stanleyi sp. nov.) Pare Mountains in Tanzania. The species are diagnosed based on morphological, acoustic, and molecular data. A new key to the species of Callulina is provided. Based on an interpretation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, we suggest that the three species will qualify as critically endangered, because of their small distributions and the ongoing threat to their habitat. We reveal the high local endemism of Callulina in the northern part of the Eastern Arc Mountains, with each species restricted to no more than one mountain (fragment) block. This high local endemism in Callulina is probably widespread across the Eastern Arc, raising further conservation concern for this group of amphibians. Based on new molecular phylogenetic data for Callulina, we discuss biogeographical relationships among northeast Tanzanian mountains, and evolutionary patterns in Eastern Arc breviciptids.

Amphibian diversity on the roof of Africa: unveiling the effects of habitat degradation, altitude and biogeography

“…Recent surveys conducted on isolated rain forests of some Tanzanian mountains have revealed an extraordinary diversity of frogs, with many species restricted to few or even one mountain block (e.g. De Sá et al ., ; Loader et al ., ). These findings are consistent with studies suggesting that isolation and reduced dispersal can result in greater differentiation and higher endemism with increasing elevation (Brown, ).…”

Herpetofauna of Montane Areas of Tanzania. 2. Altitudinal Distribution of Amphibians on the Uluguru South Mountains

“…This shows distinctiveness of highland amphibian fauna from those at the lowland. Recent taxonomic studies elsewhere in the Eastern Arc Mountains have shown distinctiveness in some of the isolated populations, such as Callulina (Loader et al, 2010). In the Uluguru South Mountains, at least three species of Nectophrynoides are known, one of which, N. viviparus, was found at more than one altitudinal zone ( Table 2).…”

Persistence and stability of Eastern Afromontane forests: evidence from brevicipitid frogs

“…Specimens of East African brevicipitids were obtained by fieldwork in Tanzania and Ethiopia between 2000 and 2012 (see Appendix S1 in Supporting Information). For EABR brevicipitids, we sampled multiple populations of all known species of the family Brevicipitidae except for Probreviceps rhodesianus, and a Callulina population from the Shimba Hills that might be a new species (Loader et al, 2010a). We surveyed all EAM for brevicipitids and included samples of all known populations ( Fig.…”

“…Alignments of partial 12S, 16S, cytochrome b (cytb), recombination-activating gene 1 (rag1) and chemokine (CXC motif) receptor 4 (cxcr4) sequences were assembled based on previously published (Loader et al, , 2010aMenegon et al, 2011) and newly generated data. We sampled all specimens for three mitochondrial gene sequences and sampled seven representatives of the main EABR lineages for rag1 and cxcr4 (Appendix S1).…”