A new genus and three new species of miniaturized microhylid frogs from Indochina (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae: Asterophryinae).

Nikolay A Poyarkov,Dmitriy V Korost,Tang Van Duong,Akrachai Aksornneam,Jr Jr,Chatmongkon Suwannapoom,Jing Che,Parinya Pawangkhanant

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2018.019

Nikolay A Poyarkov, Dmitriy V Korost + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2018.019

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Abstract

We report on the discovery of a new genus of microhylid subfamily Asterophryinae from northern and eastern Indochina, containing three new species. Vietnamophryne Gen. nov. are secretive miniaturized frogs (SVL<21 mm) with a mostly semi-fossorial lifestyle. To assess phylogenetic relationships, we studied 12S rRNA – 16S rRNA mtDNA fragments with a final alignment of 2 591 bp for 53 microhylid species. Morphological and osteological characters were analyzed using micro-CT scanning and used to describe the new genus. Results of phylogenetic analyses assigned the new genus into the mainly Australasian subfamily Asterophryinae as a sister taxon to the genus Siamophryne from southern Indochina. The three specimens collected from Gia Lai Province in central Vietnam, Cao Bang Province in northern Vietnam, and Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand proved to be separate species, different both in morphology and genetics (genetic divergence 3.1%≤P≤5.1%). Our work provides further evidence for the “out of Indo-Eurasia” scenario for Asterophryinae, indicating that the initial cladogenesis and differentiation of this group of frogs occurred in the Indochina Peninsula. To date, each of the three new species of Vietnamophryne Gen. nov. is known only from a single specimen; thus, their distribution, life history, and conservation status require further study.

Highlights

Frogs of the family Microhylidae form one of the most speciose groups of amphibians with pantropical distribution
Though phylogenetic relationships between the subfamilies of Microhylidae remained essentially unresolved, high resolution was achieved among most major lineages of the subfamily Asterophryinae, with major nodes being sufficiently resolved (1.0/100; hereafter node support values are given for Bayesian inference (BI) posterior probability (PP)/maximum likelihood (ML) BS, respectively; Figure 2)
We report on the discovery of a new lineage of Asterophryinae microhylid frogs from Indochina

Summary

Introduction

Frogs of the family Microhylidae form one of the most speciose groups of amphibians with pantropical distribution. Some 642 species are recognized, inhabiting areas from the tropics and subtropics of Africa, Madagascar, Southern and Northern America, and South, East, and Southeast Asia to the islands of the Australasian archipelago and northernmost Australia (Frost, 2018). The subfamily Asterophryinae is the most speciose group within Microhylidae, currently consisting of 327 species inhabiting the tropical forests of northern Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent Australasian islands westwards to Sulawesi, southern Philippines, and crossing the Wallace line in Bali (Frost, 2018). Based on multilocus phylogenetic analyses, Kurabayashi et al (2011) demonstrated that the enigmatic genus Gastrophrynoides from Sundaland (Borneo and Malay Peninsula) belongs to the subfamily Asterophryinae as a sister-lineage with respect to all Australasian taxa, suggesting that the basal split of the subfamily may not have occurred in Gondwana, but instead on the Eurasian mainland. Kurabayashi et al (2011) proposed an “out of Indo-Eurasia” biogeographic scenario for Asterophryinae, suggesting that its colonization route was from Asia to Australia, and not via Antarctica as suggested earlier

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