A taxonomic revision of the genus Phrynoglossus in Indochina with the description of a new species and comments on the classification within Occidozyginae (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae)

Gunther Köhler,Panupong Thammachoti,Tilman Schell,Joseph Vargas,Ni Lar Than,Steffen U Pauls,Axel Janke

doi:10.3897/vz.71.e60312

Abstract

We revise the frogs of the genusPhrynoglossusfrom Indochina based on data of external morphology, bioacoustics and molecular genetics. The results of this integrative study provide evidence for the recognition of three distinct species, one of which we describe as new.Phrynoglossus martensiihas a vast geographic distribution from central and southern Thailand across southern China to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.Phrynoglossus myanhesseisp. nov.is distributed in central Myanmar whereasPhrynoglossus magnapustulosusis restricted to the Khorat Plateau, Thailand. These three species occur in allopatry and differ in their mating calls, external morphology, and in genetic distances of the 16S gene of 3.8–5.9%. Finally, we discuss and provide evolutionary evidence for the recognition ofPhrynoglossusas a genus distinct fromOccidozyga. Members of both genera form reciprocal monophyletic groups in our analyses of mtDNA data (16S) and are well differentiated from each other in morphology and ecology. Furthermore, they differ in the amplexus mode withPhrynoglossushaving an inguinal amplexus whereas it is axillary inOccidozyga. We further provide ade novodraft genome of the holotype based on short-read sequencing technology to a coverage of 25-fold. This resource will permanently link the genetic characterization of the species to the name-bearing type specimen.

Highlights

Southeast Asia is recognized as a major global biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al 2000; Mittermeier 2004; Corlett 2014), and the amphibian order Anura is well represented in this region
The trees obtained by Bayesian Inference analyses (BI), Maximum Likelihood (ML), *BEAST, and Automatic barcode gap discovery (ABGD) analyses show a high degree of congruence at well-supported nodes, with some differences in branch arrangement at poorly supported nodes (Figs. 1, 2 and 3)
These anuran species differ from one another in bioacoustics, i.e., in the male advertisement call. Often these species are poorly differentiated in external morphology which was the reason for lumping them before in the first place

Summary

Introduction

Southeast Asia is recognized as a major global biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al 2000; Mittermeier 2004; Corlett 2014), and the amphibian order Anura is well represented in this region. The generic placement of martensii in either Phrynoglossus Peters, 1867 or Occidozyga Kuhl and van Hasselt, 1822 has caused some controversy among recent authors It seems that the majority of authors have treated Phrynoglossus as a synonym of Occidozyga (e.g., Duellman and Trueb 1994; Nguyen et al 2009; Frost 2020) whereas others have recognized them as two valid genera (e.g., Manthey and Grossmann 1997; Ohler and Dubois 1999; Ziegler, 2002; Köhler et al 2018). The genus name Oreobatrachus Boulenger 1896 is a synonym of Phrynoglossus Peters 1867 according to Smith (1931)

Methods

Results

Conclusion