Bioacoustics Reveal Hidden Diversity in Frogs: Two New Species of the Genus Limnonectes from Myanmar (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae)

Gunther Köhler,Deepak Kumar Gupta,Britta Zwitzers,Panupong Thammachoti,Axel Janke,Ni Lar Than,Steffen U Pauls

doi:10.3390/d13090399

Abstract

Striking geographic variation in male advertisement calls was observed in frogs formerly referred to as Limnonectes doriae and L. limborgi, respectively. Subsequent analyses of mtDNA and external morphological data brought supporting evidence for the recognition of these populations as distinct species. We describe two new frog species of the genus Limnonectes (i.e., L. bagoensis sp. nov. and L. bagoyoma sp. nov.) from Myanmar. Limnonectes bagoensis sp. nov. is closely related to L. doriae whereas L. bagoyoma sp. nov. is closely related to L. limborgi. Results of this integrative study provide evidence for the presence of additional undescribed species in these species complexes but due to the lack of bioacoustical data, we consider these additional diverging populations as candidate species that need further study to resolve their respective taxonomic status. Both new species are distributed in Lower Myanmar. Limnonectes doriae is restricted to southern Myanmar along the Malayan Peninsula whereas L. limborgi is known to occur in eastern Myanmar and northwestern Thailand. The remaining populations formerly referred to as either L. doriae or L. limborgi are considered representatives of various candidate species that await further study. We further provide a de novo draft genome of the respective holotypes of L. bagoensis sp. nov. and L. bagoyoma sp. nov. based on short-read sequencing technology to 25-fold coverage.

Highlights

IntroductionThe great number of new species described every year (e.g., [2,3,4]) shows that this group of frogs is understudied
The trees generated by Bayesian Inference analyses (BI), Maximum Likelihood (ML), and BEAST analyses agree well at most well-supported nodes, but show differences in Diversity 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW
The present study presents further examples for putative geographically wide-spread species that represent species complexes of several taxa that are similar in external morphology but distinct in bioacoustics and genetics ([5,21,60])

Summary

Introduction

The great number of new species described every year (e.g., [2,3,4]) shows that this group of frogs is understudied. Much more field and lab work is needed to evaluate the actual diversity and better understand 4.0/). Many of the supposedly widespread species consist of several species. This further drives the discovery of new species with intensified study (e.g., [5,6,7,8])

Methods

Results

Conclusion