Abstract
The presence of an adhesive abdominal sucker (gastromyzophory) allows tadpoles of certain species of anurans to live in fast-flowing streams. Gastromyzophorous tadpoles are rare among anurans, known only in certain American bufonids and Asian ranids. To date,Huia sumatrana, which inhabits cascading streams, has been the only Sumatran ranid known to possess gastromyzophorous tadpoles. In the absence of thorough sampling and molecular barcoding of adults and larvae, it has remained to be confirmed whether other Sumatran ranid species living in similar habitats, i.e.,Chalcorana crassiovis, possesses this larval type. Moreover, the taxonomic status of this species has long been uncertain and its taxonomic position within the Ranidae, previously based exclusively on morphological characters, has remained unresolved. To study the diversity and relationships of these frogs and to establish the identity of newly collected gastromyzophorous tadpoles from Sumatra, we compared genetic sequences ofC. crassiovis-like taxa from a wide range of sites on Sumatra. We conducted bayesian and maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses on a concatenated dataset of mitochondrial (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and tRNAval) and nuclear (RAG1 and TYR) gene fragments. Our analyses recoveredC. crassiovisto be related toClinotarsus,Huia, andMeristogenys. The DNA barcodes of the gastromyzophorous tadpoles matched adults from the same sites. Herein, we provide a re-description of adultC. crassiovisand propose “C. kampeni” as a synonym of this species. The molecular evidence, morphological features, and distribution suggest the presence of two related new species. The two new species andC. crassiovistogether represent a distinct phylogenetic clade possessing unique molecular and morphological synapomorphies, thus warranting a new genus.
Highlights
A fascinating aspect of Southeast Asian ranid frogs is that some of them possess tadpoles with large abdominal suckers
Our analyses recovered C. crassiovis to be related to Clinotarsus, Huia, and Meristogenys
The objectives of this study were: 1) to examine the phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status of C. crassiovis and morphologically similar taxa based on new molecular data; 2) to evaluate the phylogenetic position and taxonomy of material topotypic with C. kampeni; 3) to assess material from extensive sampling along the longitudinal axis of Sumatra in an effort to elucidate the diversity and distribution of this group of frogs; 4) to assign samples of collected gastromyzophorous tadpoles to specific species based on molecular evidence
Summary
A fascinating aspect of Southeast Asian ranid frogs is that some of them possess tadpoles with large abdominal suckers The presence of this adhesive structure has been referred to as gastromyzophory (Inger 1966). These tadpoles are adapted to live in fast-flowing streams (McDiarmid and Altig 1999, Altig 2006) Their body profile is streamlined with an extended sloping snout. Their adhesive abdominal sucker allows them to cling to rocks even in the fast-flowing, turbulent water of cascades (Nodzenski and Inger 1990, Gan et al 2015). According to our field observations on Bornean Meristogenys tadpoles (AH unpubl.), this feeding mode restricts taxa with gastromyzophorous tadpoles to certain habitats and microhabitats: clear rocky streams with considerable water velocity and enough light reaching those rocks to form organic overgrowth for the tadpoles to graze on
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