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The genus Stumpffia Boettger, 1881 currently contains 15 named, small to miniaturized frog species, classified in the endemic Malagasysubfamily Cophylinae of the family Microhylidae. Stumpffia are terrestrial frogs with a largely ...
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The genus Stumpffia Boettger, 1881 currently contains 15 named, small to miniaturized frog species, classified in the endemic Malagasysubfamily Cophylinae of the family Microhylidae. Stumpffia are terrestrial frogs with a largely unknown biology, probably due to their smallsize and secretive habits. Previous studies have suggested a large proportion of undescribed diversity in the genus. We revise the genus onthe basis of a combination of molecular, bioacoustic, and morphological data and describe 26 new species that are all genetically divergent,almost all of them with high pairwise genetic divergences > 4% p-distance in a segment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene and concordant differentiation in a segment of the nuclear Rag-1 gene. The majority of the new species can also be distinguished by the structure of theiradvertisement calls (where bioacoustic data are available), and in most comparisons the species can also be distinguished morphologically.Furthermore, a molecular phylogeny reconstructed from DNA sequences of one nuclear and four mitochondrial gene segments revealedthat in many cases, morphologically similar species are not each other’s closest relatives, thus confirming their identity as independent evolutionary lineages and revealing repeated phenotypic divergence and convergence among and within clades.
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We describe ten new species of treefrogs assigned to the genus Boophis (Anura: Mantellidae) and resurrect two species from synonymy, based on materials collected during fieldwork in Madagascar, carried out mainly between 2000 and ...
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We describe ten new species of treefrogs assigned to the genus Boophis (Anura: Mantellidae) and resurrect two species from synonymy, based on materials collected during fieldwork in Madagascar, carried out mainly between 2000 and 2007. Our comparativedatabase assembled over the past years comprises fresh material for molecular analysis from all 58 nominal Boophis species, and advertisement call recordings from all except three species. We follow an integrative approach and combine molecular, bioacoustic and morphological evidence to diagnose the new species. In most cases, the new species have uncorrected molecular divergences of over 4-5% in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene to their closest relatives. In some cases the divergences are lower (2-2.5%) but are then accompanied by distinct differences in advertisement calls or morphology. Boophis piperatus sp. nov. from Ranomafana National Park is a small brown species assigned to the B. majori group that is similar to B. miniatus but differs in morphology and advertisement calls. Boophis arcanus sp. nov. is assigned to the B. majori group as well and is known from only two female specimens from a site close to Ranomafana; it is described mainly based on its strong genetic differentiation (> 7.2% toall other species). Boophis entingae sp. nov. is a species of the Boophis goudoti group occurring in northern Madagascar, similar to and sym-patric with B. brachychir, but with a strongly different advertisement call. Boophis roseipalmatus sp. nov. belongs to the B. goudoti group, is similar to B. madagascariensis, and appears to replace this species in most of northern Madagascar, with possible areas of sympatry in the north east. Boophis spinophis sp. nov. is an enigmatic, morphologically highly divergent species from Ranomafana National Park that belongs into the B. goudoti group but differs from all other species in the group by having distinct dermal tubercles along the lateral parts of the shank and around the elbow. Boophis praedictus sp. nov. is a sibling species of B. albilabris in the B. albilabris group, diagnosable by its red iris periphery and distributed in rainforest along the east coast. Boophis sandrae sp. nov. belongs to the B. luteus group and is superficially similar to the sympatric B. elenae, but has a faster call and smaller body size. Boophis miadana sp. nov. and B. haingana sp. nov., both in the B. albipunctatus group and syntopically occurring at Andohahela National Park, are related to B. ankaratra and B. schuboeae and differ mainly by their advertisement calls. Boophis luciae sp. nov., also in the B. albipunctatus group, differs from the sympatric B. albipunctatus and B. sibilans by having slightly smaller body size and different advertisement calls. We furthermore resurrect Rhacophorus obscurus Boettger, 1913 (as Boophis obscurus in the B. goudoti group) from the synonymy of Boophis goudoti as well as Rhacophorus andrangoloaka Ahl, 1928 (as Boophis andrangoloaka in the B. microtympanum group) from the synonymy of Boophis rhodoscelis, and propose to consider Rhacophorus brevirostris Ahl, 1928 as junior synonym of Boophis andrangoloaka. We discuss our integrative methodological approach and the different lines of evidence used to delimitate the species described or resurrected herein. By applying IUCN Redlist criteria, we evaluate the threat status of the species considered: six species are classified Data Deficient (B. arcanus, B. haingana, B. miadana, B. piperatus, B. praedictus, B. spinophis), four Vulnerable (B. andrangoloaka, B. entingae, B. roseipalmatus, B. sandrae), and two Least Concern (B. luciae, B. obscurus).
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Due to their often brilliant colours, diurnal activity, and fascinating behaviours there is a long lasting high demand for chameleons in the pet trade. Accordingly, the international trade of most chameleon genera is regulated by ...
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Due to their often brilliant colours, diurnal activity, and fascinating behaviours there is a long lasting high demand for chameleons in the pet trade. Accordingly, the international trade of most chameleon genera is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Floras (CITES). In order to facilitate operating and control of these regulations by national and international nature conservation authorities an updated taxonomic checklist of the family Chamaeleonidae (202 species plus 23 subspecies in 12 genera) is provided. A comparison with the last taxonomic checklist published in 1997 (132 species plus 39 subspecies in six genera) demonstrates the enormous progress in chameleon taxonomy and systematics in recent years. Although a substantial number of the currently accepted taxa are well defined, the taxonomy of several species and subspecies is in need of revision and many new species both from Africa and Madagascar still await their scientific description.
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The Malagasy species of the dwarf gecko genera Lygodactylus Gray and Microscalabotes Boulenger have been largely neglected in recent studies on the herpetofauna of Madagascar. Since the historically earliest taxonomic description ...
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The Malagasy species of the dwarf gecko genera Lygodactylus Gray and Microscalabotes Boulenger have been largely neglected in recent studies on the herpetofauna of Madagascar. Since the historically earliest taxonomic description of Lygodactylus tolampyae in 1872, studies have mainly dealt with the systematics of these lizards, yet many taxonomic issues and the validity of several species is unclear. Some species have been described on the basis of immature specimens, or based on a low specimen number from single sites, and there are no assessments of geographic variation. In this paper we provide a review of Malagasy Lygodactylus and Micro scalabotes based on preserved material from a number of major natural history museums, including types of mostspecies, and on own collections. For each species we provide morphological diagnoses, standardized descriptions of up to 24 morphological characters, a list of localities, and discussions of geographical variation if it was apparent from the specimens examined. All except three Malagasy Lygodactylus species are assigned to a total of four phenetic species groups of which at least some may also represent monophyletic units. Hemipenial morphology is described for 11 species and provides a valuable sourceof characters to distinguish species groups, especially the L. madagascariensis group that differs from other Malagasy species by their lack of hemipenial serrated ridges with pointed papillae, short pedicel and poorly defined lobes. Lygodactylus praecox Pasteur, 1995 is considered as a junior synonym of Lygodactylus klemmeri Pasteur, 1964. One new species, Lygodactylus roavolana, is described based on a unique combination of morphological characters.
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The Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen (ZSM) is one of the major natural history collections in Germany. A short history of the herpetological collection was already given by Gruber (1992) and Glaw & Fuchs (2001). The collection dates back to the early 19th century and is primarily based on material obtained by Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius during their expedition to Brazil 1817-1820. The entire herpetological works of Spix and Wagler resulted in a total of 95 newly described taxa (83 primary types of the South American expedition originally housed in ZSM), with currently 56 extant holo- and lectotypes. Only 19 of the 52 taxa described by Spix are currently considered valid, whereas 23 of the 43 names by Wagler are still in use....
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The Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen (ZSM) is one of the major natural history collections in Germany. A short history of the herpetological collection was already given by Gruber (1992) and Glaw & Fuchs (2001). The collection dates back to the early 19th century and is primarily based on material obtained by Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius during their expedition to Brazil 1817-1820. The entire herpetological works of Spix and Wagler resulted in a total of 95 newly described taxa (83 primary types of the South American expedition originally housed in ZSM), with currently 56 extant holo- and lectotypes. Only 19 of the 52 taxa described by Spix are currently considered valid, whereas 23 of the 43 names by Wagler are still in use.
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The Lygodactylus madagascariensis species group, constituting the subgenus Domerguella, currently contains five valid species of inconspicuous dwarf geckos from Madagascar's humid forests, but at least 18 deep genetic lineages hav...
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The Lygodactylus madagascariensis species group, constituting the subgenus Domerguella, currently contains five valid species of inconspicuous dwarf geckos from Madagascar's humid forests, but at least 18 deep genetic lineages have been revealed by recent molecular studies. Given the high morphological similarity of these lineages, taxonomic resolution of this astonishing diversity requires efforts to correctly delimit species, as well as assigning the available nomina to the species-level lineages identified. We here combine DNA sequences of one mitochondrial and two nuclear-encoded gene fragments with morphometric measurements and scale counts, and report evidence for a species status of most of the previously identified lineages. In particular, we rely on sympatric and often even syntopic occurrence of several of these lineages without evidence for genetic admixture, and consistent with subtle morphological differences. Furthermore, the very high divergences of 7.4-23.8% pairwise distances in the relatively conserved mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene, combined with a lack of haplotype sharing in the nuclear-encoded genes and differences in scale counts convinced us that most of the other, allopatrically distributed lineages also represent distinct species. We elevate L. madagascariensis petteri to species level and formally name eight new species: L. salvi sp. nov., a species from the Sambirano region in northern Madagascar, previously called L. sp. 8; L. tantsaha sp. nov. (L. sp. 10), a species occurring sympatrically with L. madagascariensis and L. petteri on Montagne d'Ambre in far northern Madagascar; L. roellae sp. nov. (L. sp. 17), a species characterized by a striped coloration in all known specimens, from northern Madagascar; L. winki sp. nov. (L. sp. 18), an unstriped species from northern Madagascar but belonging to a subclade mostly distributed in the eastern rainforests of the island; L. ulli sp. nov. (L. sp. 21), a species from the same subclade as L. winki but known only from the Marojejy Massif in the North East; L. fritzi sp. nov. (L. sp. 11), a further species of this subclade from coastal lowlands in the Northern Central East; L. hodikazo sp. nov. (L. sp. 23) known from a single specimen collected at the Tsingy de Bemaraha and therefore the only Domerguella species known from the West region of Madagascar; and L. hapei sp. nov. (L. sp. 26), an enigmatic species from the Sambirano region characterized by a striped pattern on the throat that is otherwise unknown in the subgenus. Three additional deep mitochondrial lineages of Domerguella were identified in our analysis, but could not be further analyzed due to the lack or scarcity of voucher specimens. More field work and collection of voucher specimens is needed to understand their status. Furthermore, the taxonomy of the Domerguella subclade occurring in eastern Madagascar, with three described species (L. guibei, L. miops, L. fritzi), two synonyms (L. septemtuberculatus, Microscalabotes spinulifer) and at least two further deep genetic lineages co-occurring in a relatively small area, requires further revisionary work, possibly aided by target-enrichment sequencing of the respective namebearing types.
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We provide detailed morphological descriptions of the tadpoles of Malagasy river bank frogs of the subgenera Ochthomantis and Maitsomantis (genus Mantidactylus, family Mantellidae), and data on relative abundance and habitat prefe...
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We provide detailed morphological descriptions of the tadpoles of Malagasy river bank frogs of the subgenera Ochthomantis and Maitsomantis (genus Mantidactylus, family Mantellidae), and data on relative abundance and habitat preferences of Ochthomantis species from Ranomafana National Park in southeastern Madagascar. Our study includes the tadpoles of six described and four undescribed candidate species. Eight of these larvae were previously unknown. Tadpoles were identified by DNA barcoding. Due to the very rudimentary taxonomic knowledge on Ochthomantis, we followed a ‘reverse taxonomy’ approach in which adult classification was to a great part determined on the basis of larval differences. By this procedure we even identified one candidate species whose adults remain still unknown. The majority of tadpoles in Ochthomantis and Maitsomantis have a rather similar body shape and they usually have similar habitat requirements. However, on the basis of the structure of their oral disk we identified three distinct groups: the first includes the femoralis-like tadpoles of Mantidactylus femoralis, M. ambreensis, M. zolitschka, M. argenteus, and of the candidate species named M. sp. 42, M. sp. 43 and M. sp. 47. They all have a reduced oral disk with poorly keratinized jaw sheaths and labial teeth. The mocquardi-like tadpoles of M. mocquardi and M. sp. 64 are placed in the second group and are characterized by a further reduction of oral disk structures, i.e. a complete lack of labial teeth. The third group includes only M. majori and is characterized by the transformation of the upper jaw sheath into three thorn-shaped projections. Based on a preliminary molecular phylogenetic analysis the reduction of keratinized oral structures in M. majori may have occurred convergently to that in M. mocquardi. The ecological data indicate that the tadpoles of the three most abundant species in Ranomafana (M. femoralis, M. majori and M. sp. 47) do not obviously differ in their choice of microhabitat although the differences in their oral structures indicate that they might use different food resources. They all show a preference for the stream areas with slow current and leaf litter substrate.
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We provide a first complete list of the present and lost amphibian type specimens of the Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen (ZSM) and discuss various problems involved. The collection currently houses primary types of 61 taxa (45...
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We provide a first complete list of the present and lost amphibian type specimens of the Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen (ZSM) and discuss various problems involved. The collection currently houses primary types of 61 taxa (45 holotypes, eight lectotypes, three neotypes, and five taxa based on syntype series), 41 of them currently considered as valid. Furthermore, 72 taxa are exclusively represented by secondary types (paratypes, paralectotypes), resulting in type material of 133 taxa. The ZSM collection strongly suffered from losses during World War Ⅱ. Primary type specimens of approximately 65 amphibian taxa have been obviously destroyed during that time. The historical focus of the collection was South America and was primarily based on material collected by Spix and Martius during their expedition to Brazil from 1817 to 1820. 50 amphibian taxa are based on material collected during this expedition, but currently specimens of only 14 taxa are still present in Munich. Subsequently, herpetological research in South America was continued during the first half of the 20th century by L. Mueller und W. Hellmich, who designated type material of 24 anuran taxa in the ZSM, 11 of them still represented by primary types. Recently, the focus of the taxonomic work on amphibians has shifted to Madagascar. This has resulted in the presence of 19 holotypes and additional 50 taxa represented by paratypes from that country. An extensive search in the herpetological collection resulted in the rediscovery of type material of Caecilia annulata Wagler, 1824 and Hyla lateristriga Spix, 1824, which formerly was presumed to be lost.
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The subgenus Laurentomantis in the genus Gephyromantis contains some of the least known amphibian species of Madagascar. The six currently valid nominal species are rainforest frogs known from few individuals, hampering a full und...
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The subgenus Laurentomantis in the genus Gephyromantis contains some of the least known amphibian species of Madagascar. The six currently valid nominal species are rainforest frogs known from few individuals, hampering a full understanding of the species diversity of the clade. We assembled data on specimens collected during field surveys over the past 30 years and integrated analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear-encoded genes of 88 individuals, a comprehensive bioacoustic analysis, and morphological comparisons to delimit a minimum of nine species-level lineages in the subgenus. To clarify the identity of the species Gephyromantis malagasius, we applied a target-enrichment approach to a sample of the 110 year-old holotype of Microphryne malagasia Methuen and Hewitt, 1913 to assign this specimen to a lineage based on a mitochondrial DNA barcode. The holotype clustered unambiguously with specimens previously named G. ventrimaculatus. Consequently we propose to consider Trachymantis malagasia ventrimaculatus Angel, 1935 as a junior synonym of Gephyromantis malagasius. Due to this redefinition of G. malagasius, no scientific name is available for any of the four deep lineages of frogs previously subsumed under this name, all characterized by red color ventrally on the hindlimbs. These are here formally named as Gephyromantis fiharimpe sp. nov., G. matsilo sp. nov., G. oelkrugi sp. nov., and G. portonae sp. nov. The new species are distinguishable from each other by genetic divergences of >4% uncorrected pairwise distance in a fragment of the 16S rRNA marker and a combination of morphological and bioacoustic characters. Gephyromantis fiharimpe and G. matsilo occur, respectively, at mid-elevations and lower elevations along a wide stretch of Madagascar’s eastern rainforest band, while G. oelkrugi and G. portonae appear to be more range-restricted in parts of Madagascar’s North East and Northern Central East regions. Open taxonomic questions surround G. horridus, to which we here assign specimens from Montagne d’Ambre and the type locality Nosy Be; and G. ranjomavo, which contains genetically divergent populations from Marojejy, Tsaratanana, and Ampotsidy.
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Based on a large number of specimens and genetic samples, we revise the chameleons of the phenetic Calumma nasutum species group using an integrative taxonomic approach including external and hemipenial morphology, osteology, and ...
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Based on a large number of specimens and genetic samples, we revise the chameleons of the phenetic Calumma nasutum species group using an integrative taxonomic approach including external and hemipenial morphology, osteology, and sequences of a mitochondrial (ND2) and a nuclear gene (c-mos). After more than 180 years of taxonomic uncertainty, the eponymous species of the group, C.?nasutum, is re-described, a lectotype is designated, and the species is assigned to a genetic clade that occurs in eastern (Anosibe An’Ala, Andasibe) and northern Madagascar (Sorata) based on morphology and osteology. The identity of C.?fallax is also clarified and a lectotype is designated; it occurs at high elevation along the east coast from Andohahela (south) to Mandraka (central east). Calumma radamanus is resurrected from synonymy of C.?nasutum ; it lives at low elevations in eastern Madagascar from Tampolo (south) to its type locality Ambatondradama (north). However, up to five deep mitochondrial lineages and high morphological variation are identified within C.?radamanus, which we consider a species complex still in need of further taxonomic revision. Furthermore, three new species of the C.?nasutum group are described: C.?emelinae sp. nov. is distributed in eastern Madagascar (Anosibe An’Ala in the south to Makira in the north), C.?tjiasmantoi sp.?nov. in southeastern Madagascar (from Andohahela in the south to Ranomafana NP in the north), and C.?ratnasariae sp. nov. is known from the Bealanana District in northern Madagascar. There is only little variation in hemipenial morphology in this group; the cornucula gemina are present in all taxa except the C.?radamanus complex. Due to this taxonomic revision the protection status of the treated six chameleon species needs to be newly assessed; at least two of the species appear to warrant threatened statuses.
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