Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, located on the east coast of Madagascar, incorporates a small fragment of the once continuous lowland rainforest. Here, a recent herpetological survey revealed an astonishing amphibian diversity, confirming the occurrence of at least 76 taxa, 36 of which were classified as candidate new species. Several of these candidates belong to the endemic subfamily Cophylinae Cope, 1889. The cophylines have a complex history of taxonomic revision and recent molecular findings have identified a large taxonomic gap in this group. Among these candidate new species, one taxon was tentatively named Plethodontohyla sp. aff. brevipes [Ca FJ559294] (or P. sp. Ca03). After a closer examination of the recently collected specimens and a careful comparison with museum vouchers we found that this taxon is conspecific with Phrynocara laeve Boettger, 1913. Ph. laeve was described based on one specimen collected at Sakana (Eastern Madagascar) in September 1904 by A. Voeltzkow, later synonymized with Dyscophus alluaudi Mocquard, 1901 (currently considered a member of the genus Rhombophryne) by Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc, 1991. This finding shows that Phrynocara laeve is not synonymous with R. alluaudi, being instead a valid species of the genus Plethodontohyla.
The discovery of a candidate new species in Eastern Madagascar helps clarify some aspects of Cophylinae (Anura: Microhylidae) taxonomy
Bellati A;
2016-01-01
Abstract
Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, located on the east coast of Madagascar, incorporates a small fragment of the once continuous lowland rainforest. Here, a recent herpetological survey revealed an astonishing amphibian diversity, confirming the occurrence of at least 76 taxa, 36 of which were classified as candidate new species. Several of these candidates belong to the endemic subfamily Cophylinae Cope, 1889. The cophylines have a complex history of taxonomic revision and recent molecular findings have identified a large taxonomic gap in this group. Among these candidate new species, one taxon was tentatively named Plethodontohyla sp. aff. brevipes [Ca FJ559294] (or P. sp. Ca03). After a closer examination of the recently collected specimens and a careful comparison with museum vouchers we found that this taxon is conspecific with Phrynocara laeve Boettger, 1913. Ph. laeve was described based on one specimen collected at Sakana (Eastern Madagascar) in September 1904 by A. Voeltzkow, later synonymized with Dyscophus alluaudi Mocquard, 1901 (currently considered a member of the genus Rhombophryne) by Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc, 1991. This finding shows that Phrynocara laeve is not synonymous with R. alluaudi, being instead a valid species of the genus Plethodontohyla.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
