Diamond frogs forever: a new species of Rhombophryne Boettger, 1880 (Microhylidae, Cophylinae) from Montagne D'Ambre National Park, northern Madagascar
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Although taxonomic progress on the frogs of Madagascar is currently proceeding at an unprecedented pace, the goal of completing the amphibian inventory of this hyper-diverse island is still far off. In part this is because more new species continue to be discovered at a high rate, in some cases within well-studied areas. Here, I describe Rhombophryne ellae sp. nov., a new species of diamond frog discovered in Montagne d'Ambre National Park in northern Madagascar in 2017. This new species is highly distinctive in having orange flash-markings on its hindlimbs (not known from any described species of Rhombophryne), and large, black inguinal spots (larger than in all other described Rhombophryne species). It is separated from all named species of Rhombophryne by a substantial uncorrected pairwise distance in the 16S rRNA mitochondrial barcode marker (> 7%) and is most closely related to an undescribed candidate species from Tsaratanana in northern Madagascar. Rhombophryne ellae sp. nov. adds another taxon to the growing list of cophyline microhylids that have red to orange flash-markings, the function of which remains unknown and which has clearly evolved repeatedly in this radiation. The discovery of such a distinctive species within a comparatively well-studied park points toward the low detectability of semi-fossorial frogs and the role of inclement weather in increasing that detectability.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Zoosystematics and Evolution |
Volume | 96 |
Issue number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 313-323 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISSN | 1435-1935 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
I thank F. Glaw and M. Vences for their support and supervision over the last six years and for the many ways in which they have aided in my work on the herpetofauna of Madagascar. I thank J. Glos, J. Köhler, and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful feedback on this manuscript. For their assistance during fieldwork in Montagne d’Ambre, I thank J. H. Razafindraibe, A. Razafimanantsoa, O. Randri-amalala, S. M. Rasolonjavato, E. Z. Lattenkamp, R. Tiavi-na, and A. Rakotoarison. Extraction and sequencing were performed at the Technische Universität Braunschweig by M. Kondermann, for which I am very grateful. I thank the Malagasy authorities for providing permits to conduct this research, which was carried out under permit no. 191 17-MEEF/SG/DGF/SDAP/SCB.Re. The fieldwork was funded by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant VE 247/13-1 to MDS and M. Vences). The specimen was exported under permit no. 032-EA02.MG18.
Publisher Copyright:
© Mark D. Scherz.
- Amphibia, Anura, Micro-ct, Molecular genetics, Osteology rhombophryne ellae sp. nov., Systematics, Taxonomy
Research areas
ID: 284286637