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Type: Article
Published: 2023-03-13
Page range: 301-339
Abstract views: 581
PDF downloaded: 66

The smallest of its kind: Description of a new cryptic Amnirana species (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae) from West African rainforests

Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Frogs & Friends, Grossbeerenstrasse 84, 10963 Berlin, Germany
5Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé, UFR Environnement, Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Ecologie Tropicale, Daloa, BP 150, Côte d´Ivoire.
5Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé, UFR Environnement, Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Ecologie Tropicale, Daloa, BP 150, Côte d´Ivoire.
7Laboratory of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon
8Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF), Liberia Office, Congo Town, Monrovia, Montserrado County, Liberia
Institute for Cell and Systems Biology, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
1Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
Amphibia Amnirana albolabris Amnirana fonensis biodiversity hotspot biogeography conservation integrative taxonomy Upper Guinean Forest Zone

Abstract

The distribution of the White-Lipped Frog Amnirana albolabris was long assumed to extend from eastern-central to western African rainforests. However, recent molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that this taxon likely represents several undescribed species. Because the name-bearing types were collected in Gabon, the distantly related West African populations clearly represent an undescribed species that partly occurs in sympatry with Amnirana fonensis. Based on an integrative taxonomic approach, including molecular, morphological, and acoustic data, we describe the ‘albolabris’ populations from the Upper Guinean Forest Zone as a new species, and redescribe the morphologically similar A. fonensis on the bases of a larger series of genotyped individuals, including the first known females. We also provide new biological information for A. fonensis, including their advertisement call, habitat, and reproductive data. The new species is sister to A. fonensis and the two species differ by 5.8% in the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Morphologically, males of the new species are smaller and have relatively smaller humeral glands. Females of the new species seem to have shorter legs than A. fonensis. In comparison to A. fonensis, the advertisement call of the new species has a higher dominant frequency and more pronounced frequency modulation. The two species differ in their distribution and habitat preferences, as revealed by environmental niche modelling. Whereas the new species is restricted to the Upper Guinean forests and thus is a true lowland-rainforest inhabitant, A. fonensis lives predominantly in Guinean montane forests in the forest-savanna mosaic zone.

 

References

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    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056236