Morphology and systematics of Kalophrynus interlineatus-pleurostigma populations (Anura, Microhylidae, Kalophryninae) and a taxonomy of the genus Kalophrynus Tschudi, Asian Sticky Frogs (original) (raw)

Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series., 2015

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sticky Frogs, Kalophrynus Tschudi, are a small group of Southeast Asian species with their greatest diversity in Borneo. Two species, K. interlineatus (Blyth) and K. pleu-rostigma Tschudi, were proposed as residents of Myanmar (Burma), northern and southern populations respectively. An analysis of morphological variation in Burmese specimens and comparison with small samples from throughout the distribution of the interlineatus-pleurostigma group of species demonstrates variable levels of regional differentiation, which I interpret as evidence of speciation. This interpretation recommends the restriction of K. pleurostigma to Sumatra populations and K. interlineatus to peninsular Myanmar and adjacent mainland Southeast Asian populations. The northern Borneo populations have the largest body size of any members of this group and represent a new species, K. meizon. The Philippine populations , K. sinensis Peters, are confirmed as unique as proposed recently by Ohler and Grosjean (2005). The populations from northern Myanmar also represent a distinct taxon, K. anya, and differ from K. orangensis (India and Bangladesh) and K. interlin-eatus (peninsular Myanmar and Southeast Asia). To assist the ongoing discovery of new species of this cryptic frog group, I provide a taxonomic resumé of all currently recognized species of the genus Kalophrynus and a diagnostic key to all species of Kalophrynus. Tschudi (1838) recognized the uniqueness of the Sticky Frogs with the erection of a new genus, Kalophrynus. Simultaneously he described K. pleurostigma for a specimen from Sumatra, thereby establishing this taxon as the type species of Kalophrynus. The Sumatran origin has not been questioned, although few Sumatran specimens are available to provide a thorough examination of variation of topotypic K. pleurostigma in the broadest sense of all Sumatran populations. The scarcity of Sumatran specimens and the widespread occurrence of presumably similar appearing frogs from southern Myanmar through Southeast Asia to Borneo and the Philippines led to the name pleurostigma being applied to the larger-bodied Sticky Frogs in this area. This concept of K. pleurostigma had its foundation in Parker's review (1934) of the Microhylidae. Therein, he recognized four of the eight species of Kalophrynus described prior to his review. He considered the broadly distributed K. pleurostigma as consisting of two subspecies (nominate and interlineatus). This concept persisted for sixty years until Matsui et al. (1996) recognized the two PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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