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| Afrixalus phantasma Dehling, Greenbaum, Kusamba & Portik, in Greenbaum, Portik, Allen, Vaughan, Badjedjea, ... et Dehling, 2022. |
Abstract
The geographically widespread species Afrixalus laevis (Anura: Hyperoliidae) currently has a disjunct distribution in western Central Africa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and possibly adjacent countries) and the area in and near the Albertine Rift in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries. At least two herpetologists have previously suggested that these disjunct populations represent distinct species, and herein, we utilize an integrative taxonomic approach with molecular and morphological data to reconcile the taxonomy of these spiny reed frogs. We sequenced 1554 base pairs of the 16S and RAG1 genes from 34 samples of A. laevis and one sample of A. orophilus (sympatric with eastern populations of A. laevis), and combined these data with previously sequenced GenBank Afrixalus samples via the bioinformatics toolkit SuperCRUNCH. Phylogenetic trees, dated phylogenetic analyses, and species-delimitation analyses were generated with RAxML, BEAST, and BPP, respectively. Eleven mensural characters were taken from multiple specimens of A. laevis and A. orophilus, and compared with paired t-tests and analyses of covariance. These combined results suggested populations of A. laevis in western Central Africa (Cameroon and Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea) represent one species, whereas populations from the Albertine Rift and nearby forests represent two undescribed taxa that are sister to A. dorsimaculatus. The two new species (A. lacustris sp. nov. and A. phantasma sp. nov.) are distinguished by our phylogenetic and species-delimitation analyses, significant differences in several mensural characters, qualitative morphological differences, and by their non-overlapping elevational distribution.
Keywords: Amphibia, Afromontane, Endemism, Conservation, Species Delimitation, Phylogeny
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| Photos of Afrixalus phantasma sp. nov. in life. Adult male holotype, ZFMK 103454 (field no. JMD 723), from Gishwati-Mukura National Park, Rwanda, in the habitat showing nighttime coloration (A), adult male paratype, ZFMK 103460 (field no. JMD 679) from Kamiranzovu Swamp, Nyungwe National Park, showing daytime coloration in dorsal (B) and ventral views (C), adult male paratype UTEP 20802 (EBG 1198) from Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC (D), photographed the morning after capture. |
Afrixalus phantasma Dehling, Greenbaum, Kusamba & Portik sp. nov.
Ghost Spiny Reed Frog
Etymology. The species epithet derives from the Greek noun φάντασμα (phántasma), meaning ghost or phantom, in allusion to the coloration and general appearance of the new species. The epithet is used as an invariable noun in apposition.
Afrixalus lacustris Greenbaum, Dehling, Kusamba & Portik sp. nov.
Great Lakes Spiny Reed Frog
Etymology. The species epithet is the Latin adjective “ lacustris,” meaning belonging to or dwelling in lakes; in allusion to the distribution of the new species in the region of the African Great Lakes.
Eli Greenbaum, Daniel M. Portik, Kaitlin E. Allen, Eugene R. Vaughan, Gabriel Badjedjea, Michael F. Barej, Mathias Behangana, Nancy Conkey, Bonny Dumbo, Legrand N. Gonwouo, Mareike Hirschfeld, Daniel F. Hughes, Félix Igunzi, Chifundera Kusamba, Wilber Lukwago, Franck M. Masudi, Johannes Penner, Jesús M. Reyes, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Corey E. Roelke, Soraya Romero and J. Maximilian Dehling. 2022. Systematics of the Central African Spiny Reed Frog Afrixalus laevis (Anura: Hyperoliidae), with the Description of Two New Species from the Albertine Rift. Zootaxa. 5174(3); 201-232. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5174.3.1
twitter.com/mindje/status/1557321194797502465
Researchgate.net/publication/362604907_Systematics_of_Afrixalus_laevis_with_the_description_of_two_new_species_from_the_Albertine_Rift
