[Paleontology • 2025] Latonia dimenticata • Why extant, Why not Extinct? A New extinct Latonia Species (Anura: Discoglossidae) from the Early Pleistocene of the Apennine Peninsula provides clues on the survival of the genus in Eurasia

 

 Latonia dimenticata 

 Sorbelli, Azzarà, Cherin, Delfino, Roček & Villa, 2025

 

DOI: doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2025.2554727 

artwork: Leonardo Sorbelli

 

Abstract

Pietrafitta is one of the richest Early Pleistocene localities in the Italian Peninsula and it hosts one of the latest occurrences of the discoglossid frog Latonia in Europe. This occurrence is here described as a new species of Latonia, a large-bodied frog, potentially feeding on hard invertebrates in the Pietrafitta palaeoswamp. Our first attempt at the phylogenetic reconstruction of Latonia, based on a matrix consisting of 20 taxa and 39 characters, placed the new Italian species within a poorly understood clade that also includes Latonia caucasica from the Late Miocene of northern Caucasus. Almost all other extinct Latonia species make up a second clade, represented in the fossil record from the Oligocene and including the youngest occurrence of the genus in Europe, from the Middle Pleistocene of Hungary. The only extant species, Latonia nigriventer, was the earliest branching taxon in our topology, which could be due to its unique unsculptured morphology, a trait that may represent a secondary loss during the Quaternary. The exostosis on cranial bones, which is considered a diagnostic feature of the genus, might have developed in the earliest Latonia in response to pronounced warming and drought. Later, starting after the Middle Miocene, this exostosis underwent a reduction process, possibly triggered by cooling, that led to Plio–Pleistocene forms sharing a narrower frontoparietal with a less pustular sculpturing. Latonia dimenticata is a clear example of this frontoparietal morphology. Latonia nigriventer may have further evolved a completely unsculptured morphology to face rapid environmental changes in the last Quaternary glacial phases and ultimately facilitating its survival into the present day.  

Keywords: Quaternary, Italian Peninsula, Europe, Middle East, Latonia nigriventer, exostosis

Latonia dimenticata sp. nov. 

Leonardo Sorbelli, Beatrice Azzarà, Marco Cherin, Massimo Delfino, Zbyněk Roček and Andrea Villa. 2025. Why extant, Why not Extinct? A New extinct Latonia Species (Anura: Discoglossidae) from the Early Pleistocene of the Apennine Peninsula provides clues on the survival of the genus in Eurasia. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 23(1); 2554727. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2025.2554727 [10 Oct 2025]

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[Herpetology • 2024] Alytes obstetricans lusitanicus • A New Subspecies of Midwife Toad (Anura: Alytidae: Alytes Wagler, 1829) supported by Genomic Taxonomy

  Alytes obstetricans lusitanicus  

 Ambu, Martínez-Solano & Dufresnes, 2024

 biotaxa.org/Alytes/article/view/85334 

 x.com/batracofistro

photo: Christophe Dufresnes

Abstract

The mapping, delimiting and naming of biodiversity forge the links between academic research, conservation efforts and communication about wildlife. Midwife toads from the subgenus Alytes are a group of high conservation concern widely popular among European naturalists, but for which the taxonomy remains unsettled. Six phylogeographic lineages that diversified during the Pliocene and the Pleistocene epochs have been identified and delimited in two species (A. obstetricans and A. almogavarii), but only five subspecies are presently recognized (A. o. obstetricans, A. o. pertinax and A. o. boscai; A. a. almogavarii and A. a. inigoi). Accordingly, two distinct lineages found in northwestern and western Iberia are still regrouped under the same taxon A. o. boscai. Contrary to the discordant findings of earlier studies based on a few genes, phylogenomic analyses of thousands of nuclear markers have confirmed their independent evolution, estimated to exceed two million years. In this article, we detail molecular, morphological and behavioral variation in the subgenus Alytes to provide a taxonomic description for the previously unnamed western Iberian lineage. Like other taxa of this subgenus, the new taxon is supported by robust evidence for genetic divergence despite little external differentiation. It is designated as a subspecies of A. obstetricans, as per its phylogenetic placement and young evolutionary age, which compares to freely admixing Alytes subspecies. Combining genetic barcoding and distribution information, we provisionally define its range in central Portugal and western central Spain, and prompt to evaluate its potentially worrisome conservation status. Our study highlights how phylogeographic diversity can be acknowledged in zoological systematics, even when phenotypic differences are subtle, and illustrates the advantages of genomic approaches to overcome the limitations of single-gene analyses when implementing taxonomic revisions.

Keywords: Alytes obstetricans; Iberian Peninsula; integrative taxonomy; species delimitation

The holotype MNCN 50839 of Alytes obstetricans lusitanicus ssp. nov., depicted live

photo: Christophe Dufresnes

Alytes obstetricans lusitanicus ssp. nov.

Diagnosis: A midwife toad from the subgenus Alytes, which becomes the fourth subspecies of A.

obstetricans. According to phylogenomic analyses, A. o. lusitanicus ssp. nov. is the sister

taxon of A. o. boscai, from which it diverged around the Plio-Pleistocene transition ca. 2.5

Mya (Ambu et al. 2023). It features 0.19 % of sequence divergence at ~ 282 kb of nuclear

(RAD) loci from that subspecies. The mitochondrial diversity of A. o. lusitanicus ssp. nov. is

counter-intuitive. The Spanish populations feature a “ghost” lineage different from the regular

A. o. lusitanicus ssp. nov. mtDNA predominantly found in Portugal (Ambu 2024b).

Accordingly, the mtDNA of A. o. lusitanicus ssp. nov. differs from the mtDNA of A. o.

boscai by 0.93 % (Portuguese lineage) or 0.99 % (Spanish ghost lineage) at 16S, and by 5.2

% (Portuguese lineage) or 3.3 % (Spanish ghost lineage) at ND4 (Table 1) – again noting that

these mtDNA distances do not reflect the true divergence between taxa due to a past

mitochondrial capture in A. o. boscai (Ambu et al. 2023). According to MOLD, the new

subspecies can be distinguished from all other taxa from subgenus Alytes by the following

diagnostic nucleotides in the ND4 gene ...

Etymology: The nomen lusitanicus refers to the ancient Roman Province of Lusitania, which encompassed central and southern Portugal (south of the Douro River) and western central Spain (Extremadura, Castilla la Mancha and Castilla y León), thus broadly matching the distribution of the new taxon.  

Johanna Ambu, ĺñigo Martínez-Solano, Christophe Dufresnes. 2024. A New Subspecies of Midwife Toad (Anura, Alytidae, Alytes Wagler, 1829) supported by Genomic Taxonomy. Alytes. 2024, 41 (1–4): 18–39.  biotaxa.org/Alytes/article/view/85334

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[Herpetology • 2017] Living Quarters of A Living Fossil - Uncovering the Current Distribution Pattern of the Rediscovered Hula Painted Frog (Latonia nigriventer) using Environmental DNA

Latonia nigriventer (Mendelssohn & Steinitz, 1943)

photo: @Roll_Ur   || DOI:  10.1111/mec.14420 

Abstract   

One of the greatest challenges of effective conservation measures is the correct identification of sites where rare and elusive organisms reside. The recently rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) has not been seen for many decades, and was therefore categorized extinct. Since its rediscovery in 2011, individuals from the critically endangered species have been found, with great effort, only in four restricted sites. We applied the environmental DNA (eDNA) approach to search for new populations of the Hula painted frog in suitable aquatic habitats. We further used the eDNA data to classify the landscape factors associated with the species distribution and to predict its suitable habitats. We sampled 52 aquatic sites in the Hula valley during the spring of 2015 and 2016, and amplified the samples with a species-specific qPCR assay. DNA of the Hula painted frog was detected in 22 of the sites, all of which clustered within three main areas. A boosting classification model showed that soil type, vegetation cover, and the current and former habitats are all key predictors of the frog's current distribution. Intriguingly, the habitat suitability models reveal a high affinity of the species to its long-lost habitat of the historical wetlands. Our findings encourage a series of informed searches for new populations of this threatened frog, and provide guidance for future conservation management programs. In the era of global conservation crisis of amphibians, developing the eDNA approach, a reliable detection method for many critically endangered and elusive amphibians, is of particularly importance.

Keywords: Conservation genetics; Genetic monitoring; Amphibians; Species distribution modelling (SDM)

Sharon Renan, Sarig Gafny, R. G. Bina Perl, Uri Roll, Yoram Malka, Miguel Vences and Eli Geffen. 2017. Living Quarters of A Living Fossil - Uncovering the Current Distribution Pattern of the Rediscovered Hula Painted Frog (Latonia nigriventer) using Environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology. DOI:  10.1111/mec.14420 

 Using #eDNA analysis we were able to map suitable habitats for the newly re-discovered #Living_fossil -the Hula_painted_frog, and see that it retains its affinity to the now drained Hula lake and swamp. #Molecular_Ecology  || Detection of Hula painted frogs using eDNA

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