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1. Revisiting Linnaean and Wallacean shortfalls in Mindanao Fanged Frogs: the Limnonectes magnus Complex consists of only two species

   ROBIN KURIAN ABRAHAM, MARK WILLIAM (January 2021, Herpetological monograph)

   null (Ed.)

   We revisit the question of species diversity among Mindanao Fanged Frogs of the Limnonectes magnus complex consisting of L. magnus, L. diuatus, L. ferneri, and a previously hypothesized putative new species, inferred in the first molecular phylogenetic studies of the genus almost 2 decades ago. Using a multilocus molecular deoxyribonucleic acid sequence data set and comprehensive sampling of 161 individuals from throughout the Mindanao Pleistocene aggregate island complex landmasses (a distinct faunal region of the southern Philippines) we characterize geographically structured genetic diversity, focusing on the phylogenetic placement of individuals from each species’ type locality. We also present new morphometric data from large samples of freshly collected material from the type localities of each included species; together with examination of the name-bearing original type specimens, we conclude that an overestimation of species diversity has occurred and has been exacerbated by the indiscriminate acceptance of the hypothesis of the existence of widespread cryptic species in this group. We place L. ferneri in synonymy with L. diuatus, clarify the identification of the latter taxon with respect to L. magnus, and apply this name to the widespread, generalist, highly variable giant Fanged Frog distributed throughout the Mindanao faunal region of the southern Philippines. 

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2. A new forest frog of the genus Platymantis (Amphibia: Anura: Ceratobatrachidae: subgenus Tirahanulap) from Leyte and Samar islands, eastern Philippines

   https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4830.3.6  

   DIESMOS, ARVIN C.; SCHEFFERS, BRETT R.; MALLARI, NEIL ALDRIN; SILER, CAMERON D.; BROWN, RAFE M. (August 2020, Zootaxa)

   null (Ed.)

   We describe a new species of frog of the genus Platymantis Günther (subgenus Tirahanulap), from the east-central regions of the Philippines. It belongs to the the previously-defined P. hazelae Group) based on morphological and bioacoustic datasets. The new species is phenotypically and ecologically most similar to members of Tirahanulap, an assemblage of small-bodied arboreal frogs inhabiting montane forests of the central and northern islands of the Philippine archipelago. The new species represents the first taxon in the Cloud Frog species known from the biogeographically unique Mindanao Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex. Particularly susceptible to local extirpation following deforestation, all known species of Tirahanulap are important indicator species for environmental and conservation assessments, making this new species not only an exceptional addition to Philippine biodiversity but also an important symbol for conservation initiatives in the region. 

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3. Volume 14 Issue 2 - 2020 | 1 © Association of Systematic Biologists of the Philippines Molecular systematic investigation of Philippine puddle frogs (Anura: Dicroglossidae: Occidozyga Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822) reveals new candidate species and a novel pattern of species dyads

   Kin Onn Chan, Sabine Schoppe (January 2021, Philippine journal of systematic biology)

   null (Ed.)

   Focusing on the phylogenetic relationships of puddle frog populations spanning the biogeographic interface between Sundaland (Borneo) and the Philippines, we demonstrate, for the first time, a widespread geographic pattern involving the existence of multiple divergent and co-distributed (sympatric) evolutionary lineages, most of which are not each other’s closest relatives, and all of which we interpret as probable distinct species. This pattern of co-occurrence in the form of pairs of ecologically distinct puddle frog forms (dyads), prevails throughout northern Borneo, Palawan, Tawi-Tawi, the Sulu Archipelago, and western Mindanao (Zamboanga). Previously obscured by outdated taxonomy and logistical, legal, and security obstacles to field-based natural history studies, this pattern has remained hidden from biogeographers and amphibian biologists by an uncontested proposal that Philippine Occidozyga laevis is a single, “widespread,” and “highly variable” species. In this paper we use an integrative synthesis of new genetic data, organismal phenotypic data, historical literature reports, and ecological observations to elucidate an interesting and potentially widespread pattern of puddle frog species coexistence at the Sundaland–Philippine biogeographic interface. Calling attention to this pattern opens promising possibilities for future research aimed at understanding the scope of this dyads pattern, and whether it extends to the more northern reaches of the Philippines. On either side of Huxley’s and Wallace’s lines, data suggest that the majority of puddle frog dyads at a given locality are not each other’s closest relatives (are more distantly related, or non-monophyletic) and, thus, assembled ecologically, likely coexisting now as a result of their ecological tendencies toward distinct microhabitats (warmer stagnant pools in open areas, versus cool, flowing streams enclosed in forest). If these pairs of species types are determined to be the geographic norm among the more isolated, central, and northern, Philippine faunas, an obvious question will be whether they have evolved into dual ecological forms, possibly in response to ecological opportunity and/or reduced competition. 

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4. Recent Range Expansion and Genomic Admixture in a Kleptoparasitic Spider, Argyrodes lanyuensis : A Case of Adaptive Introgression on Small, Isolated Islands of the Taiwan–Philippine Transition Zone?

   https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17630  

   Responte, Mae A; Wu, Cheng‐Yu; Elias, Noraya U; Brown, Rafe M; Dai, Chia‐Yen; Su, Yong‐Chao (February 2025, Molecular Ecology)

   ABSTRACT Adaptive introgression involves the acquisition of advantageous genetic variants through hybridisation, which are subsequently favoured by natural selection due to their association with beneficial traits. Here, we analysed speciation patterns of the kleptoparasitic spider,Argyrodes lanyuensis, through genomic analyses and tested for possible genetic evidence of adaptive introgression at the Taiwan–Philippines transition zone. Our study used highly polymorphic SNPs to demonstrate that speciation occurred when the Hualien (on Taiwan Island + Green Island) and Orchid Island + Philippine lineages separated during the early to mid‐Pleistocene. The best colonisation model suggested by approximate Bayesian computation and random forests and biogeographical analyses supported an inference of a bottleneck during speciation, an interpretation reinforced by observation of lowerF_STvalues and reduced genetic diversity of the Orchid Island + Philippines lineage. We also found the highest support for the occurrence of introgression on the youngest island (Green Island) of the Taiwan–Philippines transition zone based on the ABBA‐BABA test. Our study highlights the inference of two noteworthy species (Hualien + Green Island and Orchid Island + Philippines) based on our species delimitation tests, with gene flow between Green Island and Orchid Island that indicates introgression. The potential adaptive alleles in Green Island population, which are under balancing selection, provide initial evidence of possible rare case of adaptive introgression. This could represent an evolutionary response to a newly formed niche (or novel geographical context) lying between the tropical climate of the Philippines and the subtropical climate of Hualien, Taiwan. 

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5. On the second (or, rather, the first) specimen of the recently described Calliophis salitan (Squamata: Elapidae), with the first report of the species from Mindanao Island, southern Philippines

   Rafe M. Brown, Marta Calvo-Revuelta (January 2021, Herpetology notes)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract. We report on the second known specimen of the recently described banded Asian coralsnake, Calliophis salitan, identified among the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales collections of Dr. Hipólito Fernández, made in 1886. The specimen was collected on Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines as part of the “Comisión Central de Manila,” the Spanish Crown’s effort to catalogue and showcase Philippine biodiversity for the Madrid public. We assign this important specimen to C. salitan (formerly known from a single specimen collected on Dinagat Island) based on its highly distinctive external phenotypic characteristics (scalation, body size, and inferred colour pattern). The discovery of C. salitan on Mindanao significantly extends the known geographic range of this species and partially fills an intermediate distributional hiatus – a large geographic gap in the distribution of large-bodied, long-glanded coralsnakes. This report partially resolves a biogeographic enigma surrounding the question of how a distinctive evolutionary lineage of elapid snakes – more closely related to the Calliophis bivirgatus group from Borneo and other landmasses of Sundaland than to any other Philippine elapids – could have colonized only a small island (Dinagat) in the geographic interior of the archipelago. The answer appears, most likely, that this dispersal occurred over land, via the large intervening island of Mindanao. Although the exact site of collection is unknown, consideration of the collector’s itinerary suggests that it originated most likely in the vicinity of Davao City, southeastern Mindanao. Its discovery confirms that C. salitan occurs on Mindanao (or, at least, did occur on this island as recently as 133 years ago), and that locating additional populations via targeted surveys is an urgent priority for conservation of this remarkable Philippine endemic snake lineage. 

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