Oceanic islands are unique geographic systems that promote local adaptations and allopatric speciation in many of their highly endemic taxa. This is a common case in the Philippine Archipelago, where numerous unrelated taxa on islands have been inferred to have diversified in isolation. However, few cases have been reported in invertebrates especially among parasitic organisms. Here, we tested for biogeographical structure in novel populations of the “generalist kleptoparasitic spider,
A new, morphologically cryptic species of fanged frog, genus Limnonectes (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae), from Mindoro Island, central Philippines.
We describe a new species of fanged frog (genus Limnonectes) from Mindoro and Semirara Islands, of the Mindoro
Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex, of the central Philippines. Although morphologically indistinguishable from its
closest relative, Limnonectes acanthi, of the Palawan faunal region, the two species can be readily diagnosed on the basis
of spectral (dominant frequency) and temporal (pulse number and structure) properties of their advertisement calls,
and their allopatric insular geographic ranges on permanently separate geological platforms which have not been
connected by dry land in the recent geological past—all of which we interpret as congruent and independent lines of
evidence supporting our recognition of two independently evolving evolutionary lineages (species). Ribosomal RNA
mitochondrial gene sequences were used to provide genetic identification of specimens and estimate phylogenetic
relationships; genetic divergences between Palawan and Mindoro faunal regions exceed those estimated among other,
uncontroversial, phenotypically distinct Philippine species with equivalent levels of allopatry and biogeographic
isolation. The recognition of the new species further emphasizes the degree to which even well-studied Philippine
landmasses still harbor unrecognized biodiversity, and suggests that other widespread Philippine fanged frogs should
be scrutinized for non-traditional diagnostic character differences (mate-recognition signal divergence, ecological
differences, larval characteristics, life-history trait variation), especially when their geographic ranges span the
archipelago’s permanent, deep-water trenches, which define its well-characterized Pleistocene Aggregate Island
Complexes
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- Award ID(s):
- 1654388
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10295340
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Copeia
- Volume:
- 109
- ISSN:
- 0045-8511
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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