Abstract
An examination of the holotype of Microhyla borneensis Parker 1928 revealed that this nomen applies to a miniaturized narrow-mouthed frog from Borneo that recently was described as Microhyla nepenthicola Das & Haas 2010. This is confirmed concordantly by body size of the female holotype of M. borneensis, and by its reduced extent of toe webbing and rather rounded, short snout profile. Consequently, the name M. nepenthicola is to be considered as a junior synonym of M. borneensis, and an old report of nepenthiphilous breeding habits of M. borneensis is therefore justified. A sympatric larger species usually treated as M. borneensis has no scientific name and is described here as M. malang sp. nov. The new species and M. borneensis are sister to each other, and together are closely related to M. mantheyi from Peninsular Malaysia. These three species are morphologically very similar, but can be distinguished by body size, color pattern, and extent of toe webbing. Phylogenetic relationships, miniaturization, and larval oral morphology in the genus Microhyla are discussed.References
Berry, P.Y. (1975) The Amphibian fauna of Peninsular Malaysia. Tropical Press, Kuala Lumpur, x+130 pp.
Chan-ard, T. (2003) A Photographic Guide to Amphibians in Thailand. Darnsutha Press, Bangkok, 173 pp.
Das, I. (2007) Amphibians and Reptiles of Brunei. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, viii+200 pp.
Das, I. & Haas, A. (2010) New species of Microhyla from Sarawak: Old World’s smallest frogs crawl out of miniature pitcher plants on Borneo (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae). Zootaxa, 2571, 37–52.
Das, I., Yaakob, N. & Sukumaran, J. (2007a) A new species of Microhyla (Anura: Microhylidae) from the Malay Peninsula. Hamadryad, 32, 304–314.
Das, I., Jankowski, A., Makmor, M.I. & Haas, A. (2007b) Species diversity, elevational distribution and reproductive modes in an amphibian community at the Matang Range, Sarawak (Borneo). Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut, 104, 141–174.
Dehling, J.M. (2010) Advertisement calls of two species of Microhyla (Anura: Microhylidae) from Borneo. Salamandra, 46, 114–116.
Dubois, A. (1987) Miscellanea taxinomica batrachologica (II). Alytes, 6, 1-9.
Fei, L., Ye, C., Jiang, J.-P., Xie, F. & Huang, Y. (2005) An Illustrated Key to Chinese Amphibians. Sichuan Publishing House of Science and Technology, Chengdu. 340 pp.+XII pls.
Frost, D.R. (2010) Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference, version 5.4 (8 April, 2010). Electronic database accessible at: http://research.amnh.org/ herpetology/amphibia/index.php, American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Goebel, A.M., Donnelly, J.M. & Atz, M.E. (1999) PCR primers and amplification methods for 12S ribosomal DNA, the control region, cytochrome oxidase I, and cytochrome b in bufonids and other frogs, and an overview of PCR primers which have amplified DNA in amphibians successfully. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 11, 163–199.
Gosner, K.L. (1960) A simplified table for staging anuran embryos and larvae, with notes on identification. Herpetologica, 16, 183–190.
Hedges, S.B. (1994) Molecular evidence for the origin of birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 91, 2621–2624.
Inger, R.F. (1966) The systematics and zoogeography of the Amphibia of Borneo. Fieldiana: Zoology, 52, 1–402.
Inger, R.F. (1985) Subfamily: Microhylinae. In: D. Frost (Ed.) Amphibian Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Allen Press Incorporated and Association of Systematics Collections, Lawrence, pp. 375– 391.
Inger, R.F. & Tan, F.-L. (1996) Checklist of the frogs of Borneo. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 44, 551–574.
Inger, R.F. & Stuebing, R.B. (1997) A Field Guide to the Frogs of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, x + 205 pp.
Malkmus, R., Manthey, U., Vogel, G., Hoffman, P. & Kosuch, J. (2002) Amphibians and Reptiles of Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo). A.R.G. Gantner Verlag Kommanditgesellschaft, Ruggell, 424 pp.
Matsui, M. (1979) Amphibians from Sabah I. Systematic and natural history notes. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University, 25, 303–346.
Matsui, M. (1984) Morphometric variation analyses and revision of the Japanese toads (Genus Bufo, Bufonidae). Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University, 26, 209–428.
Matsui, M. (1994) A taxonomic study of the Rana narina complex, with description of three new species (Amphibia: Ranidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 111, 385–415.
Matsui, M. (1997) Call characteristics of Malaysian Leptolalax with a description of two new species (Anura: Pelobatidae). Copeia, 1997, 158–165.
Matsui, M. (2006) Anuran inventory in Saba—Past and future. Current Herpetology, 25, 1–14.
Matsui, M., Ito, H., Shimada, T., Ota, H., Saidapur, S.K., Khonsue, W., Tanaka-ueno, T. & Wu, G.-F. (2005) Taxonomic relationships within the Pan-Oriental narrow-mouth toad Microhyla ornata as revealed by mtDNA analysis (Ampibia, Anura, Microhylidae). Zoological Science, 22, 489–495.
Matsui, M., Shimada, T., Liu, W.Z., Maryati, M., Khonsue, W. & Orlov, N. (2006) Phylogenetic relationships of Oriental torrent frogs in the genus Amolops and its allies (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 38, 659–666.
Matsui, M., Kuraishi, N., Jiang, J.-P., Ota, H., Hamidy, A., Orlov, N.L. & Nishikawa, K. (2010a) Systematic reassessments of fanged frogs from China and adjacent regions (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zootaxa, 2345, 33–42.
Matsui, M., Hamidy, A., Murphy, R.W., Khonsue, W., Yambun, P., Shimada, T., Norhayati, A., Daicus, M.B. & Jiang, J.-P. (2010b) Phylogenetic relationships of megophryid frogs of the genus Leptobrachium (Amphibia, Anura) as revealed by mtDNA gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56, 259–272.
Palumbi, S.R., Martin, A., Romano, S., McMillan, W.O., Stice, L. & Grabowski, G. (1991) The simple fool’s guide to PCR, version 2.0. Privately published, compiled by Palumbi S., Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
Parker, H.W. (1928) The brevicipitid frogs of the genus Microhyla. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 10, 2, 473–499.
Parker, H.W. (1934) A Monograph of the Frogs of the Family Microhylidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, (1) + viii + 208 pp.
Rodriguez, F., Oliver, J.F., Marin, A. & Medina, J.R. (1990) The general stochastic model of nucleotide substitution. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 142, 485-501.
Savage, J.M. (1975) Systematics and distribution of the Mexican and Central American stream frogs related to Eleutherodactylus rugulosus. Copeia, 1975, 254–306.
Wilkinson, J.A., Drewes, R.C. & Tatum, O.L. (2002) A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the family Rhacophoridae with an emphasis on the Asian and African genera. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 24, 265–273.