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Type: Article
Published: 2022-08-10
Page range: 201-232
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Systematics of the Central African Spiny Reed Frog Afrixalus laevis (Anura: Hyperoliidae), with the description of two new species from the Albertine Rift

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79912, USA
Herpetology Department, Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA 4Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79912, USA
Department of Ecology and Aquatic Biodiversity, Biodiversity Monitoring Centre, University of Kisangani, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
6 Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Department of Environment & Social Safeguards (DESS), Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), P.O. Box 28487, Kampala, Uganda
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79912, USA
Conservation of Biodiversity and Natural Resources and Climate Protection by Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry at Cyamudongo Forest (Rwanda), c/o Cooperation University of Koblenz-Landau/Rwanda, SH8 AVE 26, PO Box 344, Huye, Rwanda
Laboratory of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Department of Biology, Coe College, 1220 1st Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402, USA
Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, P.O. Box 852, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Laboratoire d’Hérpétologie, Département de Biologie, Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles, Lwiro, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Department of Environment & Social Safeguards (DESS), Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), P.O. Box 28487, Kampala, Uganda
Department of Ecology and Biodiversity of Earth Resources, Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité of the University of Kisangani, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
6 Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
6 Museum für Naturkunde Berlin—Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19498, Arlington, Texas 76017, USA
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79912, USA
Institut für Integrierte Naturwissenschaften, Abteilung Biologie, AG Zoologie, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Universitätsstraße 1, 56070 Koblenz, Germany
Amphibia Afromontane Endemism Conservation Species Delimitation Phylogeny

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.

 

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