Myanmar, a biodiversity hotspot, harbors a striking diversity and endemism of species. Despite this, its herpetofauna remains one of the least explored in continental Asia due to restrictions of crossing political boundaries and infrastructure in remote regions. Many species in adjacent China and India are hypothesized to occur in Myanmar but records are wanting. Recent fieldwork found the frogs Polypedates braueri, Nasutixalus jerdonii and Oreolalax jingdongensis there, and the latter two species represent new generic records for Myanmar. All major morphological characters of these populations match the original descriptions. In addition, our matrilineal genealogy based on DNA barcoding confirms their identities. Overall, these findings confirm that the amphibian diversity is underestimated and this has important implications for conservation. Analyses indicate that northern Myanmar is a biogeographic corridor for the Himalayas, southern China, and northeastern India.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.