Cryptic Diversity in Metropolis: Confirmation of a New Leopard Frog Species (Anura: Ranidae) from New York City and Surrounding Atlantic Coast Regions

Abstract

We describe a new cryptic species of leopard frog from the New York City metropolitan area and surrounding coastal regions. This species is morphologically similar to two largely parapatric eastern congeners, Rana sphenocephala and R. pipiens. We primarily use bioacoustic and molecular data to characterize the new species, but also examine other lines of evidence. This discovery is unexpected in one of the largest and most densely populated urban parts of the world. It also demonstrates that new vertebrate species can still be found periodically even in well-studied locales rarely associated with undocumented biodiversity. The new species typically occurs in expansive open-canopied wetlands interspersed with upland patches, but centuries of loss and impact to these habitats give some cause for conservation concern. Other concerns include regional extirpations, fragmented extant populations, and a restricted overall geographic distribution. We assign a type locality within New York City and report a narrow and largely coastal lowland distribution from central Connecticut to northern New Jersey (based on genetic data) and south to North Carolina (based on call data).

A diamond in the rough desert shrublands of the Great Basin in the Western United States: A new cryptic toad species (Amphibia: Bufonidae: Bufo (Anaxyrus)) discovered in Northern Nevada

“…The taxonomy within the genus Bufo remains unstable and controversial, and to provide continuity for the nomenclature under B. boreas and for the delimitation of the Dixie Valley toad, we recommend that B. williamsi retains Bufo, increasing the Nearctic bufonids in the subgenus Anaxyrus to 23 species (Pauly et al 2009;Frost 2015). New anuran discoveries have been rare within the United States, with only three newly described frogs (that were not simply elevated from subspecies status) since 1985 (Moler 1985;Lemmon et al 2008;Feinberg et al 2014). Bufo (Anaxyrus) williamsi represents the first newly described bufonid species to occur north of Mexico since 1968 (Frost 2015) and demonstrates that our knowledge of Nearctic anuran diversity remains incomplete and that novel discoveries continue to occur, even in unlikely settings.…”

“…Bufo (Anaxyrus) williamsi represents the first newly described bufonid species to occur north of Mexico since 1968 (Frost 2015) and demonstrates that our knowledge of Nearctic anuran diversity remains incomplete and that novel discoveries continue to occur, even in unlikely settings. The most recently named new anuran species, Rana kauffeldi (Feinberg et al 2014) and Pseudacris fouquettei (Lemmon et al 2008) remained undetected despite occurring in a highly populated region (R. kauffeldi) or having a broad distribution (P. fouquettei). Rana and Pseudacris contain multiple species complexes, where the taxonomy remains unstable and controversial due to cryptic diversity, (Platz & Forester 1988;Moriarty & Cannatella 2004;Vredenburg et al 2007;Lemmon et al 2008;Feinberg et al 2014), an issue highlighted by numerous subspecies reclassifications of frogs within these groups (Green et al 1996;Lemmon et al 2008), and evidenced by the newest species described that were both themselves cryptic.…”

Two New Cryptic Endemic Toads of Bufo Discovered in Central Nevada, Western United States (Amphibia: Bufonidae: Bufo [Anaxyrus])

“…We also log transformed the raw dataset as an additional way to account for differences in allometry of measured toads and analyzed the scaled data set using MANCOVA to quantify morphological differences among the species (Lleonart et al, 2000). We used Tukey HSD post hoc pairwise comparisons to identify significant character state differences among the species examined (Feinberg et al, 2014). A cross-validated discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to evaluate the variation in multivariate space to identify variables that best discriminated among the species (Feinberg et al, 2014).…”

“…We used Tukey HSD post hoc pairwise comparisons to identify significant character state differences among the species examined (Feinberg et al, 2014). A cross-validated discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to evaluate the variation in multivariate space to identify variables that best discriminated among the species (Feinberg et al, 2014). Data collected from multiple measurers can result in inter-observer error due to variations in character assessment, particularly on the fine features of amphibian anatomy (Hayek et al, 2001).…”

Strange Little Flies in the Big City: Exotic Flower-Breeding Drosophilidae (Diptera) in Urban Los Angeles

“…Newly discovered urbanites, however, can be indigenous, and familiar urbanites can be cryptic new species. Perhaps the most remarkable example of the latter is the recent report of a new morphocryptic species of leopard frog, Rana kauffeldi Feinberg et al, from northern New Jersey, southeastern (Hudson) New York, and one of the boroughs of New York City, Staten Island [ 6 , 7 ]. Identification of this unique frog was based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences, mating calls, and some morphological features.…”