Description of two new species of Microhyla (Anura: Microhylidae) from Bangladesh

Abstract

Two new frog species belonging to genus Microhyla from the southeast, central and northeast regions of Bangladesh are described. Based on a molecular phylogeny derived from mitochondrial DNA sequences, one of the new species forms a clade with M. fissipes, while the second new species is sister to this clade. The DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from these new species are substantially diverged from M. fissipes (8.9 and 10.2% [3.6 and 4.2% for 16S ribosomal RNA gene] uncorrected pairwise divergence, respectively), and the estimated phylogenetic splits from their closest relative is in the Pliocene (3.4 Mya) and middle Miocene (10.5 Mya). The first new species (Microhyla mukhlesuri sp. nov.) can be diagnosed from its nearest congener (M. fissipes) by the following characteristics: SVL: 16.5-21.0 mm, finger length 1 < 4 < 2 < 3, tips of finger and toes not swollen, subarticular tubercles distinct, an inverse U-shaped mark on the anus, and a distinct X-shaped marking on the dorsum. Although the second new species (M. mymensinghensis sp. nov.) shares some morphological characteristics with the first new species, it can be readily diagnosed from its close congeners by its longer hindlimbs (HLL/SVL), tibia (TIL/SVL) and forearm width (FAW/SVL), in addition to a combination of the following characteristics: SVL: 14.2-21.3 mm, snout truncate, a crescent-shaped marking on the anus, and an X-shaped marking on the dorsum. The tibio-tarsal articulation extends to the eye in M. fissipes but ranges from the eye to the tip of the snout in the two new species.

DelineatingMicrohyla ornata(Anura, Microhylidae): mitochondrial DNA barcodes resolve century-old taxonomic misidentification

“…At the population-level, several well-supported haplotype groups (BPP >95, BS >70) were observed, showing strong population structures within these species. Most species lineages were well-differentiated and their relationships were largely in agreement with the previous studies (e.g., Matsui et al 2011;Hasan et al 2012Hasan et al , 2014Howlader et al 2015;Khatiwada et al 2017).…”

“…In the recent years, the taxonomy of Asian Microhyla frogs has undergone considerable changes with the formal description of several new species (AmphibiaWeb 2017; Frost 2017; Khatiwada et al 2017) and insights on systematic relationships from phylogenetic studies (e.g., Matsui et al 2011;Pyron and Wiens 2011). The South Asian M. 'ornata' was subsequently shown to be a species complex (Hasan et al 2012), followed by the description of four new and closely allied species-M. mymensinghensis (Hasan et al 2014), M. mukhlesuri (Hasan et al 2014), M. nilphamariensis (Howlader et al 2015), and M. taraiensis (Khatiwada et al 2017). Although these four species are currently known to occur only in Bangladesh or/and Nepal, they have raised further confusions surrounding the taxonomic identity and geographical distribution of M. ornata.…”

Evaluating the diversity of Neotropical anurans using DNA barcodes

“…The taxonomic reviews at the species level now almost always include some form of analysis of mtDNA divergence. A number of species of the genus Rana have been recognized in recent years, based on molecular methods (Newman et al 2012), for example, and through comparisons with other amphibian species (Channing et al 2013; Hasan et al 2014; Biju et al 2014). …”

A new species of Microhyla Tschudi, 1838 (Anura: Microhylidae) from West Coast of India: an integrative taxonomic approach

“…In India, nine valid species have been described; of these, three are endemic (M. sholigari, M. laterite and M. chakrapanii) to the Indian political boundary and the remaining six have widespread distribution in South and Southeast Asia. About 11 new species of Microhyla have been described in the last seven years (Matsui 2011;Matsui et al 2013;Hasan et al 2014;Poyarkov Jr et al 2014;Howlader et al 2015;Seshadri et al 2016a;Wijayathilaka et al 2016;Khatiwada et al 2017).…”