Estimation of the Origin of Polypedates leucomystax (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) Introduced to the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan

Genetic divergences of South and Southeast Asian frogs: a case study of several taxa based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene data with notes on the generic name Fejervarya

“…Our results suggest that the Okinawa population of P. leucomystax likely originated from southern Malaysia. This finding is congruent with Kuraishi et al (2009), who noted that the Ryukyu population seems to have originated from somewhere around the Philippines, and Brown et al (2010) mentioned that the southern Philippines, northern Borneo, and Peninsular Malaysia specimens fall into a single major haplotype clade, P. leucomystax. Although the specimens from Japan and Malaysia are very close to the topotypic specimen with respect of the 16S sequence (1.6%), substantial 16S divergence between the specimens from Thailand and elsewhere, including topotypic samples, indicates that the Thailand population represents a candidate species.…”

Critically endangered island endemic or peripheral population of a widespread species? Conservation genetics ofKikuchi's gecko and the global challenge of protecting peripheral oceanic island endemic vertebrates

“…This study represents a compelling demonstration of a possible Luzon‐to‐Taiwan (Lanyu Island) faunal transplant (or dispersal event) from the Philippines. Other cases of suspected northern dispersal events originating in the Philippines include the presence of the skink Eutropis cumingi on Lanyu (Ota & Huang, ), and the frog Polypedates leucomystax in Japan (Ota et al ., ; Kuraishi et al ., ). Past studies, in contrast, documented a few cases of bird, insect, mammal or plant groups that appear to have peripherally invaded the Philippines from the north (Dickerson, ; Oliveros & Moyle, ; Esselstyn & Oliveros, ; Oliveros et al ., ), only extending to the Batanes or Babuyan islands (or the highlands of Luzon in the case of some plants; Dickerson, ).…”

“…mindorensis Group (Figs & S1). The fact that the Lanyu population is nested inside of the Luzon Island clade suggests that G. kikuchii might be a recent colonist (possibly human‐mediated, e.g., Ota et al ., ; Kuraishi et al ., ; Brown et al ., ) of Lanyu from northern Luzon. Second, our cluster analyses of external morphological phenotypes without a priori assignment to groups (based on phylogenetic analyses) resulted in clusters of morphological variation that defy both phylogenetic relationships (Fig.…”

The Systematic Status of Rhacophorid Frogs

“…These attributes lend themselves to biogeographic investigations, such as whether vicariance or dispersal is the dominant biogeographic driver. For example, Brown et al (2010) presented some geographic scenarios for the Polypedates leucomystax complex, Kuraishi et al (2009) estimated the origin of Polypedates leucomystax introduced to the Ryukyu Archipelago, and Yang et al (1994) did studies for Rhacophorus taipeianus, and so on.…”