The Amphibian Tree of Life

A molecular assessment of phylogenetic relationships and lineage accumulation rates within the family Salamandridae (Amphibia, Caudata)

“…The most complete prior study (Titus and Larson, 1995) used a combination of morphological and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) (12S and 16S rDNA and the intervening tRNA Val gene) characters from 18 species. This study provided strong support for monophyly of the Salamandridae and for some intergeneric groupings, which were congruent with molecular phylogenetic results for 10 genera reported by Frost et al (2006). Monophyly was statistically rejected for the genera Mertensiella and Triturus.…”

Systematic relationships of Oriental tiny frogs of the family Microhylidae (Amphibia, Anura) as revealed by mtDNA genealogy

“…The family Microhylidae exhibits circumtropic distribution and is diagnosed by many unique musculature and larval characteristics, including the presence of a posteromedially positioned spiracle and absence of keratodonts and keratinized jaw sheath in larvae (Frost et al, 2006). The family is now considered to contain 11 subfamilies: Asterophryinae from Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia; Cophylinae from Madagascar; Dyscophinae from Madagascar; Gastrophryninae from North and South America; Hoplophryninae from Africa; Kalophryninae from Southeastern and Southern Asia; Melanobatrachinae from Southern Asia; Microhylinae from Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Asia; Otophryninae from South America, Phrynomerinae from Africa; and Scaphiophryninae from Madagascar (Frost, 2010).…”

“…Another subfamily Kalophryninae contains about 16 species in one genus Kalophrynus that occur from Southern China to Java and Philippines, and northern India (Frost, 2010;Dehling, 2011). Besides, one species of Phrynella from Malay Peninsula and two species of Gastrophrynoides from Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo, both in unknown subfamilies (Frost et al, 2006), about eight species of Oreophryne in Asterophryinae from Philippines, Celebes, and the Lesser Sunda Islands, and one species of Melanobatrachus in Melanobatrachinae from Southern India are found within the Oriental region (Frost, 2010).…”

“…Separation of microhylids into distinct subfamilies on the basis of morphological characteristics has a long and complicated history (e.g., Gadow, 1901;Laurent, 1986), but more recent molecular phylogenetic studies have drastically changed the traditional systematic arrangements within the family (Van Bocxlaer et al, 2006;Frost et al, 2006;Van der Meijden et al, 2007). Results of these studies are not always in agreement, and the basal resolution is usually insufficient.…”

Phylogeny and biogeography of paradoxical frogs (Anura, Hylidae, Pseudae) inferred from 12S and 16S mitochondrial DNA

“…da Silva's (1998) morphological phylogenetic analysis placed pseudids within Hylidae, and subsequent mitochondrial and nuclear DNA phylogenies have strongly supported this arrangement (Darst and Cannatella, 2004;Faivovich et al, 2005;Hoegg et al, 2004;Wiens et al, 2005). However, the newest taxonomies (Faivovich et al, 2005;Frost et al, 2006) abandoned the names Pseudinae or Pseudidae because they render the more inclusive rank name (Hylidae or Hylinae) paraphyletic. We feel it is informative to refer to this wellsupported clade by a single taxon name, and thus we use the name Pseudae Fitzinger 1843.…”