Light shines through the spindrift--phylogeny of African torrent frogs (Amphibia, Anura, Petropedetidae).
Torrent frogs of the genus Petropedetes Reichenow, 1874 as currently understood have a disjunct distribution with species endemic to West, Central or East Africa. We herein present a phylogenetic analysis including all but one of the currently described 12 species of the genus. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses of combined nuclear (rag1, SIA, BDNF) and mitochondrial (16S, 12S, cytb) genes of more than 3500 base pairs, revealed clades corresponding to the three sub-Saharan regions. Molecular results are confirmed by morphological differences. Surprisingly, the three geographic clades do not form a monophyletic group with respect to closely related families Pyxicephalidae and Conrauidae and therefore require taxonomic changes. We resurrect Arthroleptides Nieden, 1911 for the East African taxa. The Central African taxa remain in the genus Petropedetes. The West African members are placed in the new genus Odontobatrachus gen. nov. The taxonomic position of the new genus remains incertae sedis as it was not assigned to any of the four families included in our analyses. Potential new species have been detected within all three major clades, pointing to a still not fully clarified diversity within African torrent frogs.
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: michael@barej.de.
Michael F
MF
Barej
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: mo.roedel@mfn-berlin.de.
Mark-Oliver
MO
Rödel
University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences (Biogeography), Klingelbergstr. 27, Basel 4056, Switzerland. Electronic address: simon.loader@unibas.ch.
Simon P
SP
Loader
Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Via Calepina 14, 38100 Trento, Italy. Electronic address: mmenegon@gmail.com.
Michele
M
Menegon
Université of Yaoundé I, Faculty of Science, Laboratory of Zoology, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon. Electronic address: lgonwouo@yahoo.com.
Nono L
NL
Gonwouo
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: johannes.penner@mfn-berlin.de.
Johannes
J
Penner
University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences (Biogeography), Klingelbergstr. 27, Basel 4056, Switzerland; Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kvetna 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic; National Museum, Department of Zoology, Cirkusová 1740, CZ-19300 Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: vaclav.gvozdik@gmail.com.
Václav
V
Gvoždík
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: rainer.guenther@mfn-berlin.de.
Rainer
R
Günther
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Electronic address: rcb269@cornell.edu.
Rayna C
RC
Bell
University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences (Biogeography), Klingelbergstr. 27, Basel 4056, Switzerland. Electronic address: peter.nagel@unibas.ch.
Peter
P
Nagel
Natural History Museum of Geneva, Department of Herpetology and Ichthyology, C.P. 6434, 1211 Geneva 6, Switzerland. Electronic address: andreas.schmitz@ville-ge.ch.
Andreas
A
Schmitz
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
Africa; Amphibians; Arthroleptides; Odontobatrachus gen. nov; Petropedetes; Taxonomy