title: 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).
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeremy A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Feinberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America; Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America.
authors.forename: Catherine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.affiliation: Division of Vertebrate Zoology, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Watkins-Colwell
authors.affiliation: New York Natural Heritage Program, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Albany, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Schlesinger
authors.affiliation: New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, Endangered and Nongame Species Program, Clinton, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zarate
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Curry
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America; La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: H Bradley
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America; Cell Biology and Neuroscience, and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D044822:Biodiversity; D009519:New York City; D058974:Phylogeography; D011894:Rana pipiens / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology*