title: Taxonomy of the super-cryptic Hyperolius nasutus group of long reed frogs of Africa (Anura: Hyperoliidae), with descriptions of six new species.
abstract: Specimens from across the range of the Hyperolius nasutus species group were sequenced for two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene. Advertisement calls were recorded from the same specimens where possible, and morphological characters were compared. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood produced a tree indicating 16 clades. The clades show little or no overlap in combinations of 16S sequence difference, shared tyr haplotypes, advertisement call parameters, snout profiles and webbing. On the basis of these data we recognise H. acuticeps, H. adspersus, H. benguellensis, H. dartevellei, H. igbettensis, H. nasutus, H. nasicus, H. poweri, H. viridis and describe six new species: Hyperolius friedemanni sp. nov. Mercurio & Rödel, Hyperolius howelli sp. nov. Du Preez & Channing, Hyperolius inyangae sp. nov. Channing, Hyperolious jacobseni sp. nov. Channing, Hyperolius rwandae sp. nov. Dehling, Sinsch, R6del & Channing, and Hyperolius lupiroensis sp. nov. Channing. Hyperolius lamottei is confirmed to be outside the H. nasutus group clade. Hyperolius granulatus, H. oxyrhynchus, H. punctulatus and H. sagitta are assigned as junior synonyms. As our results are based on a small number of specimens, these hypotheses await testing with larger sample sizes and more characters. A species distribution model suggests where outlier populations might be found.
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Department, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, South Africa. achanning@uwc.ac.za
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Channing
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hillers
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lötters
authors.forename: M-O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Rodel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schick
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Conradie
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rödder
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mercurio
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dehling
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Du Preez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kielgast
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burger
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D029845:Amphibian Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013045:Species Specificity; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
chemical_list: D029845:Amphibian Proteins