Phylogeography of Ptychadena mascareniensis suggests transoceanic dispersal in a widespread African-Malagasy frog lineage

Aim The Mascarene ridged frog, Ptychadena mascareniensis, is the only African amphibian species thought to occur on Madagascar and on the Seychelles and also Mascarene islands. We explored its phylogenetic relationships and intraspecific genetic differentiation to contribute to the understanding of transoceanic dispersal in amphibians. Methods Fragments of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene were sequenced from specimens collected over most of the distribution area of P. mascareniensis, including populations from Madagascar, Mascarenes and Seychelles. Results We identified five deeply divergent clades having pairwise divergences >5%, which probably all represent cryptic species in a P. mascaren…

The taxonomic impediment:A shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches

First Record of the Genus Acanthixalus Laurent, 1944 from the Upper Guinean Rain Forest, West Africa, with the Description of a New Species

Abstract We describe a new species of Acanthixalus from southwestern Ivory Coast. Acanthixalus sonjae sp. nov. differs from the Central African Acanthixalus spinosus genetically by 4.6 % in the investigated 16S rRNA. Morphologically adult frogs are very similar to A. spinosus. Male A. sonjae have wider heads and probably smaller gular glands than A. spinosus. Tadpoles of A. sonjae differ by much longer tails. Acanthixalus sonjae males are apparently mute. The new species is semiaquatic and lives in large water-filled cavities of trees in secondary and primary rain forest. Tadpoles complete metamorphosis in three months. They are at least partly carnivorous.