Polyphyly of Asian Tree Toads, Genus Pedostibes Günther, 1876 (Anura: Bufonidae), and the Description of a New Genus from Southeast Asia

PloS One
Kin Onn ChanRobin Kurian Abraham

Abstract

The Asian Tree Toad genus Pedostibes, as currently understood, exhibits a conspicuously disjunct distribution, posing several immediate questions relating to the biogeography and taxonomy of this poorly known group. The type species, P. tuberculosus and P. kempi, are known only from India, whereas P. hosii, P. rugosus, and P. everetti are restricted to Southeast Asia. Several studies have shown that these allopatric groups are polyphyletic, with the Indian Pedostibes embedded within a primarily South Asian clade of toads, containing the genera Adenomus, Xanthophryne, and Duttaphrynus. Southeast Asian Pedostibes on the other hand, are nested within a Southeast Asian clade, which is the sister lineage to the Southeast Asian river toad genus Phrynoidis. We demonstrate that Indian and Southeast Asian Pedostibes are not only allopatric and polyphyletic, but also exhibit significant differences in morphology and reproductive mode, indicating that the Southeast Asian species' are not congeneric with the true Pedostibes of India. As a taxonomic solution, we describe a new genus, Rentapia gen. nov. to accommodate the Southeast Asian species.

References

Apr 11, 1986·Science·M J Ryan
Feb 10, 2012·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Robert LanfearStephane Guindon
Feb 24, 2012·Systematic Biology·Fredrik RonquistJohn P Huelsenbeck
Apr 12, 2014·PLoS Computational Biology·Remco BouckaertAlexei J Drummond

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
DQ158436
DQ306499
FJ882678
AB435284
FJ882696
AY680268
KF665993
AY948805
FJ882797
FJ882694

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCA

Software Mentioned

MrBayes
PAUP
Treehouse Maps
R package ‘ phytools ’
LOCKSS
R package “ adegenet
RAxML
Geneious
DAPC
Tracer

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