Biochemical Differentiation of the Genus Hyla Distributed in the Far East

Electrophoretic patterns of 14 enzymes and four blood proteins were examined in 261 frogs of 13 populations belonging to three Hyla species, H. japonica, H. hallowelli and H. chinensis. It was found that these enzymes and blood proteins were controlled by genes at 26 loci. The numbers of alleles and phenotypes at the 26 loci were one to nine, 4.0 on the average, and one to 17,6.1 on the average, respectively. The mean proportions of heterozygous and polymorphic loci and mean number of alleles per locus in the 13 populations were 11.7%, 37.3 0x0p+0nd 1.47 on the average, respectively. The genetic distances among the 13 populations of the three Hyla species were estimated on the basis of gene frequencies at the 26 loci by the method of NEI (1975). Those among the 11 populations of Sakhalin, Kunashiri, Sapporo, Setana, Hirosaki, Ichinoseki, Odawara, Maibara, Hiroshima, Tsushima and Korea of H. japonica were 0.012∿0.201. Those between the Tsushima and the other 10 populations of H. japonica were 0.050∿0.132,while those between the Korea and nine other populations excluding the Tsushima were 0.137∿0.201. The genetic distances between H. hallowelli from Amami and the 11 populations of H. japonica were 0.974∿1.131,while those between H. chinensis from Taiwan and the 11 populations of H. japonica were 1.177∿1.360. The genetic distance between H. hallowelli and H. chinensis was 0.596. The phylogenetic relationship of the 13 populations of the three Hyla species was examined by drawing a dendrogram by the UPGMA method. It was found that H. japonica was first divided from the others which later became H. hallowelli and H. chinensis. From H. japonica, the Korea population first diverged, and then the remaining populations were roughly divided into three groups

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Case 3134. Rana cryptotis Boulenger, 1907 (currently Tomopterna cryptotis; Amphibia, Anura): proposed precedence of the specific name over that of Chiromantis kachowskii Nikolsky, 1900

Volume: 57Start Page: 32End Page: 3

On the ecology of Przewalsky\u27s Gecko (Teratoscincus przewalskii) in the Transaltai Gobi, Mongolia

Volume: 4Start Page: 99End Page: 11

Endemic lineages of spiny frogs demonstrate the biogeographic importance and conservational needs of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region

Hofmann, Sylvia, Schmidt, Joachim, Masroor, Rafaqat, Borkin, Leo J, Litvintchuk, Spartak, Rödder, Dennis, Vershinin, Vladimir, Jablonski, Daniel (2023): Endemic lineages of spiny frogs demonstrate the biogeographic importance and conservational needs of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 198 (1): 310-325, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac113, URL: https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/198/1/310/708555

Nanorana arunachalensis

TAXONOMIC PLACEMENT OF NANORANA ARUNACHALENSIS Besides, our 16S phylogeny and estimates of genetic distances revealed the misclassification of Nanorana arunachalensis. This species had been described as Odorrana arunachalensis (Saikia et al., 2017) but was recently reassigned to Nanorana based on morphological considerations (Qi et al., 2019). We here used the 16S sequence data of two vouchers (ZSIS-M37: MN496464 and ZSIS-M40: MN636773) from the type locality that were uploaded to GenBank (https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) in September 2019 by Saikia and colleagues, probably in response to the reassignment proposed by Qi et al. (2019). Based on our data, the species should be reclassified into Odorrana Fei et al., 1990 as long as there are no further molecular and morphological data that support a classification into another genus.Published as part of Hofmann, Sylvia, Schmidt, Joachim, Masroor, Rafaqat, Borkin, Leo J, Litvintchuk, Spartak, Rödder, Dennis, Vershinin, Vladimir & Jablonski, Daniel, 2023, Endemic lineages of spiny frogs demonstrate the biogeographic importance and conservational needs of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, pp. 310-325 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 198 (1) on page 319, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac113, http://zenodo.org/record/792981

Morphometrics of the yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata) in the Central Balkans: Implications for taxonomy and zoogeography

A comprehensive survey of the Central Balkan yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata) populations was undertaken to describe morphometric differentiation between 4 geographic groups previously demarcated by molecular studies. Our analyses confirmed pronounced geographic structuring at the population level, as well as a clear transition over a relatively short distance separating the localized B. v. scabra, endemic to the Balkans, and the widely distributed B. v. variegata. We present the inferred range boundaries of these geographic groups in the Central Balkans, and discuss their historical zoogeography and taxonomy. Our study provides evidence that the Northern Balkans, a secondary transition zone of postglacial origin, constitutes an important European suture area for amphibians.nul

Species composition and distributional peculiarities of green frogs (Pelophylax esculentus complex) in Protected Areas of the Middle Volga Region (Russia)

A high level of biological diversity, including amphibians, is characteristic for Protected Areas. The group of the European green frogs has a special interest because they are characterised by unique genetic and ecological interactions in the process of hybridogenic reproduction. In 2000–2018 in the Middle Volga Region we studied green frogs in five nature reserves (Mordovia State Nature Reserve, State Nature Reserve «Prisurskiy», Volzhsko-Kamskiy State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Zhiguli State Nature Biosphere Reserve, and State Nature Reserve «Privolzhskaya lesostep'») and four national parks (National Park «Smolny», National Park «Chavash Varmane», National Park «Samarskaya Luka», and National Park «Buzulukskiy Bor»). These Protected Areas are located in a zone of overlap of ranges of Pelophylax lessonae and P. ridibundus, i.e. in area of potential spread of their meroclonal hybrid P. esculentus. Pelophylax ridibundus inhabits eight studied Protected Areas, while P. lessonae has been registered in seven and P. esculentus only in five of them. Two molecular-genetic markers were used in the study: mitochondrial COI and nuclear SAI-1. Mitotypes and alleles of two cryptic forms of P. ridibundus were revealed here, a «western» (P. ridibundus) and «eastern» (P. cf. bedriagae). In the Protected Areas we found four (of six which are possible) combinations of mitotypes of mitochondrial DNA and alleles of nuclear DNA of these two forms, and only one combination in P. esculentus. Six types of population systems of green frogs are presented in the studied Protected Areas. Single-species systems, including P. ridibundus (n = 16; 41.0%) or P. lessonae (n = 10; 25.6%), predominated. Among mixed systems a type including all three species was most common (n = 6; 15.4%). Two-species systems were the rarest: P. ridibundus and P. lessonae (n = 3; 7.7%), P. esculentus and P. lessonae (n = 3; 7.7%), P. ridibundus and P. esculentus (n = 1; 2.6%)