Taxonomy Study of Frog Subgenus Papurana (Lesson 1831) From Halmahera (Anura, Ranidae, Hylarana)

Abstract

I reevaluated taxonomic of subgenus Papurana position from Halmahera based on morphological and molecular analyses. My results show that two separate species occur on the Halmahera Island, each nested within two distinct clades (hereafter papua clade and celebensis clade), one of which corresponds to H. moluccana (celebensis clade) and the other to an unidentified species (papua clade). By p-distance ranging from 6.9 to 11.5% on the 16S rRNA gene, the unidentified species (Hylarana sp.) is genetically different from all congeners of the papua clade. The Hylarana sp. can be distinguished from all congeners by following combination of charactes: vomer teeth in two oblique rows with narrow inter-vomer distance; snout rounded dorsally; dorsum with few scattered cone-shaped tubercles that are black with white tips; distinct skin folds (ridges) on the dorsal side of the thigh coinciding with dark brown cross bars; a marbled pattern on the ventral side of the thigh and yellowish groin. I also present new data for H. daemeli, H. volkerjane, and H. arfaki from the western region of Papua. Furthermore, I found that H. celebensis has numerous mtDNA lineages, indicating cryptic diversity within the celebensis clade. The discovery of two separate species on Halmahera necessitates more research into the biogeographic history of Hylarana in Northern Moluccas.