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Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera

Miniaturised frogs form a fascinating but poorly understood amphibian ecomorph and have been exceptionally prone to taxonomic underestimation. The subfamily Cophylinae (family Microhylidae), endemic to Madagascar, has a particularly large diversity of miniaturised species which have historically bee...

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Autores principales: Scherz, Mark D., Hutter, Carl R., Rakotoarison, Andolalao, Riemann, Jana C., Rödel, Mark-Oliver, Ndriantsoa, Serge H., Glos, Julian, Hyde Roberts, Sam, Crottini, Angelica, Vences, Miguel, Glaw, Frank
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30917162
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213314
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author Scherz, Mark D.
Hutter, Carl R.
Rakotoarison, Andolalao
Riemann, Jana C.
Rödel, Mark-Oliver
Ndriantsoa, Serge H.
Glos, Julian
Hyde Roberts, Sam
Crottini, Angelica
Vences, Miguel
Glaw, Frank
author_facet Scherz, Mark D.
Hutter, Carl R.
Rakotoarison, Andolalao
Riemann, Jana C.
Rödel, Mark-Oliver
Ndriantsoa, Serge H.
Glos, Julian
Hyde Roberts, Sam
Crottini, Angelica
Vences, Miguel
Glaw, Frank
author_sort Scherz, Mark D.
collection PubMed
description Miniaturised frogs form a fascinating but poorly understood amphibian ecomorph and have been exceptionally prone to taxonomic underestimation. The subfamily Cophylinae (family Microhylidae), endemic to Madagascar, has a particularly large diversity of miniaturised species which have historically been attributed to the single genus Stumpffia largely based on their small size. Recent phylogenetic work has revealed that several independent lineages of cophyline microhylids evolved towards highly miniaturised body sizes, achieving adult snout–vent lengths under 16 mm. Here, we describe five new species belonging to three clades that independently miniaturised and that are all genetically highly divergent from their relatives: (i) a new genus (Mini gen. nov.) with three new species from southern Madagascar, (ii) one species of Rhombophryne, and (iii) one species of Anodonthyla. Mini mum sp. nov. from Manombo in eastern Madagascar is one of the smallest frogs in the world, reaching an adult body size of 9.7 mm in males and 11.3 mm in females. Mini scule sp. nov. from Sainte Luce in southeastern Madagascar is slightly larger and has maxillary teeth. Mini ature sp. nov. from Andohahela in southeast Madagascar is larger than its congeners but is similar in build. Rhombophryne proportionalis sp. nov. from Tsaratanana in northern Madagascar is unique among Madagascar’s miniaturised frogs in being a proportional dwarf, exhibiting far less advanced signs of paedomorphism than other species of similar size. Anodonthyla eximia sp. nov. from Ranomafana in eastern Madagascar is distinctly smaller than any of its congeners and is secondarily terrestrial, providing evidence that miniaturisation and terrestriality may be evolutionarily linked. The evolution of body size in Madagascar’s microhylids has been more dynamic than previously understood, and future studies will hopefully shed light on the interplay between ecology and evolution of these remarkably diverse frogs.
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spelling pubmed-64366922019-04-12 Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera Scherz, Mark D. Hutter, Carl R. Rakotoarison, Andolalao Riemann, Jana C. Rödel, Mark-Oliver Ndriantsoa, Serge H. Glos, Julian Hyde Roberts, Sam Crottini, Angelica Vences, Miguel Glaw, Frank PLoS One Research Article Miniaturised frogs form a fascinating but poorly understood amphibian ecomorph and have been exceptionally prone to taxonomic underestimation. The subfamily Cophylinae (family Microhylidae), endemic to Madagascar, has a particularly large diversity of miniaturised species which have historically been attributed to the single genus Stumpffia largely based on their small size. Recent phylogenetic work has revealed that several independent lineages of cophyline microhylids evolved towards highly miniaturised body sizes, achieving adult snout–vent lengths under 16 mm. Here, we describe five new species belonging to three clades that independently miniaturised and that are all genetically highly divergent from their relatives: (i) a new genus (Mini gen. nov.) with three new species from southern Madagascar, (ii) one species of Rhombophryne, and (iii) one species of Anodonthyla. Mini mum sp. nov. from Manombo in eastern Madagascar is one of the smallest frogs in the world, reaching an adult body size of 9.7 mm in males and 11.3 mm in females. Mini scule sp. nov. from Sainte Luce in southeastern Madagascar is slightly larger and has maxillary teeth. Mini ature sp. nov. from Andohahela in southeast Madagascar is larger than its congeners but is similar in build. Rhombophryne proportionalis sp. nov. from Tsaratanana in northern Madagascar is unique among Madagascar’s miniaturised frogs in being a proportional dwarf, exhibiting far less advanced signs of paedomorphism than other species of similar size. Anodonthyla eximia sp. nov. from Ranomafana in eastern Madagascar is distinctly smaller than any of its congeners and is secondarily terrestrial, providing evidence that miniaturisation and terrestriality may be evolutionarily linked. The evolution of body size in Madagascar’s microhylids has been more dynamic than previously understood, and future studies will hopefully shed light on the interplay between ecology and evolution of these remarkably diverse frogs. Public Library of Science 2019-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6436692/ /pubmed/30917162 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213314 Text en © 2019 Scherz et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Scherz, Mark D.
Hutter, Carl R.
Rakotoarison, Andolalao
Riemann, Jana C.
Rödel, Mark-Oliver
Ndriantsoa, Serge H.
Glos, Julian
Hyde Roberts, Sam
Crottini, Angelica
Vences, Miguel
Glaw, Frank
Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera
title Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera
title_full Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera
title_fullStr Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera
title_full_unstemmed Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera
title_short Morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different Madagascan genera
title_sort morphological and ecological convergence at the lower size limit for vertebrates highlighted by five new miniaturised microhylid frog species from three different madagascan genera
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30917162
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213314
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