Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution

Abstract The reed frog genus Hyperolius (Afrobatrachia, Hyperoliidae) is a speciose genus containing over 140 species of mostly small to medium-sized frogs distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. Its high level of colour polymorphism, together with in anurans relatively rare sexual dichromatism, make sys...

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Autores principales:	Tadeáš Nečas, Gabriel Badjedjea, Michal Vopálenský, Václav Gvoždík
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/750e8f05047446ae960fb2c2e6329641
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:750e8f05047446ae960fb2c2e63296412021-12-02T15:51:16ZCongolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution10.1038/s41598-021-87495-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/750e8f05047446ae960fb2c2e63296412021-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87495-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The reed frog genus Hyperolius (Afrobatrachia, Hyperoliidae) is a speciose genus containing over 140 species of mostly small to medium-sized frogs distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. Its high level of colour polymorphism, together with in anurans relatively rare sexual dichromatism, make systematic studies more difficult. As a result, the knowledge of the diversity and taxonomy of this genus is still limited. Hyperolius robustus known only from a handful of localities in rain forests of the central Congo Basin is one of the least known species. Here, we have used molecular methods for the first time to study the phylogenetic position of this taxon, accompanied by an analysis of phenotype based on external (morphometric) and internal (osteological) morphological characters. Our phylogenetic results undoubtedly placed H. robustus out of Hyperolius into a common clade with sympatric Cryptothylax and West African Morerella. To prevent the uncovered paraphyly, we place H. robustus into a new genus, Congolius. The review of all available data suggests that the new genus is endemic to the central Congolian lowland rain forests. The analysis of phenotype underlined morphological similarity of the new genus to some Hyperolius species. This uniformity of body shape (including cranial shape) indicates that the two genera have either retained ancestral morphology or evolved through convergent evolution under similar ecological pressures in the African rain forests.Tadeáš NečasGabriel BadjedjeaMichal VopálenskýVáclav GvoždíkNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Tadeáš Nečas Gabriel Badjedjea Michal Vopálenský Václav Gvoždík Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution
description	Abstract The reed frog genus Hyperolius (Afrobatrachia, Hyperoliidae) is a speciose genus containing over 140 species of mostly small to medium-sized frogs distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. Its high level of colour polymorphism, together with in anurans relatively rare sexual dichromatism, make systematic studies more difficult. As a result, the knowledge of the diversity and taxonomy of this genus is still limited. Hyperolius robustus known only from a handful of localities in rain forests of the central Congo Basin is one of the least known species. Here, we have used molecular methods for the first time to study the phylogenetic position of this taxon, accompanied by an analysis of phenotype based on external (morphometric) and internal (osteological) morphological characters. Our phylogenetic results undoubtedly placed H. robustus out of Hyperolius into a common clade with sympatric Cryptothylax and West African Morerella. To prevent the uncovered paraphyly, we place H. robustus into a new genus, Congolius. The review of all available data suggests that the new genus is endemic to the central Congolian lowland rain forests. The analysis of phenotype underlined morphological similarity of the new genus to some Hyperolius species. This uniformity of body shape (including cranial shape) indicates that the two genera have either retained ancestral morphology or evolved through convergent evolution under similar ecological pressures in the African rain forests.
format	article
author	Tadeáš Nečas Gabriel Badjedjea Michal Vopálenský Václav Gvoždík
author_facet	Tadeáš Nečas Gabriel Badjedjea Michal Vopálenský Václav Gvoždík
author_sort	Tadeáš Nečas
title	Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution
title_short	Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution
title_full	Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution
title_fullStr	Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution
title_full_unstemmed	Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution
title_sort	congolius, a new genus of african reed frog endemic to the central congo: a potential case of convergent evolution
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/750e8f05047446ae960fb2c2e6329641
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Congolius, a new genus of African reed frog endemic to the central Congo: A potential case of convergent evolution

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