Two new species of long-fingered frogs of the genus Cardioglossa (Anura: Arthroleptidae) from Central African rainforests
Date
2015Author
Hirschfeld, Mareike
Burger, Marius
Blackburn, David C.
Greenbaum, Eli
Zassi-Boulou, Ange-Ghislain
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We describe two new frog species of Cardioglossa (Family Arthroleptidae) from
Central Africa. The new species are found in the rainforests of western-central Democratic
Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo near the Gabonese border, respectively.
We demonstrate that these species are morphologically and genetically distinct from each other
and all other species of Cardioglossa. Both new species lack the dorsal hour-glass pattern
present in many species of the genus, but they can be distinguished from each other and related
species by distinctive colour patterns on their lateral surfaces and extremities. Both new species
most closely resemble C. gratiosa, which occurs in the Atlantic coastal forests extending from
Cameroon through Gabon. The new species can be differentiated from C. gratiosa by the
absence of black transverse bars on all limbs or by distinctive lateral colouration. Analysis of
mitochondrial ribosomal 16S DNA sequences reveals low to moderate levels (1.9–7.5%) of
divergence between these new species and closely related species of Cardioglossa. The
floodplains of the Congo and Ubangi Rivers may be important geographic barriers for many of
these species. The occurrence of these two new lowland species in the Congo Basin reveals that
the distribution and diversity of Cardioglossa in this region was underestimated. In addition,
we elevate C. nigromaculata inornata to species-level status, based in part on newly available
colour photographs from 1950 of specimens from the only known locality
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/18802http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21564574.2015.1052102
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21564574.2015.1052102