Plethodontohyla alluaudi

Plethodontohyla alluaudi is a frog belonging to the Madagascar-endemic subfamily Cophylinae of the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to southeastern Madagascar. It is a terrestrial and fossorial frog that occurs in rainforest, including littoral forest. Despite being locally abundant, it is a difficult frog to find.[1]

Plethodontohyla alluaudi
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Microhylidae
Subfamily:	Cophylinae
Genus:	Plethodontohyla
Species:	P. alluaudi
Binomial name
Plethodontohyla alluaudi (Mocquard, 1901)[2]
Synonyms[3]
Dyscophus alluaudi Mocquard, 1901 Mantipus alluaudi (Mocquard, 1901) Plethodontohyla laevis tsianovoihensis Angel, 1936 Plethodontohyla tsianovohensis Angel, 1936 Rhombophryne alluaudi (Mocquard, 1901)

Taxonomy

The species was originally described under the name Dyscophus alluaudi by Mocquard in 1901,[4] originally described from the locality 'Fort Dauphin'—probably meaning the general area around Tôlanaro rather than the city itself.[5] It was transferred to the genus Plethodontohyla in 1926,[6] where it remained until Guibé transferred it to Mantipus in 1974,[7] but he returned it to Plethodontohyla in 1978.[8] The taxon Plethodontohyla laevis from further north on the east coast of Madagascar was synonymised with the species P. alluaudi in 1991.[9] Blommers-Schlösser assigned a specimen from Mandraka in eastern Madagascar to this species,[10] and subsequent authors interpreted specimens from the area around Andasibe as belonging to this species as well.[11] Genetic sequences from specimens collected in this area were later used as the reference material for the species (summarised in ref.[5]), and when it was found that the sequences of specimens of these species were more similar to sequences of the species Rhombophryne testudo than to other Plethodontohyla species,[12] it was moved to the genus Rhombophryne, along with a slew of other species.[13]

In 2017 Bellati et al.[5] conducted a thorough review of the taxonomy of this species and its associated synonyms, based on osteology, external morphology, and phylogenetics. They showed (1) that the holotype is a Plethodontohyla species based on its osteology, (2) the holotype does not agree in morphology with the specimens used as genetic reference material for the species, and these are clearly Rhombophryne species based on their osteology, meaning that the species included in molecular phylogenetic reconstructions as P. alluaudi until that point represent an undescribed Rhombophryne species, (3) Plethodontohyla laevis is not synonymous with P. alluaudi, but is probably its sister species (with one candidate species that needs to be clarified falling between these two taxa in their phylogeny), and (4) a further synonym, P. laevis tsianovohensis, probably is synonymous with P. alluaudi. As a result, the authors of that study recommended that the species be reinstated in the genus Plethodontohyla, and P. laevis should be recognised as a valid species.

References

1. IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2016). "Rhombophryne alluaudi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.old-form url
2. Mocquard, 1901, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 7: 254
3. Frost, Darrel R. (2018). "Plethodontohyla alluaudi (Mocquard, 1901)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
4. Mocquard, M. F. (1901). "Note préliminaire sur une collection de reptiles et de batraciens recueillis par M. Alluaud dans le sud de Madagascar". Bulletin du Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 7: 251–256. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.1622.
5. Bellati, Adriana; Scherz, Mark D.; Megson, Steven; Roberts, Sam Hyde; Andreone, Franco; Rosa, Gonçalo M.; Noël, Jean; Randrianirina, Jasmin E.; Fasola, Mauro (2018-02-02). "Resurrection and re-description of Plethodontohyla laevis (Boettger, 1913) and transfer of Rhombophryne alluaudi (Mocquard, 1901) to the genus Plethodontohyla (Amphibia, Microhylidae, Cophylinae)". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 94 (1): 109–135. doi:10.3897/zse.94.14698. ISSN 1860-0743.
6. Noble, G. K.; Parker, H. W. (1926). "A synopsis of the brevicipitid toads of Madagascar". American Museum Novitates. 232: 1–21.
7. Guibé, J. "Batraciens nouveaux de Madagascar". Bulletin du Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle Paris, 3rd series. 171: 1069–1192.
8. Guibé, J. "Les batraciens de Madagascar". Bonner Zoologische Monographien. 11: 1–140.
9. Blommers-Schlösser, R. M. A.; Blanc, C. P. (1991). "Amphibiens (première partie)". Faune de Madagascar. 75: 1–379.
10. Blommers-Schlösser, R. M. A. (1975). "Observations on the larval development of some Malagasy frogs, with notes on their ecology and biology (Anura: Dyscophinae, Scaphiophryninae and Cophylinae)". Beaufortia. 24: 7–26.
11. Glaw, Frank; Vences, Miguel (1992). A fieldguide to the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar (1st ed.). Vences & Glaw Verlag, Köln.
12. Andreone, Franco; Vences, Miguel; Vieites, David R.; Glaw, Frank; Meyer, Axel (2005). "Recurrent ecological adaptations revealed through a molecular analysis of the secretive cophyline frogs of Madagascar" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 34 (2): 315–322. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.013. PMID 15619444.
13. Frost, Darrel R.; Grant, Taran; Faivovich, Julián; Bain, Raoul H.; Haas, Alexander; Haddad, Célio F.b.; De Sá, Rafael O.; Channing, Alan; Wilkinson, Mark (2006-03-01). "The amphibian tree of life". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 297: 1–291. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:tatol]2.0.co;2. ISSN 0003-0090.