Mitochondrial gene fragments of 16S rRNA gene of four species （Rhacophorus rhodopus, R. reinwardtii, Philautus albopunctatus and P. rhododiscus ） from 11 populations were sequenced in this study. Homologous sequence...Mitochondrial gene fragments of 16S rRNA gene of four species （Rhacophorus rhodopus, R. reinwardtii, Philautus albopunctatus and P. rhododiscus ） from 11 populations were sequenced in this study. Homologous sequences of R. bipunctatus, Theloderma asperum, T. corticale and Buergeria japonica were obtained by screening the GenBank database. After excluding all gaps and ambiguous positions, aligned sequences were 500 bp in length with 115 variable sites and 92 parsimony-informative sites. Using B .japonica as an outgroup, phylogenetic relationships were analyzed using Bayesian inference, maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. Our results indicated that neither of R. rhodopus and P. albopunctatus were monophyletic at the species level. The population of R. rhodopus from Hainan Island was more close to R. bipunctatus than to populations of R. rhodopus from Yunnan Province. Furthermore, the populations of R. rhodopus from Yunnan Province can be divided into two main lineages. Theloderma corticale and P.rhododiscus were clustered together and T. asperum was nested in P.albopunctatus. We considered that P. albopunctatus Liu and Hu, 1962, was the synonymy of T. asperum Boulenger, 1886, and suggested removing P. rhododiscus from Philautus into the genus Theloderma.展开更多
A new species of rhacophorid of the genus Rhacophorus is described from the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, east China. The new species, Rhacophorus zhoukaiyae sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combinat...A new species of rhacophorid of the genus Rhacophorus is described from the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, east China. The new species, Rhacophorus zhoukaiyae sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters： 1） the ventral surface and front-and-rear of the femur is paler yellowish and decorated with irregular grayish blotching, and without obvious spots on the dorsum of the hand and foot webbing; 2） the outer metatarsal tubercle is small; 3） outer fingers are half-webbed and outer toes two third webbed; 4） the skin on the dorsum is smooth and without compressed warts; 5） the throat, chest and belly are pure paler yellowish; 6） the dorsal part of the fingers and toes are grayish-white; 7） the iris is golden-yellow. In addition, the phylogenetic tree showed that all the individuals of R. zhoukaiyae sp. nov. clustered into one distinct clade which suggested the validity of this species. This results could also be used to the support of species delimitation. Currently, this species is known only from mid-elevation montane evergreen forest in the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, China.展开更多
In anurans, the outcomes of male-male contests and female choice are often associated with body size. In some species, males evaluate an opponent’s fighting ability and females evaluate male quality on the basis of m...In anurans, the outcomes of male-male contests and female choice are often associated with body size. In some species, males evaluate an opponent’s fighting ability and females evaluate male quality on the basis of male communication signals, which are thought to reflect information concerning male body size. Nevertheless, previous studies reveal that male call structure is not always correlated with body size. In the present study we investigated the relationships between body size and call structure in the large treefrog, Rhacophorus dennysi, as well as the relationship of its calling behavior with air temperature and humidity. The results show that both the dominant and fundamental frequencies are negatively correlated with body size, while inter-note intervals are positively correlated with body size, indicating that call characters could reflect body size in this species.Additionally, calling in this tropical species exhibits a circadian rhythm insofar as relatively high temperature and low humidity during the day is associated with less vocal behavior. Thus, individual variations in call structure are mainly dependent on body size while the temporal rhythm of calling activity is affected by environmental conditions in large treefrogs.展开更多
We describe a new species of Rhacophorus based on two adult specimens collected from Hoa Binh Province, northern Vietnam. Rhacophorus hoabinhensis sp. nov. is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combi...We describe a new species of Rhacophorus based on two adult specimens collected from Hoa Binh Province, northern Vietnam. Rhacophorus hoabinhensis sp. nov. is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following morphological characters： size small （SVL 31.1-32.5 mm in males）; head slightly longer than wide; vomerine teeth absent; snout short （SNL/SVL 0.16）; dorsal skin smooth; forearm and tarsus with dermal fringes; dermal appendage at vent present; webbing formula on fingers I12/3-12/3II1-2III1-1IV and on toes I3/4-1II1/2- IIII1/2-1IVI-1/2V; dorsal surface grey yellow with brown spots; lower jaw region dark grey, throat, chest and belly cream; anterior and posterior thighs, as well as ventral surface of tibia orange. The interspecific uncorrected genetic distances （16S rRNA gene） between the new species from Hoa Binh and other analyzed congeners varied from 9.8% to 17.4%. In the phylogenetic analyses, the new species revealed to be a representative of Rhacophorus and was nested within the R. hoanglienensis-orlovi species group.展开更多
We conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses of Japanese Rhacophorus species, especially of R. schlegelii and R. arboreus from the mainland, based on samples encompassing their known distribution ranges, and discussed...We conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses of Japanese Rhacophorus species, especially of R. schlegelii and R. arboreus from the mainland, based on samples encompassing their known distribution ranges, and discussed about evolutionary history of Rhacophorus species within Japan. The common ancestor of Japanese Rhacophorus, except for R. owstoni from southern Ryukyus, was estimated to have diverged from a lineage occurring mainly in China about 7 MYBP. Both R. schlegelii and R. arboreus are genetically largely divergent between regions of eastern and western Japan, and this seems to have been promoted mainly by retreat to refugia. Retreats of the two species to different refugia sometimes in the past seem to have led restricted distribution of R. schlegelii in eastern and R. arboreus in western Japan, and brought their intraspecific variation patterns in morphology and breeding habit.展开更多
The worldwide declines in amphibian populations have largely been caused by infectious fungi and bacteria. Given that vertebrate immunity against these extracellular pathogens is primarily functioned by the major hist...The worldwide declines in amphibian populations have largely been caused by infectious fungi and bacteria. Given that vertebrate immunity against these extracellular pathogens is primarily functioned by the major histocompatibility complex（MHC） class Ⅱ molecules, the characterization and the evolution of amphibian MHC class Ⅱ genes have attracted increasing attention. The polymorphism of MHC class Ⅱ genes was found to be correlated with susceptibility to fungal pathogens in many amphibian species, suggesting the importance of studies on MHC class Ⅱ genes for amphibians. However, such studies on MHC class Ⅱ gene evolution have rarely been conducted on amphibians in China. In this study, we chose Omei treefrog（Rhacophorus omeimontis）, which lived moist environments easy for breeding bacteria, to study the polymorphism of its MHC class Ⅱ genes and the underlying evolutionary mechanisms. We amplified the entire MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequence in the R. omeimontis using newly designed primers. We detected 102 putative alleles in 146 individuals. The number of alleles per individual ranged from one to seven, indicating that there are at least four loci containing MHC class ⅡB genes in R. omeimontis. The allelic polymorphism estimated from the 102 alleles in R. omeimontis was not high compared to that estimated in other anuran species. No significant gene recombination was detected in the 102 MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequences. In contrast, both gene duplication and balancing selection greatly contributed to the variability in MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequences of R. omeimontis. This study lays the groundwork for the future researches to comprehensively analyze the evolution of amphibian MHC genes and to assess the role of MHC gene polymorphisms in resistance against extracellular pathogens for amphibians in China.展开更多
Attendance patterns are a key factor affecting sexual selection and mating systems in lekbreeding species.However,there are few systematic studies on attendance patterns in lek-breeding anurans.In this study,we monito...Attendance patterns are a key factor affecting sexual selection and mating systems in lekbreeding species.However,there are few systematic studies on attendance patterns in lek-breeding anurans.In this study,we monitored a population of Omei treefrogs(Rhacophorus omeimontis) for four consecutive years to reveal in detail the effects of attendance patterns on mating systems.We found that(1) female nightly attendance was affected by male nightly attendance,and operational sex ratios(determined by male and female nightly attendance) ultimately determined the extent of female polyandry;(2) males surviving more than one breeding season maintained high chorus attendance and mating success,suggesting that male chorus attendance is a good predictor of male genetic quality;(3) the distributions of male mating success were not significantly different from a Poisson distribution,indicating a random mating pattern;and male mating success was not related to body size(size-assortative mating was not evident) but was significantly correlated with chorus attendance.Since the chorus attendance is a predictor of male genetic quality,females performing random mating were more likely to mate with more frequently present males and could therefore gain indirect benefits from mating with higher-than-average quality males,thereby producing good offspring without incurring the significant costs involved in prolonged searching for,and assessing males.Our systematic survey on the relationship between attendance patterns and the lek mating system in R.omeimontis could help us better understand in-depth anuran lek mating systems.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30670243)
文摘Mitochondrial gene fragments of 16S rRNA gene of four species （Rhacophorus rhodopus, R. reinwardtii, Philautus albopunctatus and P. rhododiscus ） from 11 populations were sequenced in this study. Homologous sequences of R. bipunctatus, Theloderma asperum, T. corticale and Buergeria japonica were obtained by screening the GenBank database. After excluding all gaps and ambiguous positions, aligned sequences were 500 bp in length with 115 variable sites and 92 parsimony-informative sites. Using B .japonica as an outgroup, phylogenetic relationships were analyzed using Bayesian inference, maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. Our results indicated that neither of R. rhodopus and P. albopunctatus were monophyletic at the species level. The population of R. rhodopus from Hainan Island was more close to R. bipunctatus than to populations of R. rhodopus from Yunnan Province. Furthermore, the populations of R. rhodopus from Yunnan Province can be divided into two main lineages. Theloderma corticale and P.rhododiscus were clustered together and T. asperum was nested in P.albopunctatus. We considered that P. albopunctatus Liu and Hu, 1962, was the synonymy of T. asperum Boulenger, 1886, and suggested removing P. rhododiscus from Philautus into the genus Theloderma.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31272332, 31071894, 30911120031, 30670243)Anhui Province Higher Education Revitalization Plan+2 种基金2014 Colleges and Universities Outstanding Youth Talent Support ProgramFoundation for Graduate Student Academic Innovation Research Project of Anhui University (yqh100081)the Foundation for College Student Innovation & Venture Project of Anhui University(201610357026)
文摘A new species of rhacophorid of the genus Rhacophorus is described from the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, east China. The new species, Rhacophorus zhoukaiyae sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters： 1） the ventral surface and front-and-rear of the femur is paler yellowish and decorated with irregular grayish blotching, and without obvious spots on the dorsum of the hand and foot webbing; 2） the outer metatarsal tubercle is small; 3） outer fingers are half-webbed and outer toes two third webbed; 4） the skin on the dorsum is smooth and without compressed warts; 5） the throat, chest and belly are pure paler yellowish; 6） the dorsal part of the fingers and toes are grayish-white; 7） the iris is golden-yellow. In addition, the phylogenetic tree showed that all the individuals of R. zhoukaiyae sp. nov. clustered into one distinct clade which suggested the validity of this species. This results could also be used to the support of species delimitation. Currently, this species is known only from mid-elevation montane evergreen forest in the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, China.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(3090014131270042)+1 种基金the Chinese Academy of Sciences(KSCX2-EW-J-22Y2C3011) to Jianguo CUI
文摘In anurans, the outcomes of male-male contests and female choice are often associated with body size. In some species, males evaluate an opponent’s fighting ability and females evaluate male quality on the basis of male communication signals, which are thought to reflect information concerning male body size. Nevertheless, previous studies reveal that male call structure is not always correlated with body size. In the present study we investigated the relationships between body size and call structure in the large treefrog, Rhacophorus dennysi, as well as the relationship of its calling behavior with air temperature and humidity. The results show that both the dominant and fundamental frequencies are negatively correlated with body size, while inter-note intervals are positively correlated with body size, indicating that call characters could reflect body size in this species.Additionally, calling in this tropical species exhibits a circadian rhythm insofar as relatively high temperature and low humidity during the day is associated with less vocal behavior. Thus, individual variations in call structure are mainly dependent on body size while the temporal rhythm of calling activity is affected by environmental conditions in large treefrogs.
基金supported by the President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology(VAST.CTG.03/16-17)the Ministry of Science and Technology(DLDLXH.19/15)to T.T.Nguyen+1 种基金partially funded by the National Geographic Society(Grant No.9492–14)the Rufford Foundation(Grant No.14877–1)to T.Q.Nguyen
文摘We describe a new species of Rhacophorus based on two adult specimens collected from Hoa Binh Province, northern Vietnam. Rhacophorus hoabinhensis sp. nov. is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following morphological characters： size small （SVL 31.1-32.5 mm in males）; head slightly longer than wide; vomerine teeth absent; snout short （SNL/SVL 0.16）; dorsal skin smooth; forearm and tarsus with dermal fringes; dermal appendage at vent present; webbing formula on fingers I12/3-12/3II1-2III1-1IV and on toes I3/4-1II1/2- IIII1/2-1IVI-1/2V; dorsal surface grey yellow with brown spots; lower jaw region dark grey, throat, chest and belly cream; anterior and posterior thighs, as well as ventral surface of tibia orange. The interspecific uncorrected genetic distances （16S rRNA gene） between the new species from Hoa Binh and other analyzed congeners varied from 9.8% to 17.4%. In the phylogenetic analyses, the new species revealed to be a representative of Rhacophorus and was nested within the R. hoanglienensis-orlovi species group.
基金partly supported by Grants-in-Aid from the Monbukagakusho through the JSPS (Nos. 10041166, 20405013, and 23405014)a grant from The U. S. National Geographic Society (No. 4505-91) to MM
文摘We conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses of Japanese Rhacophorus species, especially of R. schlegelii and R. arboreus from the mainland, based on samples encompassing their known distribution ranges, and discussed about evolutionary history of Rhacophorus species within Japan. The common ancestor of Japanese Rhacophorus, except for R. owstoni from southern Ryukyus, was estimated to have diverged from a lineage occurring mainly in China about 7 MYBP. Both R. schlegelii and R. arboreus are genetically largely divergent between regions of eastern and western Japan, and this seems to have been promoted mainly by retreat to refugia. Retreats of the two species to different refugia sometimes in the past seem to have led restricted distribution of R. schlegelii in eastern and R. arboreus in western Japan, and brought their intraspecific variation patterns in morphology and breeding habit.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31201713,No.31270425 and No.31470442)
文摘The worldwide declines in amphibian populations have largely been caused by infectious fungi and bacteria. Given that vertebrate immunity against these extracellular pathogens is primarily functioned by the major histocompatibility complex（MHC） class Ⅱ molecules, the characterization and the evolution of amphibian MHC class Ⅱ genes have attracted increasing attention. The polymorphism of MHC class Ⅱ genes was found to be correlated with susceptibility to fungal pathogens in many amphibian species, suggesting the importance of studies on MHC class Ⅱ genes for amphibians. However, such studies on MHC class Ⅱ gene evolution have rarely been conducted on amphibians in China. In this study, we chose Omei treefrog（Rhacophorus omeimontis）, which lived moist environments easy for breeding bacteria, to study the polymorphism of its MHC class Ⅱ genes and the underlying evolutionary mechanisms. We amplified the entire MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequence in the R. omeimontis using newly designed primers. We detected 102 putative alleles in 146 individuals. The number of alleles per individual ranged from one to seven, indicating that there are at least four loci containing MHC class ⅡB genes in R. omeimontis. The allelic polymorphism estimated from the 102 alleles in R. omeimontis was not high compared to that estimated in other anuran species. No significant gene recombination was detected in the 102 MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequences. In contrast, both gene duplication and balancing selection greatly contributed to the variability in MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequences of R. omeimontis. This study lays the groundwork for the future researches to comprehensively analyze the evolution of amphibian MHC genes and to assess the role of MHC gene polymorphisms in resistance against extracellular pathogens for amphibians in China.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31470442)。
文摘Attendance patterns are a key factor affecting sexual selection and mating systems in lekbreeding species.However,there are few systematic studies on attendance patterns in lek-breeding anurans.In this study,we monitored a population of Omei treefrogs(Rhacophorus omeimontis) for four consecutive years to reveal in detail the effects of attendance patterns on mating systems.We found that(1) female nightly attendance was affected by male nightly attendance,and operational sex ratios(determined by male and female nightly attendance) ultimately determined the extent of female polyandry;(2) males surviving more than one breeding season maintained high chorus attendance and mating success,suggesting that male chorus attendance is a good predictor of male genetic quality;(3) the distributions of male mating success were not significantly different from a Poisson distribution,indicating a random mating pattern;and male mating success was not related to body size(size-assortative mating was not evident) but was significantly correlated with chorus attendance.Since the chorus attendance is a predictor of male genetic quality,females performing random mating were more likely to mate with more frequently present males and could therefore gain indirect benefits from mating with higher-than-average quality males,thereby producing good offspring without incurring the significant costs involved in prolonged searching for,and assessing males.Our systematic survey on the relationship between attendance patterns and the lek mating system in R.omeimontis could help us better understand in-depth anuran lek mating systems.
基金The research was funded by the grant fromthe Key Project of Natural Science Foundation(D0320001) andthe Natural Science Foundation ofFujian Province(B0110012)
