Data from: Description of a new Malagasy treefrog (Boophis) occurring syntopically with its sister species, and a plea for studies on non-allopatric speciation in tropical amphibians

Based on concordant differences in male advertisement call, tadpole morphology, and absence of haplotype sharing in mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers, we describe a new species of treefrog from Ranomafana National Park in the southern central east of Madagascar. In its adult stage Boophis narinsi sp. n. is highly similar to its sister species, Boophis majori, but appears to differ in having longer hindlimbs. The genetic divergences between these two species (2.5-3.3% in a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene, depending on fragment length and individual haplotype analyzed) are below the threshold typically characterizing distinct species of anurans. Together with their relatively small and largely overlapping ranges and their sympatric occurrence in Ranomafana National Park, this indicates that they potentially could have originated rather recently by adaptive speciation under parapatric or sympatric conditions. Most studies on amphibian speciation have so far by default assumed vicariant speciation. We suggest that alternative speciation scenarios should be considered in future works and characterize settings in which more reliable assessments of adaptive parapatric or sympatric speciation could be carried out.

基于雄性求偶鸣唱、蝌蚪形态的一致性差异，以及线粒体DNA与核DNA标记中无单倍型（haplotype）共享的特征，我们描述了产自马达加斯加中东南部拉努马法纳国家公园的一个树蛙新种。成体阶段的布氏蛙新种（Boophis narinsi sp. n.）与其姐妹种大布氏蛙（Boophis majori）高度相似，但后肢更长，二者以此为主要鉴别特征。这两个物种的遗传分化（在16S rRNA基因片段中为2.5%~3.3%，具体数值取决于片段长度与所分析的单倍型个体）低于通常用于界定无尾类（anurans）有效物种的阈值。结合二者相对狭窄且大范围重叠的分布范围，以及在拉努马法纳国家公园的同域共存现象，这表明它们可能是在较近的地质时期内，通过邻域（parapatric）或同域（sympatric）条件下的适应性成种作用分化而来。迄今为止，绝大多数两栖动物成种机制的研究默认采用异域成种（vicariant speciation）的假设。我们建议未来的相关研究应考虑其他成种情景，并阐明能够更可靠地评估适应性邻域或同域成种的研究场景。