Data from: A new golden species of Diasporus (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) from southwestern Colombia, with evaluation of the phylogenetic significance of morphological characters in Diasporus

A new species of Diasporus is described from the lowlands of southwestern Colombia. The new species, along with Diasporus citrinobapheus, D. gularis, and D. tigrillo is the only species in this genus known to exhibit a yellowish coloration in life. The new species differs from all other congeners in having two chrome orange spots (=glandlike protrusions) on sacral region, smooth ventral skin, basal webbing between the toes, and distal papillae at tips of disc covers on fingers II–IV and toes II–IV. Further, the new species differs from all congeners by an uncorrected p-distance of >5.56% of the 16S rRNA gene fragment examined. In addition to the new species described herein, we demonstrated that the possession of a yellowish coloration in life optimizes unambiguously as a synapomorphy of a clade within Diasporus, which may be recognized as the Diasporus diastema species group. We also discussed the phylogenetic significance of two morphological characters previously considered of systematic value in Diasporus, the occurrence of oval palmar tubercles (undivided) and longitudinal folds (of the vocal sacs) on the throat. On this basis, we demonstrated that these characters appear to be symplesiomorphies rather than synapomorphies of Diasporus. Regarding pointed disc covers (ungual flap) present in some species of Diasporus, we show that this character conflates various characters, involving variation in pad shape, dorsal outline of the disc (ungual flap), and dependence between discs of different digits. Finally, considering that phenotypic data are a valuable source of evidence in testing phylogenetic hypotheses of terraranan frogs, we encourage future research to incorporate phenotypic evidence into phylogenetic studies involved in the genus Diasporus.

本文记述了采自哥伦比亚西南部低地的迪氏蛙属（Diasporus）一新种。该新种与黄染迪氏蛙（Diasporus citrinobapheus）、喉迪氏蛙（D. gularis）以及虎纹迪氏蛙（D. tigrillo）一道，是该属目前已知仅有的可在活体状态下呈现淡黄色体色的物种。该新种与该属其余所有物种的区别在于：其骶区具2枚亮橙色斑点（即腺状突起）、腹面皮肤光滑、趾间具基部蹼，且手指II–IV与脚趾II–IV的盘状覆盖物尖端具远端乳突。此外，经检测的16S rRNA基因片段的未校正p距离大于5.56%，这一特征也使其区别于该属所有其他物种。除本文记述的新种外，本研究还证实：活体时具淡黄色体色这一特征，可明确优化为迪氏蛙属内某一支系的共有衍征，该支系可被认定为迪氏蛙属（Diasporus）的Diasporus diastema物种群。本研究还探讨了此前被认为在迪氏蛙属分类学中具有系统学价值的两处形态特征的系统发育意义，即（不分隔的）椭圆形掌部结节，以及喉部的（声囊）纵向褶皱。基于此，本研究证实：这些特征实则为迪氏蛙属的共有祖征，而非共有衍征。针对迪氏蛙属部分物种所具有的尖形盘状覆盖物（即爪瓣），本研究表明该特征实则融合了多项独立特征，包括指垫形状变异、盘状覆盖物（爪瓣）的背面轮廓，以及不同指（趾）盘之间的相关性。最后，鉴于表型数据是验证泰拉蟾类（terraranan frogs）系统发育假说的重要证据来源，本研究呼吁未来开展的相关研究应将表型证据纳入迪氏蛙属的系统发育研究当中。