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.

基于雄性求偶鸣叫、蝌蚪形态的一致性差异，以及线粒体与核DNA标记无单倍型共享的特征，我们描述了采自马达加斯加中东部偏南地区拉努马法纳国家公园的树蛙新种。新种Boophis narinsi sp. n.的成体与姐妹物种Boophis majori形态高度相似，但后肢更长。二者的遗传分化（16S核糖体RNA基因片段的2.5%~3.3%，具体数值因片段长度及所分析的单倍型个体而异）低于典型无尾两栖类的物种界定阈值。结合二者相对狭窄且大面积重叠的分布范围，以及在拉努马法纳国家公园的同域分布特征，研究结果表明二者可能是在邻域（parapatric）或同域（sympatric）条件下通过适应性成种（adaptive speciation）较晚近的时期分化而来。迄今为止，多数两栖类成种研究均默认采用地理隔离成种（vicariant speciation）假说。我们建议未来相关研究应考虑其他成种场景，并明确可更可靠地评估适应性邻域或同域成种的研究条件。