Kaloula is a genus of microhylid frogs found in southern and eastern Asia. They are sometimes known as the Asian narrowmouth toads.[2]

Kaloula
Temporal range: Miocene - Present,[1] 22.3–0 Ma
Banded bullfrog, Kaloula pulchra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Microhylidae
Subfamily: Microhylinae
Genus: Kaloula
Gray, 1831
Type species
Kaloula pulchra
Gray, 1831
Diversity
About 19 species (see text)

Species

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The genus currently has at least 19 species.[2] Some sources also recognize Kaloula macrocephala Bourret, 1942 as a valid species,[3][4] whereas the Amphibian Species of the World treats it as a synonym of Kaloula pulchra.[2] 5 new species have been described since 2000, and there are unnamed species yet to be described.[2]

Binomial name and author Common name Range
Kaloula assamensis Das, Sengupta, Ahmed, and Dutta, 2005 Assam, India
Kaloula aureata Nutphand, 1989 Golden bullfrog southern Thailand
Kaloula baleata (Müller in Oort & Müller, 1836) Flower pot toad South-eastern Asia
Kaloula borealis (Barbour, 1908) North-eastern Asia
Kaloula conjuncta (Peters, 1863) Truncate-toed chorus frog Philippines
Kaloula ghoshi Cherchi, 1954 Brown bullfrog Andaman Islands
Kaloula indochinensis Chan, Blackburn, Murphy, Stuart, Emmett, Ho, and Brown, 2013 Indochina
Kaloula kalingensis Taylor, 1922 Kalinga narrowmouth toad Philippines
Kaloula kokacii Ross & Gonzales, 1992 Catanduanes narrow-mouthed frog northern Philippines
Kaloula latidisca Chan, Grismer & Brown, 2014 Wide-disked narrow-mouthed frog Malaysia
Kaloula mediolineata Smith, 1917 Indochina
Kaloula meridionalis Inger, 1954 Philippines
Kaloula nonggangensis Mo, Zhang, Zhou, Chen, Tang, Meng, and Chen, 2013 Guangxi, south-western China
Kaloula picta (Duméril & Bibron, 1841) Slender-digit chorus frog Philippines
Kaloula pulchra Gray, 1831 Banded bullfrog, Chubby frog Southern and south-eastern Asia
Kaloula rigida Taylor, 1922 Luzon narrow-mouthed frog northern Philippines
Kaloula rugifera Stejneger, 1924 South-western China
Kaloula verrucosa Boulenger, 1904 South-western China
Kaloula walteri Diesmos, Brown & Alcala, 2002 northern Philippines

Kaloula pulchra, Kaloula picta, and Kaloula borealis are the most widespread and commonly found varieties, often living near human settlements.

Blackburn, et al. (2013)[5] lists several Kaloula varieties that are likely to be new, previously undescribed species.

Phylogeny

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A molecular phylogenetic study by Mo et al. (2013)[6] suggests that the only four Kaloula species found in China, namely Kaloula borealis, Kaloula nonggangensis, Kaloula rugifera, and Kaloula verrucosa, belong to a monophyletic group, termed the K. verrucosa group.

Blackburn, et al. (2013)[5] consider Kaloula species endemic to the Philippines to form a monophyletic group, containing the species Kaloula walteri, Kaloula rigida, Kaloula conjuncta, Kaloula picta, Kaloula kalingensis, and Kaloula kokacii. Kaloula likely colonized the Philippines from Southeast Asia during the Late Miocene, and then radiated into different ecotypes.[5] K. kalingensis and K. kokacii occupy niches as arboreal tree-hole frogs in northern and southern Luzon respectively, while K. rigida and K. walteri are ground frogs in northern and southern Luzon respectively. K. picta, which is a terrestrial ground frog, and K. conjuncta, which is scansorial (climbing) and prefers shrubs, have established themselves throughout the Philippine archipelago. K. picta as well as K. pulchra display the lowest internal genetic diversity, but also have widespread geographical distributions that may have likely occurred be due to human activity.

Excluding Kaloula taprobanica, the most recent common ancestor of Kaloula likely existed about 22.3 million years ago, around the OligoceneMiocene boundary. The most recent common ancestor of the terrestrial species K. rigida and K. walteri likely lived 4.8 million years ago during the Early Pliocene, while that of the arboreal species K. kalingensis and K. kokacii likely lived 9.1 million years ago. The most recent common ancestor of K. conjuncta, which currently has four recognized subspecies, likely lived 4.4 million years ago.[5]

Blackburn, et al. (2013)[5] suggests that Kaloula taprobanica might not form a clade with the other Kaloula species, although it does clearly form a clade with Metaphrynella, Ramanella, and the rest of Kaloula.

Other studies relating to Kaloula phylogeny include van Bocxlaer et al. (2007),[1] Matsui et al. (2011),[7] and Trueb et al. (2011).[8]

The following phylogeny has been adapted from Blackburn, et al. (2013).[5] Kaloula assamensis, Kaloula taprobanica, and Kaloula aureata have not been included.

Kaloula 

References

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  1. ^ a b Van Bocxlaer I, Roelants K, Biju SD, Nagaraju J, Bossuyt F (December 2006). "Late Cretaceous vicariance in Gondwanan amphibians". PLOS ONE. 1 (1): e74. Bibcode:2006PLoSO...1...74B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000074. PMC 1762348. PMID 17183706.
  2. ^ a b c d Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Kaloula Gray, 1831". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Kaloula macrocephala Bourret, 1942". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  4. ^ "Microhylidae". AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. Berkeley, California: AmphibiaWeb. 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Blackburn DC, Siler CD, Diesmos AC, McGuire JA, Cannatella DC, Brown RM (September 2013). "An adaptive radiation of frogs in a southeast Asian island archipelago". Evolution. 67 (9): 2631–46. doi:10.1111/evo.12145. PMC 3920640. PMID 24033172.
  6. ^ a b Mo Y, Zhang W, Zhou S, Chen T, Tang H, Meng Y, Chen W (2013). "A new species of Kaloula (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae) from southern Guangxi, China". Zootaxa. 3710: 165–78. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3710.2.3. PMID 26106681.
  7. ^ Matsui M, Hamidy A, Belabut DM, Ahmad N, Panha S, Sudin A, Khonsue W, Oh HS, Yong HS, Jiang JP, Nishikawa K (October 2011). "Systematic relationships of Oriental tiny frogs of the family Microhylidae (Amphibia, Anura) as revealed by mtDNA genealogy". Mol Phylogenet Evol. 61 (1): 167–76. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.05.015. PMID 21658458.
  8. ^ Trueb, L., R. Diaz, and D. C. Blackburn. 2011. Osteology and chondrocranial morphology of Gastrophryne carolinensis (Anura: Microhylidae), with a review of the osteological diversity of New World microhylids. Phyllomedusa 10:99–135.
  9. ^ Chan KO, Grismer LL, Brown RM (December 2014). "Reappraisal of the Javanese Bullfrog complex, Kaloula baleata (Müller, 1836) (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae), reveals a new species from Peninsular Malaysia". Zootaxa. 3900 (4): 569–80. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3900.4.7. PMID 25543757.
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