Fejervarya

Phylogeny of Fejervarya

The phylogeny recovered a well supported clade consisting of all Fejervarya from South and South East Asia (Fig 2). We also recovered two sister clades within Fejervarya. The geographical ranges of the two clades broadly overlap around the Northeast Indian regions and Thailand (Fig 2). The Fejervarya clade was recovered as sister to Sphaerotheca. The unidentified individuals in our collection formed a monophyletic group and showed a sister relationship with Minervarya sahyadris (Fig 2). The clade consisting of the unidentified individuals and Minervarya sahyadris was deeply nested within the larger Fejervarya clade. Based on this, we synonymize Minervarya Dubois, Ohler and Biju, 2001 under Fejervarya Bolkay, 1915 (see discussion below) and provide a diagnosis and describe the unidentified individuals in our collection as Fejervarya gomantaki sp. nov.

Generic allocation. There is considerable confusion in generic level taxonomy and systematics within dicroglossid frogs, specifically the distinction between Fejervarya, Minervarya and Zakerana (see discussion below). Apart from the strong phylogenetic support (Fig 2), the individuals are assignable to the genus Fejervarya based on the diagnosable generic morphological characters assigned by Dubois et al. (2001) for the then genus Minervarya Dubois, Ohler and Biju, 2001 and Fejervarya Bolkay, 1915; namely to the group of small sized frogs having snout not greatly pointed or slightly rounded; relatively small tympanum; small rounded or laterally compressed internal metatarsal tubercles; rudimentary webbing on feet and small tibia; presence of rictal glands, fejervaryan lines, and horizontal band on the upper lip. Within Fejervarya, presence of a rictal gland is a derived character unique to the clade composed of Fejervarya sahyadris, Fejervarya gomantaki sp. nov. and a north eastern species Fejervarya chilapata.