Of Least Concern? Systematics of a cryptic species complex: Limnonectes kuhlii (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae)

Several recent studies have demonstrated that a tremendous amount of biological diversity can be masked by phenotypic similarity in a cryptic species complex. It has been speculated that the widely distributed and relatively common Southeast Asian frog Limnonectes kuhlii represents a complex of multiple species. The phylogeny within the L. kuhlii Complex is estimated in this study based on approximately 2400 bp of mtDNA data (tRNAPhe, 12S, tRNAVal, and 16S genes) from 244 individuals representing multiple populations from throughout the known distribution of this anuran. Analyses are conducted using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. The results suggest that what has been recognized historically as a single species is a complex of more than 22 distinct evolutionary lineages, 16 of which are currently subsumed under the nominal L. kuhlii. Several cases of sympatric lineages were detected, and in all cases co-occurring lineages were not each other’s closest relatives.