Why no one really knows what name to use for tree frogs in California

Note: on 2/7/2024 iNaturalist updated the Pseudacris taxonomy synonymizing P. sierra and P. hypochondrica back into P. regilla. Therefore, there's primarily only one treefrog throughout the state, P. regilla, in addition to P. cadaverina in the south coast area.

* Pseudacris *

The most common frog in California is the tree frog (also known as a chorus frog); heard and seen across 80% of California - somewhat absent from the Mojave Desert. An article published in 2006 (Recuero et al. 2006) interested in studying the genetics of tree frogs on the Baja California Pennisula in Mexico ended up having a much greater geographic impact. The paper ends up splitting what was once considered a widely distributed single species (Pseudacris regilla) into the the following 3 species:
*Pseudacris regilla
*Pseudacris sierrae (a correction after they originally published it as P. pacifica)
*Pseudacris hypochondriaca
-and naming 2 subspecies:
*Pseudacris hypochondriaca hypochondriaca
*Pseudacris hypochondriaca curta

The issue in California is trying to separate the 3 newly proposed species. The authors provided no key to differentiate them and made no reference to geographic boundaries or contact zones to help understand their range (their few sampling locations were hundreds of miles apart). They state [and I add the correct names]: "[Pseudacris sierra (Jameson et al., 1966) stat. nov.] corresponds to the populations ranging from Central California to Montana. Populations from the northwest should be regarded as [Pseudacris regilla (Baird and Girard, 1852)]. Southern populations, from Nevada and southern California to the Cape region in Baja California, would take the name Pseudacris hypochondriaca (Hallowell, 1854) stat. nov., with two divergent subspecies, P. h. hypochondriaca from the Vizcaíno desert to the north and P. h. curta (Cope, 1867) distributed south of the Vizcaíno Desert to the southern tip of [Baja California Peninsula]."

Gary Nafis of CaliforniaHerps.com does a good job displaying a proposed ranges based on the very few sampled specimens by Recuero et al. (2006), but this is still one person's interpretation, and even notes that some folks don't believe P. regilla occurs in NW California (http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/p.sierra.html).

Other folks are skeptical of the split. Barrow et al. (2014) studied nuclear and mitochondrial DNA and concluded, "Our results, though limited in geographic scope, do not support the species designations suggested by Recuero et al. (2006) for mtDNA lineages of the P. regilla complex." Stebbins and McGinnis (2018), the most recent edition of the famous Peterson Field Guide series, states, "...some herpetologists believe that no obvious differences exist among the proposed new species groups, and that additional studies are needed. We concur with this view." Currently (March 2022), the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), the keepers of the names for North America (taxonomy & nomenclature), still have the 3 proposed species list in their database, hence it appearing on iNaturalist, but also note under the P. hypochondriaca record, "Barrow et al. (2014) suggested that the distinction of P. hypochondriaca and P. sierra, drawn on the basis of mtDNA, was not supported by nuDNA analysis. This suggests that this taxon will ultimately be included in the synonymy of Pseudacris regilla."

Therefore, this conundrum is still unresolved, frustrating field biologist across California.

Barrow, L. et al. 2014. Species tree estimation of North American chorus frogs (Hylidae: Pseudacris) with parallel tagged amplicon sequencing. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 75:78-90.
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.655.1289&rep=rep1&type=pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24583020/

Recuero, E. et al. 2006. Phylogeography of Pseudacris regilla (Anura: Hylidae) in western North America, with a proposal for a new taxonomic rearrangement. Molecular Phylogentics and Evolution 39:293-304.
http://www.cetpo.upol.cz/files/lib/26/739/recuero2006b.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16627190/

Recuero, E. et al. 2006. Corrigendum to "Phylogeography of Pseudacris regilla (Anura: Hylidae) in western North America, with a proposal for a new taxonomic rearrangement." Molecular Phylogentics and Evolution 41:511.
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.545.9298&rep=rep1&type=pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790306003071

Stebbins, R. C. and S. McGinnis. 2018. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. https://peterson-field-guides.harpercollins.com/product?isbn=9781328715500

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR). [Accessed 17 Mar 2022]. SSAR Species Names Database. https://ssarherps.org/publications/north-american-checklist/

הועלה ב-מרץ 18, 2022 01:21 אחה"צ על ידי cnddb_brian cnddb_brian