A new study led by lab collaborator Rudi von May presents an updated evolutionary tree for frog species in the genus Noblella, most of which live in the leaf-litter and moss layer of high-elevation montane forests and Andean grasslands. Adult frogs in this group measure approximately half an inch or less and are not easy to find in the field. One of the species included in the study was Noble’s pygmy frog (Noblella pygmaea), the smallest frog of the Andes (inset photo).
The research team used DNA sequences of two ‘lost’ or missing species (Noblella peruviana and Noblella bagrecito) to build an evolutionary tree (also known as phylogeny), which helps better understand their shared ancestry. “The last time these frogs were seen in their natural habitats was 116 and 42 years ago, respectively,” said coauthor Alessandro Catenazzi from Florida International University. Access to these sites required trekking on steep mountain areas for several days. In one of the surveys, Catenazzi and two colleagues from Peru, M. Isabel Diaz and Alex Ttito, reached an abandoned Inca Mine in the Cordillera de Carabaya in southern Peru while another colleague, Roy Santa-Cruz surveyed montane sites in northern Peru.
The collaborative study helped the team resolve the classification of dozens of species distributed in the Andes and Amazon region of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and adjacent areas in Colombia and Brazil. Key to their study was the analysis DNA sequences, which allowed the team to reclassify the taxonomy of the group.
Citation: von May, R., M.I. Diaz, A. Ttito, R. Santa-Cruz, A. Catenazzi. 2024. The rediscovery of Noblella peruviana after more than 115 years helps resolve the molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of Noblella (Amphibia, Anura, Strabomantidae). Diversity 16: 613. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/d16100613
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