Pseudohemisus longimanus var. melanopleura Angel, 1934

Scherz, Mark D., Schmidt, Luca, Crottini, Angelica, Miralles, Aurélien, Rakotoarison, Andolalao, Raselimanana, Achille P., Köhler, Jörn, Glaw, Frank & Vences, Miguel, 2021, Into the Chamber of Horrors: A proposal for the resolution of nomenclatural chaos in the Scaphiophryne calcarata complex (Anura: Microhylidae), with a new species-level phylogenetic hypothesis for Scaphiophryninae, Zootaxa 4938 (1), pp. 392-420 : 410-411

Pseudohemisus longimanus var. melanopleura Angel, 1934

Name-bearing type: Lectotype by present designation, MNHN 1933.149 from “Antsingy, prov. Menabe, 300 m ” according to the original description.

The original type series consisted of two syntypes. The second of these, MNHN 1933.148 has a new (red) label that erroneously reads “1933.0149”, but its identity can be clearly assessed based on its paper label. We here designate the larger of the two syntypes, MNHN 1933.149 , as lectotype, to allow unambiguous definition of this nomen in case future studies reveal the existence of more than two species in the S. calcarata complex .

Morphology. The two original syntypes of this nomen ( Frost 2020) are in a rather good state of preservation and are clearly assignable to Scaphiophryne based on the tarsal tubercle and enlarged inner metatarsal tubercle ( Fig. 9 ). They bear clear diagnostic characters of the S. calcarata complex, particularly, a dorsolateral ridge running along the entire body.

Osteological examination of the lectotype revealed close resemblance to the other Pseudohemisus specimens examined here ( Fig. 10 , Supplementary Figs S2–S 3 ).

Assignment. As with Pseudohemisus longimanus , the type locality of this nomen is in an area between the known ranges of the western and the north-western lineage of S. obscura . While it is therefore not possible to assign the nomen to either of these intraspecific lineages, based on its provenance we propose considering Pseudohemisus longimanus var. melanopleura Angel, 1934 a junior synonym of Scaphiophryne obscura .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Haplotype networks based on DNA sequences of two nuclear genes, POMC (310 bp) and RAG-1 (788 bp) for species of Scaphiophryne and Paradoxophyla. Small black circles represent additional mutational steps between identified haplotypes. Colors of taxa correspond to those in Fig. 1.

FIGURE 3. Individuals in life of the three species of Scaphiophryne in the subgenus Pseudohemisus according to the classification proposed in the present paper: Scaphiophryne brevis from Ifaty (A–E), Kirindy (F–G) and Isalo (H); S. calcarata from Pic St. Louis near Tolagnaro (I–K), Ambalavao (L), Isalo (Ilakaka) (M–N), Sakaviro (O) and near Anja (P); S. obscura from Isalo (Q), Kirindy (R–V), Ankarafantsika (W), and Bongolava Plateau (X). Photos by F. Glaw, J. Lobon-Rovira, A. Miralles, G. M. Rosa, and M. Vences.

FIGURE 9. Photographs of the details of morphology of type specimens of the nomina in the genus Scaphiophryne (subgenus Pseudohemisus) except the holotype of S. brevis, showing feet (left column) and hands (middle column) in ventral view, and the head (right column) in lateral view.

FIGURE 10. Micro-CT scans of the name-bearing type specimens of nomina in the subgenus Scaphiophryne (Pseudohemisus) except the holotype of S. brevis: skulls in dorsal, ventral and lateral views.