Feihyla kajau ( Dring, 1983 ), 2013

Biju, S. D., Garg, Sonali, Gokulakrishnan, G., Chandrakasan, Sivaperuman, Thammachoti, Panupong, Ren, Jinlong, Gopika, C., Bisht, Karan, Hamidy, Amir & Shouche, Yogesh, 2020, New insights on the systematics and reproductive behaviour in tree frogs of the genus Feihyla, with description of a new related genus from Asia (Anura, Rhacophoridae), Zootaxa 4878 (1), pp. 1-55 : 26

Feihyla kajau ( Dring, 1983)

White-eared Jelly-nest Frog

( Figs. 1–2 , 4 , 6 ; Tables 1–2 )

Original name and description. Rhacophorus kajau Dring, 1983 . Dring J. C. M. 1983. Some new frogs from Sarawak. Amphibia-Reptilia, 4: 103–115. Type. Holotype, BMNH 1978.1757, by original designation. Type locality. “Gunung Mulu, Fourth Division, Sarawak ”, Malaysia. Current status of specific name. Valid name as Feihyla kajau ( Dring, 1983) ( Li et al. 2013) .

Diagnosis. Small-sized adults (male SVL 18–20 mm) with a slender body; snout rounded to truncate in dorsal view, and truncate in lateral view; dorsal skin shagreened to sparsely granular with scattered spinules; dorsal colouration uniformly light green with minute white or yellowish speckles; upper arm, loreal, canthal and tympanic regions, lateral surfaces of abdomen, and anterior and posterior parts of thigh, non-pigmented (flesh coloured); presence of a narrow white streak starting from the snout tip and extending along the lateral surfaces up to the groin, that separates the dorsal and lateral body colouration; the first two fingers opposed to the others; foot webbing moderate, not beyond the second tubercle on either side of toe IV; narrow crenulate dermal ridges present along the outer edges of hand, forearm, foot, tarsus, and transversely below the vent. In life, the skin over the belly is translucent making the internal organs, including mature ova, visible ( Dring 1983).

Genetic divergence. Phylogenetically, F. kajau is closely related to members of the Feihyla vittiger group ( Fig. 1 ). For the 16S mitochondrial gene, it differs by average uncorrected genetic distances of: 10.7–11.1% from F. inexpectata and 12.6–12.8% from F. vittiger . For interspecific genetic distances with other congeners, see Table 2 .

Distribution. Feihyla kajau is currently known only from the Borneo island: Brunei; Sabah to Sarawak of Malaysia; and Kalimantan of Indonesia.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum Likelihood tree showing phylogenetic relationships among 124 representative taxa from all recognised genera of the subfamily Rhacophorinae. Relationships are inferred based on 1,937 bp of mitochondrial (12SrRNA, tRNAVAL, 16SrRNA) and nuclear (RHO and RAG1) genes. Numbers above and below the branches indicate Bayesian Posterior Probabilities and RAxML bootstrap support values, respectively.

FIGURE 2. A–B. DNA Barcoding based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences: A. genus Feihyla; B. genus Rohanixalus gen. nov.; C. distribution of the new genus Rohanixalus. Images represent the corresponding species and their broad geographical ranges.

FIGURE 4. Distribution of genetically confirmed records of all known Feihyla and Rohanixalus members (indicated by circles) and their respective type localities (indicated by triangles). Numbers corresponding to each species are indicated alongside the distribution spots.

FIGURE 6. Members of the Feihyla vittiger group and their nest structure. A. F. inexpectata in dorsolateral view; B. F. kajau in dorsolateral view; C. eggs of F. kajau; D. early development in F. kajau at approximately stage 19; E. F. vittiger in dorsolateral view; F. an egg clutch of F. vittiger with developing embryos (approximately stage 21); G–M. Feihyla vittiger in life: G–J. dorsolateral view; K. dorsal view; L. posterior view of thighs; M. lateral view.