Мадагаскардың Cophylinae бақалары: түрлердің алуандығы мен эволюциясы

Subfamily of amphibians

Cophylinae is a subfamily of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It has over 100 species in eight genera. Members of this subfamily range from minute (< 10 mm adult body size) to fairly large (> 100 mm adult body size), and they are highly ecologically diverse. DNA barcode research has revealed a significant taxonomic gap in this subfamily, and an estimated 70+ candidate species were identified. Many of these have subsequently been described, as well as numerous new discoveries (e. g. 26 species of Stumpffia described in 2017).

Cophylines are characterized by a derived mode of larval development: whereas most microhylids have a specialized filter feeding tadpole, cophylines have non feeding tadpoles that develop either in tree holes, terrestrial foam nests, or terrestrial jelly nests. Most cophylines have very simple advertisement calls, consisting of single melodious notes that are repeated after regular intervals and for long periods of time, usually lasting several minutes. Correlated to the reproductive mode of the various cophyline lineages is their arboreal versus terrestrial or fossorial ecology, and apparently, multiple evolutionary shifts between arboreal and terrestrial habits have occurred in this subfamily.

There is little doubt that the Cophylinae originated on Madagascar, as they are restricted to the island. Their affinities with other subfamilies of the diverse Microhylidae have been a matter of some debate, and only recently has a tentative consensus emerged that they are most closely related to the Scaphiophryninae, another Madagascar endemic subfamily. and today only few species are known from more arid areas in the drier west of the island. As its sister subfamily Scaphiophryninae also has most of its centre of diversity in this area, This has resulted in extensive homoplasy in ecologically related morphological traits among the frogs, which led also to taxonomic confusion when only sparse morphological data were available; The relationships of these frogs within the subfamily indicate that at least four different groups within this subfamily have independently evolved to be among the smallest frogs in the world.