Morphological and molecular data warrant the description of a new species of the genus Scutiger (Anura, Megophryidae) from the Central Himalaya

Abstract

Recent phylogenetic studies in Himalayan lazy toads of the genus Scutiger Theobald, 1868 revealed the presence of genetically deeply divergent lineages. The taxonomy of S. nepalensis sensu lato was re-assessed based on museum material considering molecular and morphological data. The results strongly support the recognition of a new species, S. kanjiroba sp. nov. distributed along the Nepalese Kanjiroba massif. It is further shown that S. sikimmensis has an apparently much more restricted distribution range than previously thought. The frequent misidentification of Scutiger across large areas of the Himalaya-Tibet area highlights the significance of careful taxonomic evaluation of collection material and the need for the direct morphological comparison of closely related species when describing new species.