Introduction A large array of species can accumulate on islands because the organisms that end up colonizing (establishing a new population in) these new habitats are physically separated from the original population they branched off from and thus proceed on their own evolutionary course. Successful colonization is affected by many factors, including ocean currents, competition between organisms, and the reproductive, behavioral, and...

Adaptive radiations are the rapid accumulation of new species accompanied by adaptation to a diversity of habitats and environments that have specific requirements for habitation. This adaptation is typically observed through different corresponding physical changes. By broadly framing evolutionary radiations as the accumulation of both lineages and observable characteristics, comparisons among groups become focused not on the absolute number of lineages or...

Frogs in the genus Platymantis are extraordinarily diverse in the Philippine Archipelago, and new lineages within it are being discovered frequently. Species within Philippine Platymantis vary in appearance, calls, and preferred habitat. One form of Platymantis recorded during field surveys in Biak Na Bato National Park, assigned the name P. biak, had features of tree-dwelling frogs but appeared restricted to ground habitats....

Researchers want to know more about the evolutionary history and achieve a greater understanding of the diversity of land vertebrates in the Philippines. Though technological and statistical tools can help with this understanding, other problems have gotten in the way and research has only recently begun to accumulate. Looking at two species of Old World tree frogs – Rhacophorus bimaculatus and Kurixalus...

Such a beautiful species, Hylarana luzonensis occurs in the northern Philippines. Due to continued loss of its primary habitats around pristine river and stream systems, this species appears to be threatened in certain regions of its distribution. Females of this species are considerably larger than males, with greatly expanded toe pads....

Aim To utilize comprehensive geographical sampling and a new, multilocus dataset to re-examine the biogeography of spotted stream frogs (Hylarana signata complex) throughout Southeast Asia. To compare patterns of diversification among stream frog populations on land-bridge islands and oceanic islands and to re-evaluate a previous ‘dual-invasion’ hypothesis for the origins of endemic Philippine taxa. Location Southeast Asia, Sundaland, and the Philippines. Methods...

Greg Jongsma – Masters Research Background The genus Hylarana is a member of the family Ranidae and part of the larger radiation called the Natatanura. Ranidae is one of few globally distributed frog families and comprises more than 350 species (Frost 2014) that exhibit a wide range morphological and ecological diversity. The genus Hylarana is unique among the members of Ranidae because its distribution...

Living amphibians exhibit a diversity of ecologies, life histories, and species-rich lineages that offers opportunities for studies of adaptive radiation. We characterize a diverse clade of frogs (Kaloula, Microhylidae) in the Philippine island archipelago as an example of an adaptive radiation into three primary habitat specialists or ecotypes. We use a novel phylogenetic estimate for this clade to evaluate the tempo of...

We report 35 new amphibian and reptile distribution records for two regions within the southern Sierra Madre Mountain Range, Aurora Province, central Luzon Island, Philippines. Together with results of our previous survey work in Aurora, our new data result in a total of 82 amphibian and reptile species for the area. These results highlight the degree to which the island’s biodiversity continues...

Platymantis spelaeus is endemic to southern Negros Island, Philippines, and is one of four recognized species of Philippine limestone forest frogs. While conducting fieldwork in the Philippines, we observed newly metamorphosed juvenile Platymantis spelaeus inside a small cave system, 2–4 m from the entrance to the cave....

We investigated phylogeography of Philippine slender toads (genus Ansonia) and used a temporal framework for diversification, statistical tests of alternate topologies, and Bayesian approaches to test previous hypotheses concerning dispersal to, and colonization routes within, the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Two species of Ansonia previously have been documented, with ranges separated by an east–west split corresponding to the approximate boundaries of...