GENERAL SANTOS CITY: Filipino and foreign scientists have discovered a new frog species and “resurrected” two others in the southern and central Philippines, all of which were thought to have been the same species over the past 100 years.
Before the discoveries, they were referred to as cryptic species, meaning they look very similar but are genetically and behaviourally distinct.
Filipino wildlife biologist Kier Mitchel Pitogo, one of the authors of the study detailing the three new additions to the Philippine amphibian fauna, explained that these frogs play an important role in the environment, acting as bioindicators of forest habitat quality.
“These frogs are associated with primary forests… From what we’ve observed during our fieldwork, they are typically among the first wildlife to disappear when forests are lost or heavily disturbed. Because of this, they can serve as bioindicators of habitat quality, meaning their presence or absence can tell us something about changes in the forest,” he told the Inquirer on Sunday.
The three latest discoveries are the Platymantis habagatan (Mindanao variable forest frog), a new species from Mindanao Island, except the southern region; and two resurrected species, P. jagorii (Jagor’s variable forest frog) and P. laticeps (Broad-headed variable forest frog).
Habagatan is a Cebuano word for “south” or “southern”, referring to its distribution in the southern Philippines.
“It is the first description of a new ground-dwelling Platymantis from the Mindanao biogeographic region in 106 years,” said Pitogo, a doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas, USA.
Among the three, the Jagor’s variable forest frog is the smallest, with proportionally smaller eyes and a relatively wider head. It is found across Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Dinagat, and Siargao.
Its close relative, the Mindanao variable forest frog, shares some of these characteristics but is proportionally larger overall and is widely distributed across Mindanao, except for the southern region.
The Broad-headed variable forest frog co-occurs with the Mindanao variable forest frog in northeastern Mindanao but can be readily distinguished by its much larger body size (about 38–41 mm compared with 30–35 mm), tuberculate body, and much narrower space between the eyes.
For a century, Pitogo noted these frogs were treated as a single species, Platymantis dorsalis.
He stressed that for conservation purposes, it becomes extremely important to get their names and identities right.
“Conservation decisions are ultimately made at the species level, so if we don’t recognise the species correctly, we may not even know which species is declining, where it occurs, or what habitat needs to be protected,” Pitogo explained.
It took four years and 230 frog specimens for the authors to officially add the three latest species to the country’s amphibian fauna.
Aside from Pitogo, the authors include Rew Hoskins, Faben Hana Tesfazion, Camila G. Meneses, Hayden W. Cannon, Christian E. Supsup, Syrus Cesar P. Decena, Marites B. Sanguila, and Rafe M. Brown.
They are affiliated with the University of Kansas, Visayas State University-Alangalang in Leyte, or Father Saturnino Urios University in Butuan City. Inqurier/ANN
