A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC STUDY OF THE OLD-WORLD TREEFROG FAMILY RHACOPHORIDAE

A phylogenetic tree is presented for the Old World treefrog family Rha cophoridae and other ranoid frogs that that have an Africa-Madagascar- Asia distribution. The tree was inferred from parts of the mitochondri al ribosomal 12S and 16S genes and the tRNA(val) gene sequences with t he Microhylidae as outgroup. The tree indicates that the rhacophorids are a monophyletic group composed of a Madagascar clade and an Asian-A frican clade. When endemic Madagascar mantellids were added to the tre e, they also were part of the Madagascar rhacophorid clade, but the su pport for this assignment is weak. Tomopterna labrosa, a ranid endemic to Madagascar, appears more closely related to the Madagascar rhacoph orids than it does to the ranids included in the analysis. Support for this relationship is strong enough to merit reinvestigation of the mo rphology and extension of the molecular data set.