A Taiwanese clade of Nidirana okinavana has been identified as a new species of music frog and named “Nidirana shyhhuangi,” a joint research by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and the Ministry of Agriculture announced yesterday.
Nidirana okinavana, also known as the Yaeyama harpist frog, was previously thought to only be found in Nantou County and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands.
However, a joint research by the university, the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute (TBRI) and the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute showed that the Taiwanese clade of Nidirana okinavana should be recognized as a distinct species, as there is significant difference between the Taiwanese and Japanese clades.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute
The Taiwanese clade was named Nidirana shyhhuangi in honor of retired NTNU Department of Life Science professor Chen Shyh-huang (陳世煌), who first discovered the endemic species in the early 1980s while he as an assistant professor, the research team said.
Although Chen suspected the music frog was a new species that had not yet been described, his findings could not be published due to the lack of molecular evidence 40 years ago, it said.
The research team, led by NTNU Life Science Department professor Lin Si-min (林思民), continued Chen’s work several years ago, identifying distinct differences in body size, skin patterns and calls between the Taiwanese and Japanese clades of Nidirana okinavana through molecular, morphological and acoustic analyses, the team said.
The holotype specimens used to identify the new frog species were those preserved and stored by Chen in NTNU’s specimen room in 1984, the research team said.
Chen’s expertise in traditional biotaxonomy was evident in his ability to preserve Nidirana shyhhuangi specimens in optimal formalin and alcohol concentrations for more than four decades, the research team said, adding that the newly recognized species was named in honor of Chen’s contributions.
Nidirana okinavana is classified as a nationally critically endangered species on the Red List of Amphibians of Taiwan published by the TBRI last year.
However, after being differentiated from Nidirana okinavana, Nidirana shyhhuangi has become Taiwan’s latest endemic species classified as nationally critically endangered, with an estimated combined population of only 300 to 700 frogs in Nantou County’s Lianhuachi (蓮華池) and Sun Moon Lake (日月潭).
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