Bufonidae Gray

BEUKEMA, WOUTER, DE POUS, PHILIP, DONAIRE-BARROSO, DAVID, BOGAERTS, SERGÉ, GARCIA-PORTA, JOAN, ESCORIZA, DANIEL, ARRIBAS, OSCAR J., MOUDEN, EL HASSAN EL & CARRANZA, SALVADOR, 2013, 3661, Zootaxa 3661 (1), pp. 1-60 : 36

Family Bufonidae Gray

Despite the accumulating support for recognition of the ‘Green Toad group’ as a separate evolutionary unit ( Stöck et al. 2006; Van Bocxlaer et al. 2009), several authors have advocated retaining Bufo for all species from the Western Palaearctic and Central Asia ( Dubois & Bour 2010; Speybroeck et al. 2010). Additional confusion concerning attribution of either Pseudepidalea Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green and Wheeler 2006 or Bufotes Rafinesque 1815 as the correct generic epithet for the ‘Green Toad group’ (i.e. Frost et al. 2006; Dubois & Bour 2010) hampered taxonomic action. Dubois and Bour (2010) provided a detailed nomenclatural assessment, revealing Pseudepidalea to represent a junior objective synonym of Bufotes , thereby giving priority to the latter. However, Dubois and Bour (2010) listed these nomina as subgenera rather than genera, based on the presence of otherwise intergeneric hybridization and the restricted sampling size of prior studies focussing on the Bufonidae . According to the results presented herein which comprise a dense sampling of bufonid members ( Fig. 6 ), most genera currently recognized by Frost (2013) represent well-supported monophyletic units (see also Van Bocxlaer et al. 2010). We herein follow this taxonomy, while as a result treat the main bufonid clades inhabiting the Western Palaearctic and Central Asia as genera. Additionally, we note that recognition of these genera is supported by all priority Taxon Naming Criteria (TNC; Vences et al. 2013), i.e. Monophyly, Clade Stability and Phenotypic Diagnosability, see e.g. Boulenger (1881 "1880", 1897); Gallix (2002); Guillon et al. (2004); Frost et al. (2006); Delfino et al. (2009); Van Bocxlaer et al. (2009, 2010); Pyron and Wiens (2011); current study.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Time-calibrated tree showing the radiation of the family Bufonidae and the most likely phylogenetic position of Barbarophryne gen. nov. The dots represent nodes with posterior probabilities (pp) greater than 0.8. The colors, from blue to red, order the nodes from lower to high support.