Hyla felixarabica Gvoždík, Kotlík, and Moravec, 2010

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hylidae > Subfamily: Hylinae > Genus: Hyla > Species: Hyla felixarabica

Hyla felixarabica Gvoždík, Kotlík, and Moravec In Gvoždík, Moravec, Klütsch, and Kotlík, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 55: 1158. Holotype: NMPC 6V 72076/1, by original designation. Type locality: "15 km SW of Matnah, 15° 12′ N, 43° 59′ E, 2790 m a.s.l., Governorate Sana’a, Yemen".

Common Names

Arabian Tree Frog (original publication).

Distribution

Two allopatric and molecularly distinctive populations: 1) Highlands of Yemen (above 2000 m elevation) north to the Asir Mountains of southwestern Saudi Arabia, and 2) southwestern Syria, northeastern Israel, and the western highlands of Jordan.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen

Comment

Confused with Hyla savignyi prior to its naming according to the original publication. See comments by Werner, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 57: 955-956 who disputed the separation of the name Hyla savignyi from this population, and the response by Stöck, Dubey, Klütsch, Litvinchuk, Scheidt, and Perrin, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 57: 957-958, who rejected his argument. Li, Wang, Nian, Litvinchuk, Wang, Li, Rao, and Klaus, 2015, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 87: 80–90, suggested on molecular grounds that this species is in a tight monophyletic group with Hyla savignyi. Stöck, Dufresnes, Litvinchuk, Lymberakis, Biollay, Berroneau, Borzée, Ghali, Ogielska, and Perrin, 2012, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 65: 1–9, reported on the genetic diversity among populations of the Hyla arborea group and provided a dot map of the range, including this species. Al-Qahtani and Al-Johany, 2018, Saudi J. Biol. Sci., 25: 1380–1386, discussed (as Hyla savignyi) and mapped this species in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Dufresnes, Mazepa, Jablonski, Sadek, and Litvinchuk, 2019, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 128: 130–137, discussed the Dead Sea Rift as a biogeographic barrier involved in the separation of Hyla savignyi and Hyla felixarabica. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 59, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map (excluding Yemen), as well as a photograph. Dufresnes, Berroneau, Dubey, Litvinchuk, and Perrin, 2020, Sci. Rep. (Nature, London), 10 (5502): 1–10, discussed the genetics of the contact zones with Hyla savignyi. See Aidek, Jablonski, Dufresnes, Salimeh, and Omran, 2025, In Heatwole, Das, and King (eds.), Amphibian Biology. Volume 11, Part 8 (Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians: Eastern Hemisphere): 10–11, for photographs, distribution, and dot map for Syria. Gafny and Roll, 2025, In Heatwole, Das, and King (eds.), Amphibian Biology. Volume 11, Part 8 (Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians: Eastern Hemisphere): 57–94, reported on conservation status in Israel with photographs and dot maps. Gafny and Roll, 2025, In Heatwole, Das, and King (eds.), Amphibian Biology. Volume 11, Part 8 (Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians: Eastern Hemisphere): 57–94, reported on systematics and conservation status in Israel with photographs and dot maps. Böhme and Koppetsch, 2025, In Heatwole, Das, and King (eds.), Amphibian Biology. Volume 11, Part 8 (Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians: Eastern Hemisphere): 279–294, reported on natural history, systematics, distribution, advertisement call, and conservation in Yemen.

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