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".

English Names

Arabian Tree Frog (original publication).

Distribution

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

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 savignyiStöck, 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. 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.    

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