Alcalus Brown & Siler & Richards & Diesmos & Cannatella 2015, GEN. NOV.
Creators: name: Brown, Rafe M.
name: Siler, Cameron D.
name: Richards, Stephen J.
name: Diesmos, Arvin C.
name: Cannatella, David C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Ceratobatrachidae
Alcalus

description: ALCALUS GEN. NOV.   Type species   
 Micrixalus mariae Inger 1954.   
 Diagnosis   
 Members of the genus Alcalus can be distinguished from many members of the clade Anurajen (species of the genera Cornufer and Platymantis) by having (1) an intermediate body size (Al. baluensis: males 20– 25 mm Snout-Vent Length (SVL), females 26–31; Al. mariae: males 32–37 mm SVL, females 35–43); (2) a broad head (vs. slender to moderately broad); (3) a coarsely textured, shagreened, or ‘wrinkled’ skin appearance in all species (vs. smooth, tuberculate, or with longitudinal dorsolateral dermal ridges); (4) widely expanded, terminally squared, spatulate toe discs (vs. non- or minimally expanded, terminally rounded); (5) semi-aquatic microhabitat preferences (vs. preferences for terrestrial or arboreal microhabitats in most species); and by the (6) presence of nuptial pads in males (vs. absence); (7) absence of vocal sacs (vs. presence of median subgular vocal sacs); (8) absence of supernumerary tubercles on hand (vs. presence in most species); (9) presence of elongate subarticular tubercles (vs. presence, round); (10) absence of outer metatarsal tubercles on plantar surface of feet (vs. presence in most species); and (11) presence of extensive, usually full, interdigital webbing of the feet (vs. absence).   
 Phylogenetic definition   
 Alcalus (NCN) is a maximum crown-clade name that refers to the crown clade (C) originating in the last common ancestor of Al. mariae and all extant species that share a more recent common ancestor with Al. mariae than with Cornufer vitiensis or Platymantis corrugatus. It can also be conceived of as the largest crown clade containing Al. mariae, but not Co. vitiensis or Pl. corrugatus.   
 Content   
 Southeast Asian (Sunda Shelf and Palawan Island) species formerly placed in Ingerana (Table 3): Al. mariae, Al. baluensis, Al. rajae, and presumably Al. sariba (Shelford, 1905), which was not sampled (Table 3).   
 Comment   
 It is not surprising that the montane, semi-aquatic, Southeast Asian island archipelago species formerly referred to Ingerana comprise a monophyletic group, unrelated to the ecologically dissimilar and biogeographically disjunct mainland species of Ingerana (as presently understood, from Andaman Islands, Bhutan, China, north eastern India, Myanmar, and Nepal). Erection of a new genus to accommodate these taxa is undertaken here with reference to the phylogenetic placement of the type species of ‘true’ Ingerana (I. tenasserimensis), which in our phylogeny is more closely related (but with weak support) to the Dicroglossidae than to the Ceratobatrachidae (Fig. 2). The placement of Alcalus as the sister group of the clade Anurajen (containing genera Platymantis and Cornufer) has been confirmed elsewhere (Bossuyt et al., 2006; Frost et al., 2006; Wiens et al., 2009; Pyron & Wiens, 2011), although taxon sampling was not as extensive. The phylogenetic relationships and possible additional generic subdivision of the nonceratobatrachid (perhaps dicroglossid) species referred to Ingerana remain unstudied.   
 Etymology   
A masculine noun honouring our long-term collaborator, friend, and mentor Angel C. Alcala for his numerous contributions to the systematics, ecology, conservation, and developmental biology of Southeast Asian amphibians. Suggested common name: Alcala’s dwarf mountain frogs.
description: Published as part of Brown, Rafe M., Siler, Cameron D., Richards, Stephen J., Diesmos, Arvin C. & Cannatella, David C., 2015, Multilocus phylogeny and a new classification for Southeast Asian and Melanesian forest frogs (family Ceratobatrachidae), pp. 130-168 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 174 (1) on page 142, DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12232, http://zenodo.org/record/5337577