Re-Examination of Larval Assignment of Meristogenys poecilus in Sarawak, Borneo, with a Diagnostic Table of Meristogenys Larvae

Abstract

Abstract: Larval morphology offers some of the more important characters for the taxonomy of Meristogenys, and larval information of almost all species has been reported for this genus. However, some larval assignments in previous studies were not based on reliable methods and should be reexamined using modern techniques. In this study, we used molecular methods to re-examine the larval assignments for M. poecilus, whose larvae had been assigned previously based on conventional morphological methods. The analysis revealed that the larvae of this species had been misidentified as M. phaeomerus, a sympatric species. Here we correct the erroneous assignment and briefly comment about the taxonomic status of M. phaeomerus and M. orphnocnemis, based on our results.