Meeting Abstract
The island of Java, Indonesia lies within the Sunda Shelf, one of the most biodiverse regions of earth. Currently, accurate estimates of alpha and beta diversity are lacking. This is exemplified by the frogs in the genus Philautus, which are small, polymorphic, and easily overlooked. They occur in isolated populations at high elevations in undisturbed habitat. These populations tend to be widely separated by expanses of inhospitable lowlands. In such a situation, one would expect high levels of diversity. However, excluding two invalid and one extinct species, just a single widespread species is thought to occur on the island. In other regions where they have been studied, Philautus has proven to be a highly diverse genus. It is likely that this will be the case on Java as well. Our preliminary results reveal considerable genetic variation between populations of Philautus on Java, suggesting higher levels of biodiversity than are currently recognized. We are building on this preliminary assessment by using the entire mitochondrial genome to further examine the diversity, distribution, and phylogeographic relationships of this group of frogs.
