A Molecular Phylogeny of Genus Rhacophorus (Anuran: Rhacophoridae) in Sarawak

• Main Author: Siti Khairiah, Khamis
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2014
• Subjects: QL Zoology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32434/1/Siti%20Khairiah%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32434/

The position and taxonomy of some genera and species of Rhacophoridae have been controversial. The phylogenetic relationships among species of genus Rhacophorus in this study were inferred based on sequence from mitochondrial ribosomal 16S gene. The phylogenetic trees of 14 Bornean species of genus Rhacophorus including Kurixalus appendiculatus whose previously grouped in genus Rhacophorus was reconstructed. Polypedates otilophus was used as an outgroup. A total 513 bp of mitochondrial ribosomal of partial 16S gene from I 6 samples were analysed using molecular technique approach (DNA extraction, PCR amplification and direct sequencing). The mitochondrial ribosomal 16S gene was able to infer the phylogenetic relationships of species within genus Rhacophorus despite the taxonomical status of some species within this genus were still ambiguous. There are several species within this genus that are still insufficiently resolved as stated by previous study. The phylogenetic relationships of this study were analysed using Maximum likelihood (ML), Maximum parsimony (MP) and Neighbour-joining (NJ) tree. From this study, genus Rhacophorus form two major clades and the exclusion of Kurixalus appendiculatus from genus Rhacophorus able to form monophyly group of this genus. The pairwise genetic distance among species were calculated using Kimura 2-parameter model.