Curreni ffcr/wlolo!;}' 20(2): 77-84, December 2001 

 © 2001 by I'he Herpelological Society of Japan 



Pliyloj^enelic RekUionships of a Chinese Froj», Rana :.hen<^i 

 /liao, 1999 Inlerred from MKochoiulrial Cvloclirome b 

 Gene Sequences ( Amphihia, Ranidae) 



Masai umi MATSUl,' ToMOKO TANAKA-UENO,' and ZHENCi-FA GAO- 



' (iri/dtn/ic School oj J/i/nn/n and ijiviroitniciilul Siiidics, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, 



Kyoto 6()6-S5()J, J A PAS 

 'Middle School oJ Depcndinii on Chemical Industrial Company of Sichuan, 

 Qingbaijiang Qu, Chengdu 610300, Sichuan. CHINA 



Ahslracf: In order (o assess pin lonenetic relalionsliips of a Chinese lro(;, 

 Haiiii zhciii;i /Inio, l')'>'>, (he se(|iienies ot 587 base pairs ol the niiloehon- 

 (Irial cytoclirome h i^ene are compared with six species of Japanese ili. furicii. 

 R. ornaliveniris, R. japotiica, R. okinavana, R. fa^oi, and R. fsii\hiinc/f,i\). 

 one species of Taiwanese iR. •^uiiicri), one species of Knssian Ui. iunuicii\i\) , 

 and Iv\o s|)ecies of European hrown froj^s (R. winporaria and R. daiituiiitun . 

 I he resiihani pli\ l()i;eiietie Iree snm;esls inonopin l> of //. :.fic/i',;i and Hu se 

 liidvsii lioLis. and Ihe earlicsl erueiice of R. :./icni;i ariioiiL; all llic iML;iiiii|) 

 speiicN e\ainiiu(l. Monoplnh of A'. .-/;t7/;,'/ and R. s(////(/ / \\ a^ rejecled. lor 

 Ihis reason, placenuiil of A', zhcitiii \Nilhin Ihe broNsn lroL;s of Ihe A', icrnpn- 

 riirid uronj) reciiiires further stiidv, and separalioii ol /v. zhcfiL^i and A'. \iiiiUTi 

 a distiiut ijemis or snbuenns I'wtidoniiht is not supported. 



Key woicfs; iiiouii Irog; C yioclii oiiic h; I'iis loyciis ; I'scuilorana; Rana 

 z/u'n,ui'y R. suuleri; C tiina 



1\ I K( ( I ION 



RiiNii zhcn<:i uas dcsci itH\l I mm /liaii;' 

 1.1111 \ ilLi'.'i.', llon;'\.i ( d., SkluMii l'io\- 

 iiKw ( hiiKi (/li.io. 1'^^)). Zhao (2()()0a) 

 i.onsuU-K\i I Ills spcvk's lo he lolalcti 



IIU'HiIh'Is ol ilk- 'k'lUls ll ^-1 ,ll., Ol 



sul\i',(.'niis (Dubois, I'scuilorana, 

 which Ilk likk s A', \autcri Uom Taiwan (I'ci 

 cl al., l''''iii 1 his speck's, liowc\oi, lias 



• Corresponding nuihor. Tcl'Fax: » 8I-7V 

 753-6846. 



E-mail address: rmui w /oo./oul.kyuio-u.ac.jp 

 (M. Mntsui) 



been proven lo include cryptic species 

 (( hou and I in, 1997) and is considered to 

 loi in a species complex ( l anaka-l'eno ei 

 al , l')^)Sa). In our previous study, wc 

 shoucd that two populations of R. saiileri 

 (sensu C hou and I in. 199'), while being 

 distant Ironi each other phylogenciically. 

 form sister groups with sonu* J.ipancNC 

 blown frogs, and that the genus or subge- 

 nus Pscudorana is invahd (Tnnaka-Ucno cl 

 al.. 199Sa). 



I roni these hncs of previous inrormniion. 

 R. zfienai might be a mcnibcr of ihc brown 

 frogs of il\c R. leniporttna group (lU^u- 

 lenger. I92i>i. but no s^ud^e^ have ever Inxn 



