Discovery of a Pelophylax saharicus (Anura, Ranidae) population in Southern France: a new potentially invasive species of water frogs in Europe
In: Amphibia-ReptiliaAbstract
We report the discovery of a population of the exotic North African Water Frog Pelophylax saharicus around the Etang de Berre, on the Mediterranean coast of France, about 25 km north-west of Marseille. The animals had been originally identified as P. perezi or P. kl. grafi by a combination of acoustic and morphological characters and their true identity was not revealed until three samples from one locality were included in a large-scale genomic work dedicated to the genus Pelophylax. Mitochondrial barcoding of the samples from other areas around Etang de Berre did not detect any native P. perezi or P. kl. grafi and confirmed that P. saharicus has spread to several localities, does reproduce and has been present since 2011 at least. We suggest that dedicated field work is needed as soon as possible to (i) map the extant of P. saharicus’s distribution around the Etang de Berre, (ii) establish if populations of the native P. perezi – kl. grafi system still persist around the Etang de Berre or not and (iii) check if P. saharicus has spread to neighboring areas or not. Depending on the answers to these three questions, local conservationists will need to evaluate the feasibility and relevance of any action to control the spread of this new invasive species and attempt to eradicate it.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Arano, B., Llorente, G.A., Montori, A., Buckley, D., Herrero, P. (1998): Diversification in north-west African water frogs: molecular and morphological evidence. Herpetological Journal 8: 57-64.
-
Barreiros, J.P., Elias, R.B., Lourenço, J., Dias, E., Borges, P. (2010): First records of Tarentola mauritanica (Linnaeus, 1758) (Reptilia; Gekkonidae) in the Azores. Arquipelago: Life and Marine Sciences 27: 73-75.
-
Bax, N., Williamson, A., Aguero, M., Gonzalez, E., Geeves, W. (2003): Marine invasive alien species: a threat to global biodiversity. Marine Policy 27: 313-323.
-
Beukema, W., De Pous, P., Donaire-Barroso, D., Bogaerts, S., Garcia-Porta, J., Escoriza, D., Arribas, O.J., El Mouden, E.H., Carranza, S. (2013): Review of the systematics, distribution, biogeography and natural history of Moroccan amphibians. Zootaxa 3661 (1): 1-60.
-
Bouckaert, R., Vaughan, T.G., Barido-Sottani, J., Duchêne, S., Fourment, M., Gavryushkina, A., Heled, J., Jones, G., Kühnert, D., De Maio, N., Matschiner, M., Mendes, F.K., Müller, N.F., Ogilvie, H.A., du Plessis, L., Popinga, A., Rambaut, A., Rasmussen, D., Siveroni, I., Suchard, M.A., Wu, C.-H., Xie, D., Zhang, C., Stadler, T., Drummond, A.J. (2019): BEAST 2.5: an advanced software platform for Bayesian evolutionary analysis. PLoS Comput. Biol. 15.
-
Brelsford, A., Dufresnes, C., Perrin, N. (2016): High-density sex-specific linkage maps of a European tree frog (Hyla arborea) identify the sex chromosome without information on offspring sex. Heredity 116: 177-181.
-
Buckley, D., Arano, B., Herrero, P., Llorente, G.A., Esteban, M. (1994): Moroccan water frogs vs R. perezi: allozyme studies show up their differences. Zool. Pol. 39: 377-385.
-
Carranza, S., Arnold, E.N., Wade, E., Fahd, S. (2004): Phylogeography of the false smooth snakes, Macroprotodon (Serpentes, Colubridae): mitochondrial DNA sequences show European populations arrived recently from Northwest Africa. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 33: 523-532.
-
Carranza, S., Arnold, E.N., Pleguezuelos, J.M. (2006): Phylogeny, biogeography, and evolution of two Mediterranean snakes, Malpolon monspessulanus and Hemorrhois hippocrepis (Squamata, Colubridae), using mtDNA sequences. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 40: 532-546.
-
Catchen, J., Hohenlohe, P.A., Bassham, S., Amores, A., Cresko, W.A. (2013): Stacks: an analysis tool set for population genomics. Mol. Ecol. 22: 3124-3140.
-
Clavero, M., Garcia-Berthou, E. (2005): Invasive species are a leading cause of animal extinctions. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20: 110.
-
Delaugerre, M.J., Holthof, J. (2014): The nursery trade: a stowaway gecko for a no return trip outside its natural range. Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp. 25: 63-66.
-
Domeneghetti, D., Bruni, G., Fasola, M., Bellati, A. (2013): Discovery of alien water frogs (gen. Pelophylax) in Umbria, with first report of P. shqipericus for Italy. Acta Herpetologica 8: 171-176.
-
Dubey, S., Leuenberger, J., Perrin, N. (2014): Multiple origins of invasive and ‘native’water frogs (Pelophylax spp.) in Switzerland. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 112 (3): 442-449.
-
Dufresnes, C., Denoël, M., Di Santo, L., Dubey, S. (2017): Multiple uprising invasions of Pelophylax water frogs, potentially inducing a new hybridogenetic complex. Scientific reports 7 (1): 1-10.
-
Dufresnes, C., Leuenberger, J., Amrhein, V., Bühler, C., Thiébaud, J., Bohnenstengel, T., Dubey, S. (2018): Invasion genetics of Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus sensu lato) in Switzerland. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 123 (2): 402-410.
-
Dufresnes, C., Alard, B. (2020): An odyssey out of Africa: an integrative review of past and present invasions by the Mediterranean tree frog (Hyla meridionalis). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 131: 274-290.
-
Dufresnes, C., Dubey, S. (2020): Invasion genomics supports an old hybrid swarm of pool frogs in Western Europe. Biol. Invasions 22: 205-210.
-
Dufresnes, C., Mazepa, G. (2020): Hybridogenesis in water frogs. eLS 1: 718-726.
-
Duncan, R.P. (1997): The role of competition and introduction effort in the success of passeriform birds introduced to New Zealand. Am. Nat. 149: 903-915.
-
Escoriza, D., Hassine, J.B. (2019): Amphibians of North Africa. Academic Press.
-
Francesca, Z., Roberta, C., Giuseppe, N. (2006): Genetic relationships of the western Mediterranean painted frogs based on allozymes and mitochondrial markers: evolutionary and taxonomic inferences (Amphibia, Anura, Discoglossidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc 87: 515-536.
-
Galan, P. (2020): Nueva introducción de Podarcis muralis en Galicia, en una zona ya invadida por Tarentola mauritanica: el transporte de madera como vehículo de especies invasoras. Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp. 31: 82-85.
-
Gurevitch, J., Padilla, D.K. (2004): Are invasive species a major cause of extinctions? Trends Ecol. Evol. 19: 470-474.
-
Harris, D.J., Batista, V., Carretero, M.A. (2003): Diversity of 12S mitochondrial DNA sequences in Iberian and North-west African water frogs across predicted geographic barriers. Herpetozoa 16: 81-83.
-
Holsbeek, G., Mergeay, J., Hotz, H., Plötner, J., Volckaert, F.A.M., De Meester, L. (2008): A cryptic invasion within an invasion and widespread introgression in the European water frog complex: consequences of uncontrolled commercial trade and weak international legislation. Mol. Ecol. 17: 5023-5035.
-
Holsbeek, G., Jooris, R. (2010): Potential impact of genome exclusion by alien species in the hybridogenetic water frogs (Pelophylax esculentus complex). Biol. Invasions 12: 1-13.
-
Holsbeek, G., Mergeay, J., Volckaert, F.A.M., De Meester, L. (2010): Genetic detection of multiple exotic water frog species in Belgium illustrates the need for monitoring and immediate action. Biol. invasions 12 (6): 1459-1463.
-
Huelsenbeek, J.P., Ronquist, F. (2001): MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics 17: 754-755.
-
INSEE (2020): https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2121524. Accessed 08/2020.
-
Kumar, S., Stecher, G., Li, M., Knyaz, C., Tamura, K. (2018): MEGA X: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis across computing platforms. Mol. Biol. Evol. 35: 1547-1549.
-
Lawson, D.J., Hellenthal, G., Myers, S., Falush, D. (2012): Inference of population structure using dense haplotype data. PloS Genet 8.
-
Leuenberger, J., Gander, A., Schmidt, B.R., Perrin, N. (2014): Are invasive Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) replacing the native P. lessonae/P. esculentus hybridogenetic complex in Western Europe? Genetic evidence from a field study. Conserv. Genet. 15: 869-878.
-
Litvinchuk, S.N., Ivanov, A.Yu., Lukonina, S.A., Ermakov, O.A. (2020): A record of alien Pelophylax species and widespread mitochondrial DNA transfer in Kaliningradskaya Oblast’ (the Baltic coast, Russia). BioInvasions Records 9: 599-617.
-
Luquet, E., Vorburger, C., Hervant, F., Joly, P., Kaufman, B., Schmeller, D.S., Léna, J.P., Grolet, O., Konecny, L., Plénet, S. (2011): Invasiveness of an introduced species: the role of hybridization and ecological constraints. Biol. Invasions 13: 1901-1915.
-
Mačát, Z., Starcová, M., Cervenka, J., Jablonski, D., Šandera, M. (2014): A molecular assessment and first record of Tarentola mauritanica (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) on Corfu, Greece. Salamandra 50: 172-176.
-
Malinsky, M., Trucchi, E., Lawson, D.J., Falush, D. (2018): RADpainter and fineRADstructure: population inference from RADseq data. Mol. Biol. Evol. 35: 1284-1290.
-
Malkmus, R. (1995): Verbreitung und Biotopwahl von Rana perezi auf den Azoren, Madeira und den Kanaren. Spektrum 5: 77-80.
-
Manchester, S.J., Bullock, J.M. (2000): The impacts of non-native species on UK biodiversity and the effectiveness of control. J. Appl. Ecol. 7: 845-864.
-
Marchesi, P., Fournier, J., Rey, A. (1999): Etat des populations de “grenouilles vertes” Rana lessonae, Rana kl. esculenta du Bois de Finges (Salquenen, VS). Bulletin de la Murithienne 117: 13-22.
-
Mateo, J.A. (2015): La rana norteafricana (Pelophylax saharicus) en las islas Canarias. Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp. 26: 27-28.
-
Nentwig, W. (2008): Biological invasions: why it matters. In: Biol. Invasions. Ecological Studies (Analysis and Synthesis), Vol. 193. Nentwig, W., Ed., Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
-
Pagano, A., Dubois, A., Lesbarreres, D., Lodé, T. (2003): Frog alien species: a way for genetic invasion? C. R. Biol. 326: 85-92.
-
Palacios, C., Du Preez, L., Verneau, O., Urrutia, C., Knapp, N. (2015): Demographic structure and genetic diversity of Mauremys leprosa in its northern range reveal new populations and a mixed origin. Salamandra 51: 221-230.
-
Phillips, B.L., Brown, G.P., Greenlees, M., Webb, J.K., Shine, R. (2007): Rapid expansion of the cane toad (Bufo marinus) invasion front in tropical Australia. Austral Ecology 32: 169-176.
-
Pimentel, D., Lach, L., Zuniga, R., Morrison, D. (2000): Environmental and Economic Costs of Nonindigenous Species in the United States. BioScience 50: 53-65.
-
Plötner, J. (1998): Genetic diversity in mitochondrial 12S rDNA of western Palearctic water frogs (Anura, Ranidae) and implications for their systematics. J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 36: 191-201.
-
Plötner, J., Ohst, T. (2001): New hypotheses on the systematics of the western Palearctic water frog complex (Anura, Ranidae). Zoosyst. Evol. 77: 5-21.
-
Plötner, J., Baier, F., Akin, C., Mazepa, G., Schreiber, R., Beerli, P., Litvinchuck, S.N., Bilgin, C.C., Borkin, L., Uzzel, T. (2012): Genetic data reveal that water frogs of Cyprus (genus Pelophylax) are an endemic species of Messinian origin. Zoosyst. Evol. 88: 261-283.
-
Pritchard, J.K., Stephens, M., Donnelly, P. (2000): Inference of population structure using multilocus genotype data. Genetics 155: 945-959.
-
Privé, F., Luu, K., Vilhjálmsson, B.J., Blum, M.G. (2020): Performing highly efficient genome scans for local adaptation with R package pcadapt version 4. Mol. Biol. Evol. 37: 2153-2154.
-
Quilodrßn, C.S., Montoya-Burgos, J.I., Currat, M. (2015): Modelling interspecific hybridization with genome exclusion to identify conservation actions: the case of native and invasive Pelophylax waterfrogs. Evolutionary Applications 8 (2): 199-210.
-
Reardon, J.T., Kraus, F., Moore, M., Rabenantenaina, L., Rbinivo, A., Rakotoarisoa, N.H., Randrianasolo, H.H. (2018): Testing tools for eradicating the invasive toad Duttaphrynus melanostictusin Madagascar. Conservation Evidence 15: 12-19.
-
Recuero, E., Iraola, A., Rubio, X., Machordom, A., García-París, M. (2007): Mitochondrial differentiation and biogeography of Hyla meridionalis (Anura: Hylidae): an unusual phylogeographical pattern. J. Biogeogr. 34: 1207-1219.
-
Richter-Boix, A., Garriga, N., Montori, A., Franch, M., San Sebastian, O., Villero, D., Llorente, G.A. (2013): Effects of the non-native amphibian species Discoglossus pictus on the recipient amphibian community: niche overlap, competition and community organization. Biol. Invasions 15: 799-815.
-
Sakai, A.K., Allendorf, F.W., Holt, J.S., Lodge, D.M., Molofsky, J., With, K.A., Baughman, S., Cabin, R.J., Cohen, J.E., Ellstrand, N.C., McCauley, D.E., O’Neil, P., Parker, I.M., Thompson, J.N., Weller, S.G. (2001): The population biology of invasive species. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 32: 305-332.
-
San Mauro, D., García-París, M., Zardoya, R. (2004): Phylogenetic relationships of discoglossid frogs (Amphibia: Anura: Discoglossidae) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear genes. Gene 343: 357-366.
-
Schloegel, L.M., Picco, A.M., Kilpatrick, A.M., Davies, A.J., Hyatt, A.D., Daszak, P. (2009): Magnitude of the US trade in amphibians and presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and ranavirus infection in imported North American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). Biol. Conserv. 142: 1420-1426.
-
Schloegel, L.M., Toledo, L.F., Longcore, J.E., Greenspan, S.E., Vieira, C.A., Lee, M., Zhao, S., Wangen, C., Ferreira, C.M., Hipolito, M., Davies, A.J., Cuomo, C.A., Daszak, P., James, T.Y. (2012): Novel, panzootic and hybrid genotypes of amphibian chytridiomycosis associated with the bullfrog trade. Mol. Ecol. 21: 5162-5177.
-
Schmeller, D.S., Seitz, A., Crivelli, A., Veith, M. (2005): Crossing species’ range borders: interspecies gene exchange mediated by hybridogenesis. Proc Roy. Soc. Biol. Sci. B 272: 625-1631.
-
Schmeller, D.S., Pagano, A., Plénet, S., Veith, M. (2007): Introducing water frogs – is there a risk for indigenous species in France? C. R. Biol. 330 (9): 684-690.
-
Schneider, H., Steinwarz, D. (1990): Mating call and territorial calls of the Spanish lake frog, Rana perezi (Ranidae, Amphibia). Zool. Anz. 225: 265-277.
-
Silva-Rocha, I., Sá-Sousa, P., Fariña, B., Carretero, M.A. (2016): Molecular analysis confirms Madeira as source for insular and continental introduced populations of Teira dugesii (Sauria: Lacertidae). Salamandra 52: 269-272.
-
Speybroeck, J., Beukema, W., Dufresnes, C., Fritz, U., Jablonski, D., Lymberakis, P., Martínez-Solano, I., Razzetti, E., Vamberger, M., Vences, M., Vörös, J., Crochet, P.-A. (2020): Species list of the European herpetofauna - update by the taxonomic committee of the societas europaea herpetologica. Amphibia-Reptilia 41: 139-189.
-
Spilani, L., Strachinis, I., Lampropoulos, A., Tsigas, P., Poulakakis, N., Pafilis, P. (2018): Podarcis vaucheri (Sauria: Lacertidae) far away from home: a new invasive species in Greece. Amphibia-Reptilia 39: 363-368.
-
Steinwarz, D., Schneider, H. (1991): Distribution and bioacoustic of Rana perezi Seoane, 1885 (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae) in Tunisia. Bonn. zool. Beitr. 42: 283-297.
-
Toews, D.P., Brelsford, A. (2012): The biogeography of mitochondrial and nuclear discordance in animals. Mol. Ecol. 21 (16): 3907-3930.
-
UICN France, MNHN, SHF (2015): La Liste rouge des espèces menacées en France – Chapitre Reptiles et Amphibiens de France métropolitaine. Paris, France.
-
Uzzell, T. (1982): Imunological relationship of Western Palearctic water frogs (Salienta: Ranidae). Amphibia-Reptilia 3: 135-143.
-
Veltman, C.J., Nee, S., Crawley, M.J. (1996): Correlates of introduction success in exotic New Zealand birds. Am. Nat. 147: 542-557.
-
Vorburger, C., Ribi, G. (1999): Aggression and competition for shelter between a native and an introduced crayfish in Europe. Freshwater Biol. 42: 111-119.
-
Westphal, M.I., Browne, M., MacKinnon, K., Noble, I. (2008): The link between international trade and the global distribution of invasive alien species. Biol. Invasions 10: 391-398.
-
Wilcove, D., Rothstein, D., Dubow, J., Phillips, A., Losos, E. (1998): Quantifying threats to imperiled species in the United States. BioScience 48: 607-615.
-
Williamson, M., Fitter, A. (1996): The varying success of invaders. Ecology 77: 1661-1666.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 830 | 261 | 18 |
| Full Text Views | 43 | 8 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 71 | 16 | 4 |
Discovery of a Pelophylax saharicus (Anura, Ranidae) population in Southern France: a new potentially invasive species of water frogs in Europe
In: Amphibia-ReptiliaAbstract
We report the discovery of a population of the exotic North African Water Frog Pelophylax saharicus around the Etang de Berre, on the Mediterranean coast of France, about 25 km north-west of Marseille. The animals had been originally identified as P. perezi or P. kl. grafi by a combination of acoustic and morphological characters and their true identity was not revealed until three samples from one locality were included in a large-scale genomic work dedicated to the genus Pelophylax. Mitochondrial barcoding of the samples from other areas around Etang de Berre did not detect any native P. perezi or P. kl. grafi and confirmed that P. saharicus has spread to several localities, does reproduce and has been present since 2011 at least. We suggest that dedicated field work is needed as soon as possible to (i) map the extant of P. saharicus’s distribution around the Etang de Berre, (ii) establish if populations of the native P. perezi – kl. grafi system still persist around the Etang de Berre or not and (iii) check if P. saharicus has spread to neighboring areas or not. Depending on the answers to these three questions, local conservationists will need to evaluate the feasibility and relevance of any action to control the spread of this new invasive species and attempt to eradicate it.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 830 | 261 | 18 |
| Full Text Views | 43 | 8 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 71 | 16 | 4 |