Documenting the first ocurrence of Feihyla baladika (Anura, Rhacoporidae) in East Java: ecology, genetics, and habitat suitability

M. A. Rijalullah; N. Khanifan; M. F. Assiddiqy; Anandhika M.S.P.  Soeprijadi; M. Fathoni; A. Nurrofik; N. Kurniawan; L. Septiadi

doi:10.15407/zoo2026.03.225

M. A. Rijalullah Department of Faculty of Sciences, Technology and Mathematics, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2136-2698
N. Khanifan Department of Faculty of Sciences, Technology and Mathematics, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9983-8036
M. F. Assiddiqy Department of Faculty of Sciences, Technology and Mathematics, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0155-9207
Anandhika M.S.P. Soeprijadi Independent Researcher, Madiun, East Java, Indonesia
M. Fathoni Manusela National Park, Ministry of Forestry - Republic of Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6500-9995
A. Nurrofik Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1166-0667
N. Kurniawan deceased
L. Septiadi Wildlife Conservation Society – Indonesia Program, Bogor, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5195-5550

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2026.03.225

Keywords: Amphibian, Indonesia, Phylogeny, species distribution model

Abstract

Previously, Feihyla baladika (Riyanto and Kurniati, 2014) was known exclusively from Sumatra, Indonesia. This study reports a new record of this species from the eastern region of Java Island, within a lowland tropical rainforest close to Pantai Kondang Merak. Due to the absence of other findings in Java and some morphological differences along with a genetic distance of 2–3%, we cautiously refer to the specimens as F. cf. baladika. Species distribution modeling using MaxEnt suggests that F. baladika may potentially occur in Sumatra, Java, and Bali, in areas characterized by relatively low precipitation during the wettest month, forest cover, and low temperature seasonality.

References

Aowphol, A., Rujirawan A., Taksintum W., Arsirapot S. & McLeod, D. S. 2013. Re-evaluating the taxonomic status of Chiromantis in Thailand using multiple lines of evidence (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae). Zootaxa, 3702 (2), 101-123.

https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3702.2.1

Biju, S. D., Garg, S., Gokulakrishnan, G., Chandrakasan, S., Thammachoti, P., Ren, J., Gopika, C., Bisht, K., Hamidy, A. & Shouche, Y. 2020. New insights on the systematics and reproductive behaviour in tree frogs of the genus Feihyla, with description of a new related genus from Asia (Anura, Rhacophoridae). Zootaxa, 4878 (1), 1-55.

https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4878.1.1

Bispo, R. & Marques, F. 2023. Stability of principal components under normal and non-normal parent populations and different covariance structures scenarios. Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 93 (7), 1060-1076.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00949655.2022.2125971

Chan, K. O. & Grismer, L. L. 2022. GroupStruct: An R Package for Allometric Size Correction. Zootaxa, 5124 (4), 471-482.

https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5124.4.4

Chan, K. O., Grismer, L. L., Brown, R. M. 2018. Comprehensive multi-locus phylogeny of Old World tree frogs (Anura, Rhacophoridae) reveals taxonomic uncertainties and potential cases of over- and underesti-mation of species diversity. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 127, 1010-1019.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.07.005

Chan, K. O., Hutter, C.R., Wood, Jr. P. L., Grismer, L. L. & Brown, R. M. 2020. Target-capture phylogenomics provide insights on gene and species tree discordances in Old World treefrogs (Anura: Rhacophoridae). Proceedings of The Royal Society, 287 (1940), 1-9.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2102

Chen, J. M., Prendini, E., Wu, Y. H., Zhang, B. L., Suwannapoom, C., Chen, H. M., Jin, J. Q., Lemmon, E. M., Lemmon, A. R., Stuart, B. L., Raxworthy, C. J., Murphy, R. W., Yuan, Z. Y. & Che, J. 2020. An integrative phylogenomic approach illuminates the evolutionary history of Old World tree frogs (Anura: Rhacophoridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 145, 106724.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106724

Didan, K. (2021). MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 250m SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. Accessed on 15 June 2025.

Elith, J. & Graham, C. H. 2009. Do they? How do they? Why do they differ? On finding reasons for differing performances of species distribution models. Ecography, 32, 66-77.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2008.05505.x

Farr, T. G., Rosen, P. A., Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M., Rodriguez, E., Roth, L., Seal, D., Shaffer, S., Shimada, J., Umland, J., Werner, M., Oskin, M., Burbank, D. & Alsdorf, D. E. 2007. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Reviews of Geophysics, 45 (2).

https://doi.org/10.1029/2005RG000183

Fick, S. E. & Hijmans, R. J. 2017. WorldClim 2: new 1km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology, 37 (12), 4302-4315.

https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.5086

Fois, M., Fenu, G., Cuena Lombraña, A., Cogoni, D. & Bacchetta, G. 2015. A practical method to speed up the discovery of unknown populations using species distribution models. Journal for Nature Conservation, 24, 42-48.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2015.02.001

Frost, D. R. 2015. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 (14 January 2016). New York, USA. Available at: http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html. Accessed on 31 May 2025.

Frost, D. R. 2024. Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. Version 6.2. Electronic Database. American Museum of Natural History, New York. https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/. Accessed on 31 May 2025.

Frost, D. R., Grant, T., Faivovich, J. N., Bain, R. H., Haas, A., Haddad, C. F. B., De Sá, R., Channing, A., Wilkinson, M., Donnellan, S. C., Raxworthy, C. J., Camp-bell, J. A., Blotto, B. L., Moler, P., Drewes, R. C., Nussbaum, R. A., Lynch, J. D., Green, D. M., & Wheler, R. C. 2006. The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2006 (297), 1-291.

https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2

Grosjean, S., Delorme, M., Dubois, A. & Ohler, A. 2008. Evolution of reproduction in the Rhacophoridae (Amphibia, Anura). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 46 (2), 169-176.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0469.2007.00451.x

Hanifa, B. F., Septiadi, L., Hasyim, M. A., Fathoni, M., Prabasari, K., Erfanda, M. P., Rahmadana, M., Widjanarko, H. & Kurniawan, N. 2023. New data on and the easternmost record of the Javan endemic Pearly Tree Frog, Nyctixalus margaritifer Boulenger, 1882 (Anura, Rhacophoridae). Check List, 19 (6), 971-982.

https://doi.org/10.15560/19.6.971

Hansen, M. C., Potapov, P. V., Moore, R., Hancher, M., Turubanova, S. A., Tyukavina, A., Thau, D., Stehman, S. V., Goetz, S. J., Loveland, T. R., Kommareddy, A., Egorov, A., Chini, L., Justice, C. O. & Townshend, J. R. G. 2013. High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change. Science, 342 (6160), 850-853. . Data available on-line from: https://glad.earthengine.app/view/global-forest-change.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1244693

Haryadi, F. T., Andarwati, S. 2019. The roles of religion in participatory development communication in the environmental issues in Indonesia. J Agric Environ Int Dev (JAEID), 113 (2), 171-180.

Hijmans, R. 2025. terra: Spatial Data Analysis. R package version 1.8-29. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=terra. Accessed on 15 June 2025.

IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. 2018. Chiromantis baladika. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T89187134A95509827. Accessed on 06 June 2025.

Kadafi, A. M., Fathoni, M., Fauzi, M. A., Firmansyah, R., Priambodo, B. & Kurniawan, N. 2019. Study of species richness and structure community of herpetofauna on Kondang Merak Forest, Malang, Indonesia. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Advanced Molecular Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering (ICAMBBE 2019), SCITEPRESS, (89-95).

https://doi.org/10.5220/0009586100890095

Kramer-Schadt, S., Niedballa, J., Pilgrim, J. D., Schröder, B., Lindenborn, J., Reinfelder, V., Stillfried, M., Heckmann, I., Scharf, A. K., Augeri, D. M., Cheyne, S. M., Hearn, A. J., Ross, J., Macdonald, D. W., Mathai, J., Eaton, J., Marshall, A. J., Semiadi, G., Rustam, R., Bernard, H., Alfred, R., Samejima, H., Duckworth, J. W., Breitenmoser-Wuersten, C., Belant, J. L., Hofer, H. & Wilting, A. 2013. The importance of correcting for sampling bias in MaxEnt species distribution models. Diversity and Distributions, 19, 1366-1379.

https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12096

Kumar, S., Stecher, G. & Tamura, K. 2016. MEGA7: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Version 7.0 for Bigger Datasets. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33 (7), 1870-1874.

https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw054

Kurniawan, N., Fathoni, M., Assiddiqy, M. F., Septiadi, L., Rijalullah, M. A. 2024. Habitat suitability modelling of Rhacophorus reinwardtii (Schlegel, 1840) in Java, with notes on habitat characteristics from Malang Region-East Java. Journal of Tropical Biodiversity and Biotechnology, 9 (2), 1-16.

https://doi.org/10.22146/jtbb.84459

Kurniawan, N., Kadafi, A. M., Fathoni, M., Firmansyah, R., Prabasari, K. & Fauzi, M. A. 2023. A new distribution record of Polypedates pseudotilophus (Anura: Rhacoporidae) from East Java, based on morphology and molecular evidence. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 30 (3), 167-174.

https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2023-30-3-167-174

Li, J. T., Che, J., Bain, R. H., Zhao, E. M. & Zhang, Y. P. 2008. Molecular phylogeny of Rhacophoridae (Anura): A framework of taxonomic reassignment of species within the genera Aquixalus, Chiromantis, Rhacophorus, and Philautus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 48 (1), 302-312.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2008.03.023

Liu, X. L., Huang, J. K., Stuart, B. L., Ai, R. D., Bernstein, J. M., Suwannapoom, C., Chomdej, S., Che, J. & Yuan, Z. Y. 2023. Taxonomic revision of genus Rohanixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) in China with description of one new species. Zoological Research, 44 (6), 1146-1151.

Lohman, D. J., de Bruyn, M., Page, T., von Rintelen, K., Hall, R., Ng, P. K. L., Shih, H.-T., Carvalho, G. R., & von Rintelen, T. 2011. Indo-Australian biogeography in the Sunda Arc. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 42, 205-226.

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102710-145001

Naimi, B., Hamm, N. A. S., Groen, T. A., Skidmore, A. K. & Toxopeus, A. G. 2014. Where is positional uncertainty a problem for species distribution modelling?. Ecography, 37, 191-203.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00205.x

Phillips, S. J. 2017. A Brief Tutorial on Maxent. http://biodiversityinformatics.amnh.org/open_source/maxent/. Accessed on 15 June 2025.

Phillips, S. J., Anderson, R. P. & Schapire, R. E. 2006. Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions. Ecological Modelling, 190 (3-4), 231-259.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.03.026

Posada, D. 2008. jModelTest: Phylogenetic Model Averaging. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 25 (7), 1253-1256.

https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msn083

Prasetyo, L. B., Kartodihardjo, H., Adiwibowo, S., Okarda, B. & Setiawan, Y. 2009. Journal of Integrated Field Science, 6, 37-44

Rambaut, A. 2009. Molecular evolution, phylogenetics and epidemiology: FigTree. World Wide Web electronic publication. 7 (2018), 396-412. http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/figtree

Rebelo, H. & Jones, G. 2010. Ground validation of presence-only modelling with rare species: a case study on barbastelles Barbastella barbastellus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Journal of Applied Ecology, 47, 410-420.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01765.x

Rinnhofer, L. J., Roura-Pascual, N., Arthofer, W., Dejaco, T., Thaler-Knoflach, B., Wachter, G. A., Christian, E., Steiner, F. M. & Schlick-Steiner, B. C. 2012. Iterative species distribution modelling and ground validation in endemism research: an Alpine jumping bristletail example. Biodiversity and Conservation, 21, 2845-2863.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0341-z

Riyanto, A. & Kurniati, H. 2014. Three new species of Chiromantis Peters 1854 (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from Indonesia. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 21 (1), 65-73. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26121638

Ronquist, F. & Huelsenbeck, J. P. 2003. MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics, 19 (12), 1572-1574.

https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btg180

Searcy, C. A. & Shaffer, H. B. 2014. Field validation supports novel niche modeling strategies in a cryptic endangered amphibian. Ecography, 37, 983-992.

https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.00733

Swofford, D. L. 2002. PAUP*. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods). Ver. 4, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland

Trifinopoulos, J., Nguyen, L. T., von Haeseler, A. & Minh, B. Q. 2016. W-IQ-TREE: a fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis. Nucleic acids research, 44 (W1), W232-W235.

https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkw256

Wisz, M. S., Hijmans, R. J., Li, J., Peterson, A. T., Graham, C. H. & Guisan, A. 2008. Effects of sample size on the performance of species distribution models. Diversity and Distributions, 14, 763-773.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2008.00482.x

Yodthong, S., Siler, C. D., Prasankok, P. & Aowphol, A. 2014. Phylogenetic patterns of the Southeast Asian tree frog Chiromantis hansenae in Thailand. Asian Herpetological Research, 5 (3), 179-196.

https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1245.2014.00179

Zanaga, D. Van De Kerchove, R., Daems, D., De Keersmaecker, W., Brockmann, C., Kirches, G., Wevers, J., Cartus, O., Santoro, M., Fritz, S., Lesiv, M., Herold, M., Tsendbazar, N. E., Xu, P., Ramoino, F. & Arino, O. 2022. ESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200. Zenodo. 7254221. Accessed on 15 June 2025.

Zhang, P., Liang, D., Mao, R. L., Hillis D. M., Wake D. B., Cannatella D. C. 2013. Efficient sequencing of anuran mtDNAs and a mitogenomic exploration of the phylogeny and evolution of frogs. Mol Biol Evol, 30 (8), 1899-1915.

https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst091