RESEARCH ARTICLE Undiagnosed Cryptic Diversity in Small, Microendemic Frogs (Leptolalax) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Amajor obstacle in prioritizing species or habitats for conservation is the degree of un-recognized diversity hidden within complexes of morphologically similar, “cryptic ” species. Given that amphibians are one of the most threatened groups of organisms on the planet, our inability to diagnose their true diversity is likely to have significant conservation con-sequences. This is particularly true in areas undergoing rapid deforestation, such as Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asian genus Leptolalax is a group of small-bodied, morpho-logically conserved frogs that inhabit the forest-floor. We examined a particularly small-bodied and morphologically conserved subset, the Leptolalax applebyi group, using a com-bination of molecular, morphometric, and acoustic data to identify previously unknown di-versity within. In order to predict the geographic distribution of the group, estimate the effects of habitat loss and assess the degree of habitat protection, we used our locality data to perform ecological niche modelling using MaxEnt. Molecular (mtDNA and nuDNA), acoustic and subtle morphometric differences revealed a significant underestimation of di-versity in the L. applebyi group; at least two-thirds of the diversity may be unrecognised