Distribution and Isolation in the Anurans of the Ryukyu Islands

Abstract

Recent works on the anurans of the Ryukyu Islands provide much new informaitons on their taxonomy, distribution, ecology, karyology, and phylogeny. In the present paper the new knowledge is reviewed briefly, a revised distribution table is presented, and some problems on distribution and isolation are discussed. A remarkable discontinuity in anuran fauna is apparent between Okinawa and Yaeyama groups. It seems to reflect the past topography of the Islands. Most species are reproductively isolated from one another by differences in breeding ecologies, differences in body size, or genetic incompatibility, and these isolating factos can be present either singly or in combination.