Lumping or splitting in the Cophylinae (Anura: Microhylidae) and the need for a parsimony of taxonomic changes: A response to Peloso et al. (2017)

Peloso et al. (2016) published a phylogenomic study on the anuran family Microhylidae, in which they used sequences from previous work (e.g., van der Meijden et al. 2007, de Sá et al. 2012) together with newly generated DNA sequences of seven gene fragments for 142 microhylids, plus genomic data (66 loci) for a selection of 48 taxa. Although the study was mainly focussed on inter-subfamily relationships, they took taxonomic action at genus-level in three subfamilies (Asterophryinae, Cophylinae, and Microhylinae). In the Madagascar-endemic subfamily Cophylinae, they proposed to synonymise the genus Platy pelis Bou lenger, 1882 with Cophyla Boettger, 1880, and Stumpffia Boettger, 1881 with Rhombophryne Boettger, 1880, four genera with stable and separate nomenclature for the past 135 years.