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Type: Articles
Published: 2011-03-30
Page range: 25–40
Abstract views: 111
PDF downloaded: 51

The Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) of the Langbian Plateau, southern Vietnam, with description of a new species

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 West Jones Street, Raleigh NC 27601, USA
Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia
University of Science-Ho Chi Minh City, Faculty of Biology, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
University of Science-Ho Chi Minh City, Faculty of Biology, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
University of Science-Ho Chi Minh City, Faculty of Biology, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Amphibia Langbian Plateau Leptobrachium pullum Vietnam

Abstract

We sampled two forms of Leptobrachium in syntopy at the type locality of L. pullum at upper elevations on the Langbian Plateau, southern Vietnam. The two forms differed in morphology (primarily in coloration), mitochondrial DNA, and male advertisement calls. One form closely agrees with the type series of L. pullum (but not to its original description due to error), and the other is described as new. Leptobrachium leucops sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by having small body size (males with SVL 38.8–45.2), the upper one-third to one-half of iris white, a blue scleral arc, a dark venter, and sexually active males without spines on the upper lip. Leptobrachium pullum and L. mouhoti, a recently described species from low-elevation slopes of the Langbian Plateau in eastern Cambodia, are morphologically divergent but genetically similar, warranting further investigation into geographic variation in the red-eyed Leptobrachium of southern Indochina.

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