Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4300 No. 4: 4 Aug. 2017
Type: Article
Published: 2017-08-04
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4300.4.5
Page range: 551–570
Abstract views: 190
PDF downloaded: 4

A new species of the genus Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Guangxi, China

College of Forestry, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, Yunnan, China
The High School Affiliated to Yunnan Normal University in Yunnan, Kunming 650106, Yunnan, China
Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, Yunnan, China Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay pyi Taw 05282 Myanmar
Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William St, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 541004, China
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 541004, China
Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, Yunnan, China Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay pyi Taw 05282 Myanmar
Amphibia Leptolalax maoershanensis sp. nov. taxonomy Maoershan phylogeny

Abstract

We describe a new species of megophryid frog from Maoershan Nature Reserve in southern China. Leptolalax maoershanensis sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: medium size (SVL 25.2–30.4 mm in eight adult males and 29.1 mm in one adult female); head longer than wide; externally distinct tympanum; distinct black supratympanic line present; dorsal skin shagreened with small tubercles and longitudinal folds; distinct dark spots on the flank; creamy-white chest and belly with irregular black spots; grey-pinkish to dark brownish-violet ventral skin of limbs with numerous whitish speckles; distinct ventrolateral glands forming a white line; finger webbing and fringes absent; toe webbing rudimentary and lateral fringes narrow; longitudinal ridges indistinct under toes and not interrupted at the articulations; and a bicolored iris. The new species differs from all known congeners by an uncorrected p-distance of >6.6% at the 16S rRNA gene fragment examined, and phylogenetic analysis clusters the new species with L. laui and L. liui. At present, the new species is known from montane small bamboo forest in Maoershan Nature Reserve at about 1550 m elevation.

 

References

  1. Boulenger, G.A. (1900) Descriptions of new batrachians and reptiles from the Larut Hills, Perak. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 6, 186–194.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00222930008678356

    Darriba, D., Taboada, G.L., Doallo, R. & Posada, D. (2012) JModelTest 2: more models, new heuristics and parallel computing. Nature Methods, 9, 772.

    Das, I., Tron R, K.L., Rangad, D. & Hooroo, R.N. (2010) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from the sacred groves of Mawphlang, Meghalaya, north-eastern India. Zootaxa, 2339, 44–56.

    Dehling, J.M. (2012a) Eine neue Art der Gattung Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) vom Gunung Benom, Westmalaysia/A new species of the genus Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Gunung Benom, Peninsular Malaysia. Sauria, 34, 9–21.

    Dehling, J.M. (2012b) Redescription of Leptolalax gracilis (Günther, 1872) from Borneo and taxonomic status of two populations of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa, 3328, 20–34.

    Dehling, J.M. & Matsui, M. (2013) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Gunung Mulu national park, Sarawak, East Malaysia (Borneo). Zootaxa, 3670 (1), 33–44.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3670.1.2

    Dubois, A. (1980) Notes sur la systématique et la répartition des Amphibiens Anoures de Chine et des régions avoisinantes. IV. Classification générique et subgénérique des Pelobatidae Megophryinae. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon, 49, 469–482.

    Dubois, A. (1983) Note préliminaire sur le genre Leptolalax Dubois, 1980 (Amphibiens, Anoures), avec diagnose d’une espèce ouvelle du Vietnam. Alytes, 2, 147–153.

    Dubois, A., Grosjean, S., Ohler, A., Adler, K. & Zhao, E.M. (2010) The nomenclatural status of some generic nomina of Megophryidae (Amphibia, Anura). Zootaxa, 2493, 66–68.

    Edgar, R.C. (2004) MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research, 32, 1792–1797.

    Fei, L., Hu, S.Q., Ye, C.Y. & Huang, Y.Z. (2009) Fauna Sinica. Amphibia Vol. 2 Anura. Science Press, Beijing, 957 pp.

    Frost, D.R. (2017) Amphibian species of the world: An Online Reference, version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Available from: http:// research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php/ (accessed 23 April 2017)

    Frost, D.R., Grant, T., Faivovich, J., Bain, R.H., Haas, A., Haddad, C.F.B., De Sa, R.O., Channing, A., Wilkinson, M., Donnellan, S.C., Raxworthy, C.J., Campbell, J.A., Blotto, B.L., Moler, P., Drewes, R.C., Nussbaum, R.A., Lynch, J.D., Green, D.M. & Wheeler, W.C. (2006) The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297, 1–370.

    Fei, L., Hu, S.Q., Ye, C.Y. & Huang, Y.Z. (2009) Fauna Sinica. Amphibia. Vol. 2. Anura. Science Press, Beijing, 957 pp. [in Chinese]

    Grismer, L.L., Grismer, J.L. & Youmans, T.M. (2004) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Pulau Tioman, West Malaysia. Asian Herpetological Research, 10, 8–11.

    Grosjean, S., Ohler, A., Chuaynkern, Y., Cruaud, C. & Hassanin, A. (2015) Improving biodiversity assessment of anuran amphibians using DNA barcoding of tadpoles. Case studies from Southeast Asia.Comptes Rendus Biologies, 338, 351–361.

    Günther, A. (1872) On the reptiles and amphibians of Borneo. Proceedings of the scientific meetings of the Zoological Society of London, 1872, 586–600.

    Hamidy, A., Matsui, M., Nishikawa, K. & Belabut, D.M. (2012) Detection of cryptic taxa in Leptobrachium nigrops (Amphibia, Anura, Megophryidae), with description of two new species. Zootaxa, 3398, 22–39.

    Humtsoe, L.N., Bordoloi, S., Ohler, A. & Dubois, A. (2008) Rediscovery of a long known species, Ixalus lateralis Anderson, 1871. Zootaxa, 1921, 24–34.

    Inger, R.F., Lakim, M., Biun, A. & Yambun, P. (1997) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Borneo. Asian Herpetological Research, 7, 48–50.
    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.18855

    Inger, R.F., Orlov, N.L. & Darevskij, I.J.S. (1999) Frogs of Vietnam: a report on new collections. Fieldiana Zoology, 92, 1–46.

    Jiang, K., Yan, F., Suwannapoom, C., Chomdej, S. & Che, J. (2013) A new species of the genus Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Northern Thailand. Asian Herpetological Research, 4 (2), 100–108.

    Kocher, T.D., Thomas, W.K., Meyer, A., Edwards, S.V., Pääbo, S., Villablanca, F.X. & Wilson, A.C. (1989) Dynamics of mitochondrial DNA evolution in animals: amplification and sequencing with conserved primers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 86 (16), 6192–6200.

    Lathrop, A., Murphy, R.W., Orlov, N. & Ho, C.T. (1998) Two new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from northern Vietnam. Amphibia-Reptilia, 19, 253–267.
    https://doi.org/10.1163/156853898X00160

    Mathew, R. & Sen, N. (2010) Description of a new species of Leptobrachium Tschudi, 1838 (Amphibia: Anura: Megophryidae) from Meghalaya, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 109, 91–108.

    Matsui, M. (1997) Call characteristics of Malaysian Leptolalax with a description of two new species (Anura: Pelobatidae). Copeia, 1997, 158–165.
    https://doi.org/10.2307/1447851

    Matsui, M. (2006) Three new species of Leptolalax from Thailand (Amphibia, Anura, Megophryidae). Zoological Science, 23, 821–830.
    https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.23.821

    Matsui, M., Belabut, D.M., Ahmad, N. & Yong, H.S. (2009) A new species of Leptolalax (Amphibia, Anura, Megophryidae) from Peninsular Malaysia. Zoological Science, 26, 243–247.
    https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.26.243

    Matsui, M. & Dehling, J.M. (2012) Notes on an enigmatic Bornean megophryid, Leptolalax dringi Dubois, 1987 (Amphibia: Anura). Zootaxa, 3317, 49–58.

    Matsui, M., Nishikawa, K. & Yambun, P. (2014a) A new Leptolalax from the mountains of Sabah, Borneo (Amphibia, Anura, Megophryidae). Zootaxa, 3753 (3), 440–452.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3753.5.3

    Matsui, M., Zainudin, R. & Nishikawa, K. (2014b) A new species of Leptolalax from Sarawak, sestern Borneo (Anura: Megophryidae). Zoological Science, 31, 773–779.
    https://doi.org/10.2108/zs140137

    Ohler, A., Wollenberg, K.C., Grosjean, S., Hendrix, R., Vences, M., Ziegler, T. & Dubois, A. (2011) Sorting out Lalos: description of new species and additional taxonomic data on megophryid frogs from northern Indochina (genus Leptolalax, Megophryidae, Anura). Zootaxa, 3147, 1–83.

    Poyarkov, Jr. N.A., Rowley, J.J., Gogoleva, S.I., Vassilieva, A.B., Galoyan, E.A. & Orlov, N.L. (2015) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from the western Langbian Plateau, southern Vietnam. Zootaxa, 3931 (2), 221–252.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3931.2.3

    Rambaut, A., Suchard, M.A., Xie, D. & Drummond, A.J. (2014) Tracer v1. 6. Available from: http://beast.bio.ed.ac.uk/Tracer (accessed 30 August 2016)

    Ronquist, F., Teslenko, M., van der Mark, P., Ayres, D.L., Darling, A., Höhna, S., Larget, B., Liu, L., Suchard, M.A. & Huelsenbeck, J.P. (2012) MrBayes 3.2: efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model choice across a large mod space. Systematic Biology, 61, 539–542.

    Rowley, J.J.L. & Cao, T.T. (2009) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from central Vietnam. Zootaxa, 2198, 51–60.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Hoang, D.H., Le, T.T.D., Dau, Q.V. & Cao, T.T. (2010a) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Vietnam and further information on Leptolalax tuberosus. Zootaxa, 2660, 33–45.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Stuart, B.L., Thy, N. & Emmett, D.A. (2010b) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from northeastern Cambodia. Zootaxa, 2567, 57–68.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Stuart, B.L., Richards, S.J., Phimmachak, S. & Sivongxay, N. (2010c) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Laos. Zootaxa, 2681, 35–46.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Le, D.T.T., Tran, D. & Hoang, H. (2011) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from southern Vietnam. Zootaxa, 2796, 15–28.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Hoang, H.D., Dau, Q.V., Le, D.T.T. & Cao, T.T. (2012) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from central Vietnam. Zootaxa, 3321, 56–68.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Stuart, B.L., Neang, T., Hoang, H.D., Dau, V.Q., Nguyen, T.T. & Emmett, D.A. (2015a) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Vietnam and Cambodia. Zootaxa, 4039 (3), 401–417.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4039.3.1

    Rowley, J.J.L. & Cao, T.T. (2009) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from central Vietnam. Zootaxa, 2198, 51–60.

    Rowley, J.J.L., Dau, Q.V. & Nguyen, T.T. (2013) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from the highest mountain in Indochina. Zootaxa, 3737 (4), 415–428.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3737.4.5

    Rowley, J.J.L., Tran, D.T.A., Frankham, G.J., Dekker, A.H., Le, D.T.T., Nguyen, T.Q., Dau, V.Q. & Hoang, H.D. (2015) Undiagnosed cryptic diversity in small, microendemic frogs (Leptolalax) from the central highlands of Vietnam. PLoS ONE, 10 (5), e0128382.
    https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128382

    Rowley, J.J.L., Tran, D.T.A., Le, D.T.T., Dau, V.Q., Peloso, P.L.V., Nguyen, T.Q., Hoang, H.D., Nguyen, T.T. & Ziegler, T. (2016) Five new, microendemic Asian Leaf-litter Frogs (Leptolalax) from the southern Annamite mountains, Vietnam. Zootaxa, 4085 (1), 63–102.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4085.1.3

    Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E.F. & Maniatis, T. (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual. New York, USA: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

    Song, X.B. & Li, L.Z. (2013) Description of Pella maoershanensis sp. no. (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae) associated with Lasius spathepus from Guangxi, South China. Zookeys, 275, 17–21.

    Sung, Y.H., Yang, J.H. & Wang, Y.Y. (2014) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from southern China. Asian Herpetological Research, 5 (2), 80–90.

    Sengupta, S., Sailo, S., Lalremsanga, H., Das, A. & Das, I. (2010) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Mizoram, north-eastern India. Zootaxa, 2406, 57–68.

    Sung, Y.H., Yang, J.H. & Wang, Y.Y. (2014) A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from southern China. Asian Herpetological Research, 5 (2), 80–90.
    https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1245.2014.00080

    Stamatakis, A., Hoover, P. & Rougemont, J. (2008) A rapid bootstrap algorithm for the RAxML web servers. Systematic Biology, 57, 758–771.

    Tamura, K., Peterson, D., Peterson, N., Stecher, G., Nei, M. & Kumar, S. (2011) MEGA5: Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 28, 2731–2739.

    Taylor, E.H. (1962) The amphibian fauna of Thailand. University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 43, 265–599.
    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.13347

    Yang, J.H., Wang, Y.Y., Chen, G.L. & Rao, D.Q. (2016) A new species of the genus Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Mt. Gaoligongshan of western Yunnan Province, China. Zootaxa, 4088 (3), 379–394.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4088.3.4

    Zhou, F., Jiang, A.W. & Jiang, D.B. (2006) A new species of the genus Hynobius from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China (Caudata, Hynobiidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 31, 670–674.