Abstract
A new species of Limnonectes from central Vietnam is described based on morphological and molecular differences. Morphologically, the new species is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: SVL 47.5–60.9 in males, 42.3–51.1 mm in females; males with moderately enlarged head (HL/SVL 0.48), head longer than wide; vomerine teeth present; external vocal sacs absent; rostral length short (RL/SVL 0.14 in males, 0.15 in females); tympanum invisible; dorsal surface of head, body, and flanks smooth; dorsal surface of tibia and foot distinctly tuberculate, covered with moderately dense, small, low tubercles; supratympanic fold present; dorsolateral fold absent; toes webbed to posterior of terminal phalanx; in life, dorsum with light yellowish brown markings, throat and chest white with brown markings, and ventral surface of abdomen white or white with brown markings. In phylogenetic analyses, the new species is the sister taxon to an undescribed species from Cambodia.
References
Aowphol, A., Rujirawan, A., Taksintum, W., Chuaynkern, Y. & Stuart, B.L. (2015) A new caruncle-breeding Limnonectes (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from northeastern Thailand. Zootaxa, 3956 (2), 258–270.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3956.2.6Borah, M.M., Bordoloi, S., Purkayastha, J., Das, M., Dubois, A. & Ohler, A. (2013) Limnonectes (Taylorana) medogensis (Fei, Ye & Huang, 1997) from Arunachal Pradesh (India), and on the identity of some diminutive ranoid frogs (Anura: Dicroglossidae, Occidozygidae). Herpetozoa, 26, 39–48.
Bourret, R. (1942) Les Batraciens de l’Indochine. Institut Océanographique de l’Indochine, Hanoi, 517 pp.
Emerson, S., Inger, R. & Iskandar, D. (2000) Molecular systematics and biogeography of the fanged frogs of Southeast Asia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 16, 131–142.
https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.2000.0778Fei, L., Hu, S., Ye, C. & Huang, Y. (2009) Fauna Sinica. Amphibia.Volume 3. Anura. Science Press, Beijing, 887pp.
Fei, L., Ye, C. & Jiang, J. (2010) Colored Atlas of Chinese Amphibians. Sichuan Publishing House of Science & Technology, Sichuan, 519 pp.
Frost, D.R. (2018) Amphibian Species of the World: an on-line reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Available from: http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/ (accessed 2 January 2018)
Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) A field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar. 3rd Edition. FroschVerlag, Cologne, 496 pp
Inger, R.F. (1947) Preliminary survey of the amphibians of the Riukiu islands. Fieldiana. Zoology, 32, 297–352.
Inger, R.F. & Stuart, B.L. (2010) Systematics of Limnonectes (Taylorana) Dubois. Current Herpetology, 29, 51–68.
https://doi.org/10.3105/018.029.0201Jang-Liaw, N.-H. & Chou, W.-H. (2011) Phylogeography of the fanged dicroglossine frog, Limnonectes fujianensis (Anura, Ranidae), in Taiwan. Zoological Science, 28, 254–263.
https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.28.254Lambertz, M., Hartmann, T., Walsh, P., Geissler, P. & McLeod, D.S. (2014) Anatomy, histology, and systematic implications of the head ornamentation in the males of four species of Limnonectes (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 172, 117–132.
https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12171Le, M., Raxworthy, C.J., McCord, W.P. & Mertz, L. (2006) A molecular phylogeny of tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 40, 517−531.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2006.03.003Luu, V.Q., Nguyen, T.Q., Pham C.T., Dang, K.N., Vu, T.N., Miskovic, S., Bonkowski, M & T. Ziegler, T. (2014) No end in sight? Further new records of amphibians and reptiles from Phong Nha–Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. Biodiversity Journal, 4, 285–300.
Matsui, M., Panha, S., Khonsue, W. & Kuraishi, N. (2010) Two new species of the “kuhlii” complex of the genus Limnonectes from Thailand (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zootaxa, 2615, 1–22.
McLeod, D.S. (2008) A new species of big-headed, fanged dicroglossine frog (genus Limnonectes) from Thailand. Zootaxa, 1807, 26–46.
Mcleod, D.S. (2010) Of least concern? Systematics of a cryptic species complex: Limnonectes kuhlii (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56, 991–1000.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2010.04.004McLeod, D.S., Kelly, J.K. & Barley, A. (2012) Same-same but different: Another new species of the Limnonectes kuhlii complex from Thailand (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Russian Journal of Herpetology, 19, 261–274.
McLeod, D.S., Kurlbaum, S. & Hoang, N.V. (2015) More of the same: a diminutive new species of the Limnonectes kuhlii complex from northern Vietnam (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zootaxa, 3947 (2), 201–214.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3947.2.4Nguyen, S.V., Ho, C.T. & Nguyen, T.Q. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.
Ohler, A. & Dubois, A. (1999) The identity of Elachyglossa gyldenstolpei Andersson, 1916 (Amphibia, Ranidae), with comments on some aspects of statistical support to taxonomy. Zoologica Scripta, 23, 269–279.
https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1463-6409.1999.00002.xPalumbi, S.R., Martin, A., Romano, S., McMillan, W.O., Stice, L. & Grabowski, G. (1991) The simple fool's guide to PCR. Department of Zoology and Kewalo Marine Laboratory, Hawaii, 94 pp.
Posada, D. & Crandall, K.A. (1998) MODELTEST: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics, 14, 817−818.
https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/14.9.817Pham, C.T., Le, M.D., Nguyen, T.T., Ziegler, T., Wu, Z.J. & Nguyen, T.Q. (2017) A new species of Limnonectes (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Vietnam. Zootaxa, 4269 (4), 545–558.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4269.4.8Ronquist, 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 model space. Systematic Biology, 61, 539−542.
https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys029Simmons, J.E. (2002) Herpetological collecting and collections management. Revised edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular, 31, 1–153.
Stuart, B.L., Sok, K. & Neang, T. (2006) A collection of amphibians and reptiles from hilly eastern Cambodia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 54, 129–155.
Suwannapoom, C.,Yuan, Z., Chen, J.M., Hou, M., Zhao, H., Wang, L., Nguyen, T.Q., Murphy, R.W., Sullivan, S., McLeod, D.S. & Che, J. (2016) Taxonomic revision of the Chinese Limnonectes (Anura, Dicroglossidae) with the description of a new species from China and Myanmar. Zootaxa, 4093 (2), 181–200. [Erratum, 4137(4), 599–600]
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4093.2.2Swofford, D.L. (2001) PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (* and Other Methods), version 4. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts. [software]
Taylor, E.H. (1962) The amphibian fauna of Thailand. University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 43, 265–599.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.13347Thompson, J.D., Gibson, T.J., Plewniak, F., Jeanmougin, F. & Higgins, D.G. (1997) The ClustalX windows interface: Flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Research, 25, 4876−4882.
https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/25.24.4876Yang, D. (1983) A new species of the genus Platymantis (Amphibia: Ranidae). Acta Herpetologica Sinica, 2, 53–56.
Ye, C.Y., Fei, L., Xie, F. & Jiang, J.P. (2007) A new Ranaidae species from China–Limnonectes bannanensis (Ranidae: Anura). Zoological Research, 28, 545–550.