A new species of the Asian leaf litter toad genus Leptobrachella Smith, 1925 (Anura, Megophryidae) from northwest Guizhou Province, China

By

Cheng, Yanlin
Shi, Shengchao
Li, Jiaqi
Liu, Jing
Li, Shize
Wang, Bin

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1021

Pages

81--107

Subjects

Leptobrachella jinshaensis sp. nov , molecular phylogenetic analyses , Morphology , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1021.60729

 

Abstract

A new species of the Asian leaf litter toad genusLeptobrachellais described from Guizhou Province, China. Molecular phylogenetic analyses support the new species as an independent lineage deeply nested in theLeptobrachellaclade. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: body size medium (SVL 29.7–31.2 mm in five adult males); dorsal skin shagreened, some of the granules forming longitudinal short skin ridges; tympanum distinctly discernible, slightly concave; supra-axillary, femoral, pectoral and ventrolateral glands distinctly visible; absence of webbing and lateral fringes on fingers; toes with narrow lateral fringes but without webbing; heels overlapping when thighs are positioned at right angles to the body; tibia-tarsal articulation reaching the middle of eye when leg stretched forward. The discovery highlighted the underestimated species diversity in theLeptobrachellatoads in southwestern China.