A new species of the genus Amolops (Anura, Ranidae) from the Gaoligong Mountains, China

By

Wu, Yunhe
Yu, Zhong-Bin
Felista, Kasyoka Kilunda
Lu, Chen-Qi
Li, Jiahua
Yun-Peng, Li
Yi-Juan, Shi
Che, Jing

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1227

Pages

349--367

Subjects

Amolops viridimaculatus group , diversity , new species , Phylogeny , sympatric species , Yunnan Province

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1227.131357

 

Abstract

The Gaoligong Mountains lie at the intersection of three global biodiversity hotspots. In recent years, with the continuous deepening of fieldwork in the region, studies have increasingly indicated that the amphibian diversity of this region remains poorly understood. During herpetological surveys in 2023, a series of Amolops specimens were collected from the Gaoligong Mountains of Yunnan Province, China. The integrated results of morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate the presence of a separate and previously unknown lineage in the A. viridimaculatus group, which we herein confirm as a new species, Amolops gudao Yu, Wu, Lu & Che, sp. nov. Our discovery increases the number of Amolops species recorded in China to 59, and the total number of Amolops species to 86. The discovery of a new species in the Gaoligong Mountains further highlights the underestimated amphibian diversity in the region, emphasizing the need for continued fieldwork and research. Furthermore, Amolops gudao Yu, Wu, Lu & Che, sp. nov. exhibits obvious intraspecific variation in color patterns, a phenomenon also reported in several species within the A. viridimaculatus group, such as A. viridimaculatus and A. kaulbacki. Future studies on the taxonomy of A. viridimaculatus group should be careful with the use of color patterns as a diagnostic characteristic.