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| Amolops ottorum Pham, Sung, Pham, Le, Ziegler & Nguyen, 2019 |
Abstract
A new species of Amolops is described from northwestern Vietnam based on morphological differences and molecular divergence. Morphologically, Amolops ottorum, new species, is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: size small (SVL 47.5–48.2 mm in females); head longer than wide; vomerine teeth absent; snout short (SE/SVL 0.14–0.15); tympanum dark brown, small (TD/ ED 0.36–0.37 in females); skin smooth; supratympanic fold absent; dorsolateral fold absent; webbing formula I 0―1/3 II 0―1 III 0―1 IV 2―0 V; in life, dorsum green with some dark brown spots; flanks with irregular dark markings; head and body with irregular dorsolateral cream stripe; dorsal surface of fore and hind limbs green with dark crossbars; throat, chest, anterior part of belly light-cream with brown dots; and posterior part of belly cream. In phylogenetic analyses, the new species is weakly supported as a sister taxon of Amolops tuberodepressus, and approximately 5.6% divergent from it based on a fragment of the cytochrome b gene.
Key words. Amolops, molecular phylogeny, Muong La, new species, Son La Province, taxonomy
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| Dorsolateral view (A) and ventral view (B) of the female holotype (IEBR 4243) of Amolops ottorum, new species, in life. Photo = A. V. Pham. |
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| Dorsolateral view of the female paratype (TBU 06) of Amolops ottorum, new species, in life. Photo = A. V. Pham. |
Amolops ottorum, new species
Diagnosis. The new Amolops species from Son La Province is assigned to the A. mantzorum species group on the basis of the following characters: the absence of a dorsolateral fold and the absence of circummarginal groove on the disc of the first finger (Fei et al., 2009, 2017). The new species is also supported as a member of the A. mantzorum species group based on the molecular analyses (Fig. 2). Amolops ottorum, new species is distinguishable from its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: (1) size small (SVL 47.5–48.2 mm in females); (2) head longer than wide; (3) vomerine teeth absent; (4) snout short (SE/ SVL 0.14–0.15); (5) tympanum dark brown, small (TD/ED 0.36–0.37 in females); (6) skin smooth; (7) supratympanic fold absent; (8) dorsolateral fold absent; (9) webbing formula I 0–1/3 II 0–1 III 0–1 IV 2–0 V; (10) in life, dorsum green with some dark brown spots; (11) flanks with irregular dark markings; (12) head and body with irregular dorsolateral cream stripe; (13) dorsal surface of fore and hind limbs green with dark crossbars; (14) throat, chest and anterior part of belly light-cream with brown dots, posterior part of belly cream.
Distribution. Amolops ottorum, new species is currently known only from the type locality in Muong La District, Son La Province, Vietnam (Fig. 1).
Etymology. The species name, ottorum, is the plural possessive form of Mrs Otti Ziegler and Mr Otto Ziegler, who facilitated herpetological research collaborations between Vietnam and Germany. For the common names we suggest Son La Sucker Frog (English) and Ếch bám đá sơn la (Vietnamese).
Ecological notes. The holotype was collected at 1905 hours on leaves, ca. 1.5 m above the ground and the paratype was collected at 500 hours on a rock nearby a stream. The surrounding habitat was secondary forest of medium and large hardwoods mixed with shrubs (Fig. 6). Air temperature was 17–22°C and relative humidity was 80–85%. Other amphibian species found at the site were Leptobrachium sp., Leptobrachella sp., Quasipaa delacouri (Angel), Odorrana jingdongensis Fei, Ye & Li, and Kurixalus bisacculus (Taylor).
Anh Van Pham, Nenh Ba Sung, Cuong The Pham, Minh Duc Le, Thomas Ziegler and Truong Quang Nguyen. 2019. A New Species of Amolops (Anura: Ranidae) from Vietnam. RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY. 67: 363–377. lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/publications/raffles-bulletin-of-
