 |
| Nanorana laojunshanensis Tang, Liu & Yu, 2023 |
Abstract
The genus Nanorana contains three subgenera, namely Nanorana, Paa, and Chaparana, and currently, there are four species known to science in Nanorana (Nanorana). In this study, we describe a new species belonging to the subgenus Nanorana from northwestern Yunnan, China. Phylogenetically, the new species, Nanorana laojunshanensis sp. nov., is the sister to the clade of N. pleskei and N. ventripunctata. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from known congeners by the combination of following characters: present tympanum, equal fingers I and II, small body size, yellow ventral surface of limbs, distinct vomerine teeth, indistinct subarticular tubercles, head width greater than head length, slender supratympanic fold, absent dorsolateral fold, nuptial spines present on fingers I and II in adult males, absent vocal sac, and paired brown spines on the chest. Moreover, we suggest moving the genus Allopaa into Nanorana (Chaparana) and consider that N. arunachalensis is neither an Odorrana species nor a member of the subfamily Dicroglossinae (therefore Nanorana), but probably represents a distinct genus closely related to Ingerana or belongs to Ingerana, pending more data. Additionally, we consider that Nanorana minica deserves the rank of an independent subgenus, and we suggest assigning N. arnoldi, N. blanfordii, N. ercepeae, N. polunini, N. rarica, N. rostandi, N. vicina, N. xuelinensis, and N. zhaoermii into the subgenus Paa and placing N. kangxianensis, N. phrynoides, and N. sichuanensis in the subgenus Chaparana.
Keywords: Nanorana; Paa; Chaparana; Allopaa; northwestern Yunnan
 |
| Holotype of Nanorana laojunshanensis sp. nov. in life (A,B) and in preservative (C,D). |
Nanorana (Nanorana) laojunshanensis sp. nov.
Diagnosis: The new species was assigned to Nanorana (Nanorana) using the following morphological characters: oval tongue, shallowly notched posterior; blunt finger and toe tips; absent webbing between fingers, absent supernumerary tubercle; developed webbing between toes; paired patches of spine on chest [Fei, et al., 2009]. The new species can be distinguished from other members of Nanorana by having a combination of the following characters: (1) present tympanum; (2) small body size; (3) distinct vomerine teeth; (4) indistinct subarticular tubercles; (5) head width greater than head length; (6) slender supratympanic fold; (7) finger I equal to finger II; (8) absence of dark blotches on ventral surface and yolk-yellow ventral surface of limbs; (9) absent dorsolateral fold; (10) nuptial spines present only on fingers I and II in adult males; (11) absent vocal sac; and (12) paired brown spines on chest.
...
Etymology: The specific epithet is named after the type locality, Mt. Laojun, Lijiang, Yunnan, China. We suggested “laojunshan slow frog” for the common English name and “老君山倭蛙 (Lǎo Jūn Shān Wō Wā)” for the common Chinese name.
Minipaa subgen. nov.
Type species: Nanorana minica (Dubois, 1975)
Included species: Nanorana minica (Dubois, 1975).
Distribution: Nepal, India, Bhutan.
Etymology: From the Latin mini, “small”, and from the generic name Paa, Dubois, 1975 (from the Tamang name paa, “frog”), in which this species was originally placed. This name refers to the small body size of this taxon.
Shangjing Tang, Shuo Liu and Guohua Yu. 2023. A New Species of Nanorana (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Northwestern Yunnan, China, with Comments on the Taxonomy of Nanorana arunachalensis and Allopaa. Animals. 13(21), 3427. DOI: 10.3390/ani13213427
Simple Summary: Currently, the genus Nanorana contains thirty-two species, and four of them belong to the subgenus Nanorana, namely N. bangdaensis, N. parkeri, N. pleskei, and N. ventripunctata. In this study, on the basis of molecular and morphological evidence, we described a new species of Nanorana (Nanorana) from northwestern Yunnan, China, where only one member (N. ventripunctata) of Nanorana (Nanorana) has been reported. Additionally, the taxonomic status of Nanorana arunachalensis and Allopaa hazarensis were discussed, and subgeneric allocations of Nanorana species were suggested. The findings in this study bring the number of Nanorana species to 33 and improve our understanding on the taxonomy of genus Nanorana and the species diversity of Nanorana (Nanorana), an alpine group widely distributed in the southern and southeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau.
