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| Hypselotriton huanggangensis Jiang, Huang, Fan, Cheng, Raffaëlli & Chen, in Jiang, S.Huang, Fan, Cheng, Gong, Cui, Zhang, Lan, Zou, X. Huang, Raffaëlli et Chen, 2024. |
Abstract
A new newt species, Hypselotriton huanggangensis sp. nov., is described based on nine specimens collected from Huanggangshan Mountains, Yanshan County, Jiangxi, China. Morphologically, the new species is characterized by the combination of nine external characters: (1) obvious black patches with clear boundaries on the whole body; (2) ground color of the dorsal body tan; (3) ground color of venter bright orange; (4) skin rough; (5) vertebral ridge weak; (6) fingers and toes overlapping when forelimb and hindlimb adpressed towards each other along body; (7) postocular orange spot absent; (8) small white warty glands around the eye; (9) two discontinuous longitudinal lines formed by white warty glands from neck to lateral parts of tail. Molecularly, the new species forms an independent clade with strong support in the phylogenetic trees of the genus based on the mitochondrial locus of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) gene fragments. The new species distinctly differs from H. fudingensis by differences in its body measurements, vertebral ridge, dorsal black patches, and ventral black patches. Furthermore, the new species and H. fudingensis are geographically isolated by a series of high mountain ranges, including the Wuyishan and Jiufengshan Mountains. The number of Hypselotriton species is now 11.
Key words: Black patches, fire-bellied newts, geographical isolation, morphology, phylogenetics, taxonomy
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| Paratypes of Hypselotriton huanggangensis sp. nov. (HSA23075) A dorsalateral view in life B ventral view in life C small waterhole around mountain shrubs without direct sunlight at the type locality. |
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| Comparison of holotype of Hypselotriton huanggangensis sp. nov. (left, HSA23097) and Hypselotriton fudingensis (right, HSA23108) in life A dorsal view B ventral view, 1, 5 obvious black patches, 2 weak vertebral ridge, 3 small spots, 4 conspicuous vertebral ridge, 6 bright orange venter without dark blotches. |
Hypselotriton huanggangensis Jiang, Huang, Fan, Cheng, Raffaëlli & Chen, sp. nov.
Diagnosis: (1) Small body size, TOL 73.0–79.1 mm in adult males, TOL 79.6–89.4 mm in adult females; (2) obvious black patches with clear boundaries on the whole body; (3) ground color of the dorsal body tan; (4) skin rough; (5) ground color of venter bright orange; (6) vertebral ridge weak; (7) fingers and toes overlapping when forelimb and hindlimb adpressed towards each other along body; (8) parotoid gland inconspicuous; (9) postocular orange spot absent; (10) white warty glands around the eye; (11) two discontinuous longitudinal lines which consist of white warty glands from neck to lateral parts of tail (Fig. 6).
Etymology: The specific name huanggangensis refers to the type locality in the Huanggangshan Mountains. For the English common name, we suggest “Huanggangshan Fire-bellied Newt” and for the Chinese name, 黄岗山蝾螈 (huáng gǎng shān róng yuán).
Zhihao Jiang, Song Huang, Qiangyong Fan, Lin Cheng, Yanan Gong, Zhangbo Cui, Tierui Zhang, Wenjun Lan, Zhian Zou, Xuanzhi Huang, Jean Raffaëlli and Jinmin Chen. 2024. A New Species of the Newt Genus Hypselotriton (Amphibia, Urodela, Salamandridae) from Jiangxi Province, southeastern China. ZooKeys. 1208: 331-346. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1208.126092
