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| Leptobrachella albomarginata Wu, Yu, Kilunda, Murphy & Che, in Wu, Yu, Yang, Duan, Zuo, Zhang, Kilunda, Murphy et Che, 2025. |
Abstract
The Gaoligong Mountain Range in Yunnan Province, China, is characterized by its large variation in elevation and topography, together with its wide latitudinal range, resulting in extremely high levels of biodiversity. Studies show that the amphibian diversity of the Gaoligong Mountain Range is largely underestimated, especially in the south. During herpetological surveys in 2023 and 2024, three specimens of Leptobrachella were collected from the mountain at Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve. Subsequent morphological comparisons and a phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that these specimens belonged to a previously unknown and morphologically distinct lineage of Leptobrachella, which we formally describe. Our discovery brings the number of species in the genus to 108, 44 of which occur in China, and seven on Gaoligong Mountain Range. This result confirms the underestimated amphibian diversity of the Gaoligong Mountain Range, especially in Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve, where multiple sympatric congeneric species occur, including four species of Leptobrachella, five species and a putative new species of Xenophrys, and three species of Polypedates. These findings also highlight the need for future research to investigate the mechanisms of sympatric and syntopic coexistence.
Key Words: Asian Leaf Litter Toad, frog, Leptobrachella albomarginata sp. nov., sympatric distribution, Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve
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| Holotype of Leptobrachella albomarginata sp. nov. (KIZ 050905) in life. A. Lateral view; B. Lateral view of head; C. Dorsal view; D. Ventral view. Photos by Zhong-Bin Yu. |
Leptobrachella albomarginata Wu, Yu, Kilunda, Murphy & Che, sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Leptobrachella albomarginata sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of morphological characters: (1) body size small (SVL 26.5 mm in one adult male, 32.5 mm in one female); (2) tibiotarsal articulation reaches the middle eye; (3) tongue with a shallow notch at the posterior tip; (4) heels meeting; (5) toes with rudimentary webbing and narrow lateral fringes; (6) relative finger lengths: I ≈ II < IV < III; (7) reverse-triangle markings and a ˄-shaped marking with a white lining in dorsal view; (8) black and bluish-white marbling all over ventral surfaces of throat, chest and belly; (9) flanks with distinct irregular black spots; (10) iris bicolored, upper 1/3 of the iris being coppery, lower 2/3 silvery gray.
Etymology. The name refers to reverse-triangle markings and ˄-shaped marking with a white lining on dorsum of the new species: the specific epithet “albus” is a Latin adjective which means “white”, and “marginis” is Latin adjective for “border, lining”. We propose the English common name “White-lined Leaf Litter Toad” and the Chinese common name “Bái Yuán Zhǎng Tū Chán (白缘掌突蟾)”.
Yun-He Wu, Zhong-Bin Yu, Shen-Pin Yang, Zheng-Pan Duan, An-Ru Zuo, Ding-Can Zhang, Felista Kasyoka Kilunda, Robert W. Murphy and Jing Che. 2025. Morphological and Molecular Evidence for A New Species of the Genus Leptobrachella (Anura, Megophryidae) from Gaoligong Mountain Range, Yunnan, China. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 101(2): 449-463. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.135560
