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| Kurixalus yangi
Yu, Hui, Rao & Yang, 2018
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Abstract
A new species of the genus Kurixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) is described from western Yunnan, China. Genetically the new species, Kurixalus yangi sp. n., is closer to Kurixalus naso than to other known congeners. Morphologically the new species is distinguished from all other known congeners by a combination of the following characters: smaller ratios of head, snout, limbs, IND, and UEW to body size; male body size larger than 30 mm; curved canthus rostralis; weak nuptial pad; brown dorsal color; absence of large dark spots on surface of upper-middle abdomen; presence of vomerine teeth; gold brown iris; single internal vocal sac; serrated dermal fringes along outer edge of limbs; granular throat and chest; rudimentary web between fingers; and presence of supernumerary tubercles and outer metacarpal tubercle.
Keywords: China, Kurixalus yangi sp. n., new species, Western Yunnan
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| Figure 7. lateral-dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of the holotype of Kurixalus yangi sp. n. in life. |
Kurixalus yangi sp. n.
Etymology: The species name is dedicated to Professor Datong Yang from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for his outstanding contribution to herptofauna research of Yunnan, China.
Diagnosis: The new tree frog species is assigned to the genus Kurixalus based on a combination of the following characters: tips of digits enlarged to discs, bearing circum-marginal grooves; small body size (SVL range of 31.6–34.7 mm in adult males; Table 1); finger webbing poorly developed and toe webbing moderately developed; serrated dermal fringes along outer edge of forearm and tarsus; an inverted triangular-shaped dark brown mark between eyes; dorsal brown “) (” saddle-shaped marking; and coarse dorsal and lateral surfaces with small, irregular tubercles (Nguyen et al. 2014a, Nguyen et al. 2014b, Yu et al. 2017b). Our previous molecular study placed the new species in Kurixalus with other known congeners (Yu et al. 2017a).
Kurixalus yangi sp. n. can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: male body size larger than 30 mm; smaller ratio of head length to body size; curved canthus rostralis; weak nuptial pads; brown dorsal color; absence of large dark spots on upper-middle abdomen; presence of vomerine teeth; gold brown iris; single internal vocal sac; serrated dermal fringes along outer edge of limbs; granular throat and chest; interorbital space longer than upper eyelid; rudimentary web between fingers; and presence of supernumerary tubercles and thenar tubercle.
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| Figure 8. Habitat of Kurixalus yangi sp. n. at the type locality. |
Distribution and natural history: The new species is known from border region with northern Myanmar in western Yunnan, China (Fig. 2) and northern Myanmar according to Yu et al. (2017a). At the type locality, the new species was found calling on leaves of bushes adjacent to a road at night (Fig. 8). Specimens from the other two sites were found calling on broad leaves at the edge of an evergreen forest. Tadpoles, eggs and females were not found.
Guohua Yu, Hong Hui, Dingqi Rao and Junxing Yang. 2018. A New Species of Kurixalus from western Yunnan, China (Anura, Rhacophoridae). ZooKeys. 770: 211-226. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.770.23526
Yu G, Rao D, Matsui M, Yang J (2017a) Coalescent-based delimitation outperforms distance-based methods for delineating less divergent species: the case of Kurixalus odontotarsus species group. Scientific Reports. 7: 16124. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-16309-1
Yu G, Wang J, Hou M, Rao D, Yang J (2017b) A new species of the genus Kurixalus from Yunnan, China (Anura, Rhacophoridae). Zookeys. 694: 71–93. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.694.12785
Yu G, Zhang M, Yang J (2010) A species boundary within the Chinese Kurixalus odontotarsus species group (Anura: Rhacophoridae): New insights from molecular evidence. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 56: 942–950. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.05.008
Yu G, Zhang M, Yang J (2013) Molecular evidence for taxonomy of Rhacophorus appendiculatus and Kurixalus species from northern Vietnam, with comments on systematics of Kurixalus and Gracixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 47: 31–37. DOI: 10.1016/j.bse.2012.09.023
