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| Gracixalus liusanjieae Wu, Pan, Chen, Ye, Yu & Zou, 2025 |
Abstract
It has been shown that the taxonomy of Gracixalus jinxiuensis species complex is very confusing. In this study, we tested for the taxonomy of Gracixalus species from Mao’er Mountain, Guangxi, China, which was once recorded as G. jinxiuensis, based on molecular, morphological, and bioacoustics evidence. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences indicated that the samples from Mao’er Mountain form a distinct lineage closely related to G. jinxiuensis, G. huaping, and G. weii, and they were assigned into an independent operational taxonomic unit by analysis of species delimitation. Morphologically, the lineage from Mao’er Mountain can be distinguished from known congeners by a combination of the following characters: SVL 27.5–33.2 mm in males and 38.1‒39.7 mm in females; dorsal surface beige to brown, rough with a few tubercles on dorsum; internal vocal sac; linea masculina absent; nuptial pads present on fingers I and II; tibiotarsal articulation reaching center of eye; heels overlapping when legs at right angle to body; and white tubercles on temporal region, edge of upper and lower jaw, flank, and dorsal surface of limbs. In addition, bioacoustics analyses showed that the advertisement calls of the population from Mao’er Mountain also differ from advertisement calls of other Gracixalus species. Therefore, we officially described the lineage from Mao’er Mountain as a new species and named it as Gracixalus liusanjieae sp. nov. herein. Including the new species described in this study, now the genus Gracixalus contains 23 species, 12 of which are distributed in China with six known in Guangxi.
Key Words: Bioacoustics analysis, Gracixalus jinxiuensis, species complex, 16S rRNA, species delimitation
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| Views of the holotype of Gracixalus liusanjieae sp. nov. (voucher no. GXNU YU000978) in life. Nuptial pads were highlighted with arrows (Photo by Guohua Yu). |
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| Gracixalus liusanjieae sp. nov. Paratypes GXNU YU000979 (A), GXNU YU000980 (B), and GXNU YU000795 (C) in life (A, B. Photo by Yuanqiang Pan; C. Photo by Guohua Yu). |
Gracixalus liusanjieae sp. nov.
Diagnosis. The new species is assigned to genus Gracixalus based upon the following set of morphological characters: tips of digits enlarged to discs bearing circum-marginal grooves, vomerine teeth absent, inner (first and second) and outer (third and fourth) fingers not opposable, and an inversed Y-shaped dark brown marking on the dorsum (Fei 1999; Yu et al. 2019; Tran et al. 2023).
The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: (1) SVL 27.5–33.2 mm in males and 38.1‒39.7 mm in females; (2) dorsal surface beige to brown; (3) dorsal surface rough with a few flatten tubercles on dorsum; (4) internal vocal sac in males, vocal sac opening slitted; (5) throat relatively smooth with barely visible tubercles; (6) finger webbing rudimentary; (7) linea masculina absent; (8) snout rounded; (9) tibiotarsal articulation reaching center of eye; (10) tibiotarsal projection absent; (11) nuptial pads present on fingers I and II; (12) heels slightly overlapping when legs at right angle to body; (13) ventral surface translucent, creamy white with dark blotches; (14) belly granular.
Etymology. The specific epithet is named for Sanjie Liu, referring to a famous woman in Chinese ancient legend who came from Guangxi and who was known for her exceptional singing talent. The specific name means that the new species is distributed in Guangxi and its advertisement calls are melodic. We suggested “Maoershan small tree frog” for the common English name and “刘三姐纤树蛙 (Liú Sān Jiě Xiān Shù Wā)” for the common Chinese name.
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| Habitat of Gracixalus liusanjieae sp. nov. at the type locality (A) and eggs of the new species laid on broken branches (C) that was placed on an artificial breeding trap (B) (A, B. Photo by Guohua Yu; C. Photo by Yuanqiang Pan). |
Xiangjian Wu, Yuanqiang Pan, Ju Chen, Jianping Ye, Guohua Yu and Tongxiang Zou. 2025. Integrative Taxonomic Evidence for A New Species of Genus Gracixalus (Anura, Rhacophoridae) from Mao'er Mountain, Guangxi, China. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 101(4): 2039-2053. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.161448
