A new species of cascade frog (Anura: Ranidae: Amolops) from central Yunnan, China

Abstract

A new species of the genus Amolops, Amolops ailao sp. nov., is described from central Yunnan, China. The new species belongs to the A. mantzorum species group. Phylogenetic analyses based on the combination of mitochondrial 16S rRNA, COI, and cytb genes revealed that the new species is the sister taxon to Amolops ottorum with strong support. Genetically, the new species differs from A. ottorum by 5.0% in cytb sequences. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from known congeners by the combination of the following characters: true dorsolateral folds absent, but dorsolateral folds formed by series of glands present; circummarginal groove on tip of first finger absent; body size small (males SVL 33.0–35.1 mm and female SVL 41.3 mm); HW/SVL 0.32‒0.35; UEW/SVL 0.08‒0.10; THL/SVL 0.52‒0.56; vomerine teeth absent; interorbital distance narrower than internarial distance; tympanum distinct, less than half eye diameter; supratympanic fold present, indistinct; a pair of large tubercles on sides of cloaca; tibiotarsal articulation reaching beyond anterior corner of eye; and vocal sac absent. The cladogenesis events within the A. mantzorum group rapidly occurred from Pliocene 4.23 Mya to Pleistocene 1.2 Mya, coinciding with the recent intensive uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau since the Pliocene. Combining findings in this study with the most recent taxonomic progress, we consider that there are 20 known Amolops species in Yunnan, China, accounting for the highest proportion of amphibian diversity of Yunnan, and five of them belong to the A. mantzorum group. Among different subfauna and water systems in Yunnan, the species diversity of Amolops in northwestern Yunnan and Nu River Basin is highest.

First record of Amolops truongi Pham, Pham, Ngo, Sung, Ziegler & Le, 2023 (Anura, Ranidae) from China

“…In recent years, many new species have been discovered in this region, such as frogs In addition, Yunnan Huanglianshan National Nature Reserve borders Vietnam in the south, so it is not surprising to find species that were previously considered to be distributed only in Vietnam. Previously, 52 species of the genus Amolops were recorded in China, 20 of which were distributed in Yunnan (Tang et al 2023;Li et al 2024). Our discovery of A. truongi in Yunnan increased the number of Amolops species in China to 53 and the number of Amolops species in Yunnan to 21.…”

“…Amolops Cope, 1865 is a genus with a rapid increase in the number of species recently, making it the most speciose genus within the family Ranidae and having a wide distribution range from southern and eastern Himalayas to the Peninsular Malaysia (Dever et al 2012;Pham et al 2019;Wu et al 2020;Mahony et al 2022;Tang et al 2023;Frost 2024;Li et al 2024). Currently, 85 species are included in the genus (Frost 2024) and 52 have been recorded in China (AmphibiaChina 2024).…”

A New Species of Nanorana (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Northwestern Yunnan, China, with Comments on the Taxonomy of Nanorana arunachalensis and Allopaa

“…Therefore, we consider that the five species of subgenus Nanorana are all valid. Generally, genetic distance between recently diverged species is relatively small (e.g., species of the Amolops mantzorum group; [83]). This is the same with the subgenus Nanorana, which started to diverge into different lineages ca.…”