Zootaxa 3388: 29–40 (2012) www.mapress.com / zootaxa/ Copyright © 2012 · Magnolia Press
ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition)
Article
ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition)
A new species of the genus Scutiger (Anura: Megophryidae) from southeastern Tibet, China KE JIANG1, 6, DINGQI RAO1, 5, 6, SIQI YUAN1, JISHAN WANG1, PIPENG LI2, MIAN HOU2, 3, MAIHE CHE4 & JING CHE1, 5 1
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, Yunnan Province, China 2 Institute of herpetology, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034, Liaoning Province, China 3 Academy of Continuing Education, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610068, Sichuan Province, China 4 Forestry Bureau of Linzhi Prefecture in Tibet, Bayi 860000, Tibet, China 5 Corresponding author. E-mail:
[email protected] (D. Rao);
[email protected] (J. Che) 6 Theses authors contributed equally to this work
Abstract A new species of Scutiger Theobald, 1868 is described from Medog, southeastern Tibet, China. Scutiger wuguanfui sp. nov. is distinguished from congeners in the following combination of characters: (1) large adult size, female is much larger than male; (2) maxillary teeth absent; (3) male with a pair of pectoral glands and a pair of axillary glands, axillary glands similar to pectoral glands, all of them covered by black spines in breeding season; (4) in breeding male, nuptial spines on dorsal surface of firs and second fingers, and inner side of third finger; (5) male with an internal single subgular vocal sac, a pair of slit-like openings of vocal sac near corners of the mouth. This new species is currently known only from the type locality. Key words: Scutiger wuguanfui sp. nov., Amphibia, Anura, Megophryidae, Tibet
Introduction Megophryid frogs of the genus Scutiger Theobald are exclusively distributed at high elevations along the eastern escarpment of Tibetan Plateau (Fei et al. 2005, 2009; Fu et al. 2007). Myers and Leviton (1962) synonymized the genus Aelurophryne Boulenger to Scutiger. Fei et al. 1989 suggested the genus Aelurophryne as a subgenus of Scutiger (Fei & Ye 1989; Ye et al. 1992), but neither morphological nor molecular data support this viewpoint (Fu et al. 1997, 2007; Delorme & Dubois 2001; Rao 2005). Currently, ninteen species are known in the genus Scutiger, most of them are endemic to China (Fei et al. 2009; Frost 2011), except Scutiger adungensis Dubois, Scutiger bhutanensis Delorme & Dubois, Scutiger boulengeri (Bedriaga), Scutiger nepalensis Dubois and Scutiger nyingchiensis Fei. During a fieldwork in Medog, southeastern Tibet, China, from May to June 2011, several individuals referable to Scutiger were collected, and could not be assigned to any known species (Fei et al. 2009; Frost 2011; Hu 1987; Li et al. 2010), which we suggest to be a new species and described here.
Material and methods All specimens were fixed in 10% formalin solution after sampling of tissues, and transferred to 70% ethanol about a week after fieldwork. Holotype and paratypes were deposited in Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All measurements were carried out with slide calipers to the nearest 0.1 mm. The measurements and the abbreviations used are mentioned below: Accepted by M. Vences: 17 May 2012; published: 13 Jul. 2012
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Body: SVL, snout-vent length. Head: HL, head length (from posterior corner of mandible to tip of snout); HW, head width, at the angle of jaws; IN, internarial distance; NS, distance from nostril to tipe of snout; ED, eye diameter (horizontal diameter); IO, interorbital distance (least distance between upper eyelids); UE, maximum width of upper eyelid; ES, distance from anterior corner of eye to tip of snout; EN, distance from anterior corner of eye to nostril. Forelimb: FLL, forelimb length (from elbow to base of outer palmar tubercle); HAL, hand length (from base of outer palmar tubercle to tip of the third finger). Hindlimb: FML, femur (thigh) length (from vent to knee); FOL, foot length (from base of inner metatarsal tubercle to tip of fourth toe); IMT, length of inner metatarsal tubercle; TFL, length of tarsus and foot (from base of tarsus to tip of the fourth toe); TBL, tibia (shank) length. Museum abbreviations: CIB-Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China. KIZ-Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, People’s Republic of China.
Scutiger wuguanfui sp. nov. (Figs. 1–2) Holotype. KIZ011111 (Fig. 3−4), an adult male from 62K of Medog (Muotuo County), Tibet (Xizang Autonomous Region), People’s Republic of China (29°42′33.6″N, 95°34′56.0″E, elevation 2705 m). Collected by Ke Jiang at night of 7 June 2011. Paratypes. Four adult males: KIZ011101, KIZ011102, KIZ011109, KIZ011110, and one adult female: KIZ011116. All of them were collected by Ke Jiang and Pipeng Li at the same date and locality as holotype. Etymology. The species epithet is a patronym, dedicated to Prof. Guanfu Wu, following the Chinese style of placing the given name after the family name. Prof. Wu is a noted Chinese herpetologist, who contributed to the taxonomy, karyology, and osteology of amphibians and reptiles, especially on anura. Prof. Wu was a member of Herpetological Team under “The Comprehensive Scientific Expedition to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Chinese Academy of Sciences”, and did fieldwork in Medog for about one month in the summer of 1973, later he described the beautiful new treefrog Rhacophorus translineatus Wu, 1977 which collected from Medog. At present, Prof. Wu still works in Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the age of 77 years. Suggested common name. Wu's Lazy Toad or Medog Lazy Toad. Diagnosis. Scutiger wuguanfui sp. nov. was placed in the genus Scutiger by the following diagnosis: maxillary teeth absent; vomerine teeth absent; tympanum and tympanic ring absent entirely; pupil vertically elliptic; outer metatarsals united; pectoral and axillary gland very large and covered by black spines. Scutiger wuguanfui sp. nov. is distinguished from all other species of Scutiger by the following combination of characters: (1) large adult size, female (SVL 116.7 mm) is much larger than male (males SVL 77.5−83.8 mm); (2) maxillary teeth absent; (3) male with a pair of pectoral glands and a pair of axillary glands, axillary glands similar to pectoral glands, all of them covered by black spines in breeding season; (4) in breeding male, nuptial spines on dorsal surface of firs and second fingers, and inner side of third finger; (5) male with an internal single subgular vocal sac, a pair of slit-like openings of vocal sac near corners of the mouth. Description of the holotype (KIZ011111, adult male): SVL 77.5 mm; body stout, moderately slender at waist; head large, nearly was broad as long (HW/HL ratio 1.03), flat; snout rounded, slightly projecting beyond jaw; canthus rostralis obtuse, loreal region oblique and concave; internarial distance larger than distance from anterior margin of eye to nostril (IN/EN ratio 1.39); eye moderate (ED/HL ratio 0.37), its diameter larger than eye to nostril distance (ED/EN ratio 2.16); interorbital space flat, interorbital width less than upper eyelid width (IO/UE ratio 0.63); pupil vertical; tympanum and tympanic rim absent; a small knob on anterior edge of mandible; jaws without teeth; tongue oval, slightly emarginate behind, without papillae; choanae located against anterior border of palate, visible when viewed from below; vomerine teeth absent; an internal single subgular vocal sac present,, with a pair of slit-like opennings near corners of the mouth; supratympanic fold from posterior corner of orbit to shoulder fold, distinctly developed. Forelimbs long; forearm about as long as hand (FLL/HAL ratio 1.09), enlarged; fingers slender, free of web or dermal fringes; relative length of fingers:I≈II
