Rana johnsi Smith, 1921

Luong, Anh Mai, Do, Quyen Hanh, Hoang, Chung Van, Phan, Tien Quang, Nguyen, Truong Quang & Pham, Cuong The, 2022, New records of amphibians from Bac Kan Province, Vietnam, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 75595-75595 : 75595

Rana johnsi Smith, 1921

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IEBR A.4895 ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Rana johnsi; class: Amphibia ; order: Anura ; family: Ranidae ; genus: Rana ; specificEpithet: johnsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Smith , 1921; Location : country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Bac Kan; locality: Nam Xuan Lac HSCA ; verbatimElevation: 714 m; verbatimLatitude: 22°16.492'N; verbatimLongitude: 105°31.165'E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS84; Event: eventDate: 28August 2020; eventRemarks: collected by P. Q. Tien; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IEBR A.4896 ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Rana johnsi; class: Amphibia ; order: Anura ; family: Ranidae ; genus: Rana ; specificEpithet: johnsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Smith , 1921; Location : country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Bac Kan; locality: Nam Xuan Lac HSCA ; verbatimElevation: 696 m; verbatimLatitude: 22°16.418'N; verbatimLongitude: 105°30.650'E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS84; Event: eventDate: 25 August 2020; eventRemarks: collected by L. M. Anh, D. H. Quyen and P. Q. Tien; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IEBR A.4897 ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Rana johnsi; class: Amphibia ; order: Anura ; family: Ranidae ; genus: Rana ; specificEpithet: johnsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Smith , 1921; Location : country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Bac Kan; locality: Nam Xuan Lac HSCA ; verbatimElevation: 696 m; verbatimLatitude: 22°16.418'N; verbatimLongitude: 105°30.650'E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS84; Event: eventDate: 25August 2020; eventRemarks: collected by L. M. Anh, D. H. Quyen and P. Q. Tien; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: IEBR A.4898 ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Rana johnsi; class: Amphibia ; order: Anura ; family: Ranidae ; genus: Rana ; specificEpithet: johnsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Smith , 1921; Location : country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Bac Kan; locality: Nam Xuan Lac HSCA ; verbatimElevation: 723 m; verbatimLatitude: 22°17.645'N; verbatimLongitude: 105°30.445'E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS84; Event: eventDate: 27August 2020; eventRemarks: collected by P. Q. Tien; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Size medium (SVL 39.7 mm in male; SVL 56.4-60.3 mm in females); head longer than wide (HL 14.5 mm, HW 11.2 mm in the male; HL 22.1-24.0 mm, HW 17.9-19.1 mm in females); snout obtusely pointed, longer than eye diameter (RL 5.9 mm, ED 4.6 mm in male; RL 8.6-9.0 mm, ED 6.2-6.6 mm in females); nostrils round, closer to the tip of snout than to eye (NS 2.4 mm, EN 3.9 mm in male; NS 3.4-4.2 mm, EN 5.1-5.3 mm in females); canthus rostralis distinct, loreal region concave; tympanum eliptic, distinct; vomerine teeth present; tongue notched posteriorly. Forelimbs: Forearm slender (FLL 8.9 mm in male; FLL 11.0-12.6 mm in females), hand length (HAL 18.7 mm in male; HAL 26.5-27.0 mm in females); relative finger lengths I <II <IV <III, tips of fingers not enlarged; fingers free of webbing. Hind-limbs: Thigh slender, long (FeL 21.6 mm in male; FeL 33.2-33.9 mm in females); tibia seven times longer than wide in male (TbL 25.3 mm, TbW 3.3 mm); tibia six times longer than wide in females (TbL 36.5-38.8 mm, TbW 6.1-7.2 mm); relative toe lengths I <II <III <V <IV; webbing formula I0- ½II0-1III½ -1IV1-0V; tibio-tarsal articulation reaching to the nostril when leg adpressed along body. Skin: Dorsal surface of head and body smooth with some small tubercles; supratympanic fold distinct, some short, oblique dermal folds on limbs; a Λ-shaped fold between shoulders; dorsolateral fold present; ventral surface smooth.

Colouration in life: Dorsal surface light brown; flanks whitish-brown; dorsal surface of limbs with dark brown transverse bars; a small black stripe from nostril to eye; sides of limbs with dark pattern; ventral surface yellowish-white; gular region marbled with grey; ventral surface of hind-limbs yellow (Fig. 9 ) (determination after Bourret (1942), Inger et al. (1999)).

Distribution

In Vietnam, R. johnsi was known from Lao Cai and Ha Giang Provinces in the North to Lam Dong and Dong Nai Provinces ( Nguyen et al. 2009, Frost 2021). Elsewhere, this species has been recorded from China, Taiwan, Thailand and Cambodia ( Nguyen et al. 2009, Frost 2021).

Ecology

Specimens were found on the ground, between 19:00 and 20:30 h. The surrounding habitat was mixed secondary forest of small hardwoods and vines.

Notes

This species is morphologically similar to Nidirana lini . However, it differs from N. lini by having a smaller body size in the male (SVL 39.7 mm vs. 44.2-61.2 mm in N. lini ) and the absence of vocal sacs in males (vs. present in N. lini ) ( Chou 1999).

Figures

Figure 9. The male specimen of Rana johnsi (IEBR A. 4895; SVL 39.7 mm) in life.