Leptobrachella ventripunctata (Fei, Ye & Li, 1990)

Wu, Yun-He, Pawangkhanant, Parinya, Chen, Jin-Min, Gao, Wei, Suwannapoom, Chatmongkon & Che, Jing, 2021, Confirmation of Leptobrachella ventripunctata (Fei, Ye, and Li, 1990), based on molecular and morphological evidence in Thailand, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 74097-74097 : 74097

Leptobrachella ventripunctata (Fei, Ye & Li, 1990)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: AUP-00326 ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Leptobrachella ventripunctata; class: Amphibia ; order: Anura ; family: Megophryidae ; genus: Leptobrachella ; specificEpithet: ventripunctata; Location : country: Thailand; countryCode: TL; stateProvince: Chiang Rai; locality: Doi Tung ; verbatimElevation: 650 m; verbatimLatitude: 20°19'36.1"N; verbatimLongitude: 99°49'35.0"E; Record Level: basisOfRecord: preserved specimen

Description

Morphological descriptions of the specimen obtained from Thailand (measurements shown in Suppl. material 3) are as follows: adult male with SVL 28.9 mm; head length (HL 13.1 mm, 45.3% of SVL) longer than width (HW 11.6 mm, 40.1% of SVL); snout slightly pointed, projecting beyond lower jaw; nostrils slightly closer to eyes than tip of snout (N-EL 2.5 mm, 8.7% of SVL; SN 2.7 mm, 9.3% of SVL); canthus rostralis distinct; loreal region concave; snout (SL 5.3 mm, 18.3% of SVL) longer than eye diameter (EL 4.6 mm, 15.9% of SVL); width of upper eyelid (UEW 4.5 mm) larger than interorbital distance (IOD 3.5 mm) and internasal distance (IND 3.1 mm); tympanum distinct, rounded, length (TD 2.4 mm, 8.3% of SVL) nearly half the diameter of the eye; vomerine teeth absent; pupil vertical; tongue pyriform, deeply notched posteriorly; supratympanic fold distinct, running from posterior corner of eye towards axilla (Fig. 4 ).

Forelimbs slender; relative finger lengths: I<II<IV<III; tips of all fingers rounded and slightly swollen; fingers with lateral dermal fringes; no webbing between fingers; subarticular tubercles distinct, large, near the palm smaller; two palmar tubercles, inner palmar tubercle large, rounded (IPTL 1.6 mm, 5.5% of SVL), outer palmar tubercle relatively small (OPTL 1.0 mm, 3.5% of SVL) (Fig. 4 ).

Hind-limbs long, foot slightly shorter than tibia, tibia length (TL) 56.1% of SVL, foot length (FL) 51.6% of SVL; tibial-tarsal articulation beyond the tip of the eye when the hind-limb is adpressed along the side of the body; heels overlapping when the flexed legs are held at right angles to the body axis; relative toe length: I<II<III<IV<V; tips of toes rounded and slightly swollen; rudimentary webbing between toes; subarticular tubercles distinct, rounded, inner metatarsal tubercle distinct and oval (IMTL 0.9 mm, 3.1% of SVL), outer metatarsal tubercle distinct (1.0 mm, 3.5% of SVL) (Fig. 4 ).

Dorsal surfaces of head, body, thigh, tibia and flank of body appear relatively rough with numerous granular spots; ventral surfaces smooth; pectoral gland and femoral gland distinct, oval; pectoral glands larger than femoral glands; supra-axillary gland raised. Ventrolateral gland distinctly visible, forming discontinuous cream-white lines on flanks (Fig. 4 ).

Color in life

Dorsal surface appears reddish brown with small reddish tubercles; a dark inverted triangular marking in the interorbital region, a "W"-shaped marking appears between axillae; flanks scattered with some distinct moderate black blotches; upper lips with three black vertical bars; loreal and tympanic region with distinct black markings; supratympanic ridge appears reddish and lower margin of supratympanic fold appears black; elbow to upper arm and tibio-tarsal articulation distinct and reddish-brown in colour on the dorsum; dorsal surface of lower arms, legs, fingers and toes with dark brown crossbars; throat pale with some dusting; belly creamy white with many scattered brown spots; ventrolateral glands, pectoral glands and femoral glands appear white or yellowish-white; ventral surface of limbs appear grey brown with dark brown and white speckling or dots; iris distinctly bicoloured, typically bright orange-red on upper half and silvery-white on lower half (Fig. 4 ).

Distribution

This species was previously only known to be indigenous to extreme southern Yunnan, China; Phongsaly, Xiangkhouang and Houaphanh Provinces in Laos; as well as Son La, Vinh Phuc, Thanh Hoa, Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, Nghe An, Bac Giang, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai and Dien Bien Provinces in Vietnam (Chen et al. 2018, Frost 2021). Importantly, this first specific record of L. ventripunctata in Thailand substantially expands the known area of distribution of this species.

Ecology

This species lives mainly in the litter on both sides of streams. An individual specimen was observed at night sitting on the branch of a shrub that was about 1-2 m off the ground in an evergreen forest surrounded by trees near a stream with nearby herbaceous plants (Fig. 5 ). This species has been associated with the sympatric distribution of Micryletta inornata and Limnonectes taylori .

Figures

Figure 4. Male of L. ventripunctata (AUP- 00326) in life. A. Dorsolateral view B. ventral view C. lateral view of the head. Photo by P. Pawangkhanant.

Figure 5. Habitat at collection site of L. ventripunctata in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand.