Polypedates leucomystax (Gravenhorst, 1829)

Grismer, L. Lee, Neang, Thy, Chav, Thou, Wood, Perry L., Jr & Oaks, Jamie R., 2008, Additional Amphibians And Reptiles From The Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary In Northwestern Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia, With Comments On Their Taxonomy And The Discovery Of Three New Species, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 56 (1), pp. 161-175 : 168

Polypedates leucomystax complex

Material examined. – LSUHC 7759–65 : Pramaoy, 4 Aug.2006 ; LSUHC 7817 : Che Teal Chrum, 5 Aug. 2006 ; LSUHC 7847 : Camp 1, 6 Aug.2006 ; LSUHC 7899 : Camp 2, 9 Aug.2006 .

Remarks. – The Polypedates leucomystax complex is an incompletely understood species group with many distinct forms from various regions masquerading under a single name ( Inger et al., 1999; Narins, et al., 1998; Orlov et al., 2001; Trepanier et al., 1999; Zhao & Adler 1993) if not more. Seven adult males (LSUHC 7759–65; SVL 52–57 mm) from Pramaoy and an adult female (LSUHC 7817; SVL 79 mm) from Che Teal Chrum match the description of Polypedates leucomystax leucomystax in Taylor (1962) and four specimens from the northeastern Cardamoms ( Grismer et al., 2007a; LSUHC 7347–48, 7354–55) in that the skin of the head is fused to the frontoparietal and nasal bones; vocal sac present in males; interorbital space wider than upper eyelid; tympanum distinct; fingers with small (nearly absent in our sample) webbing; toes at least 2/3 webbed; digital discs smaller than tympanum; tibiotarsal articulation reaching from eye to end of snout; vomerine teeth present; and an hourglassshaped, dark marking on head and occiput reaching shoulders (only in LSUHC 7760–62, 7764–65; pattern obscured in LSUHC 7759, 7763). LSUHC 7817 from Che Teal Chrum has four, dark, dorsal stripes instead of an hourglass marking, thus matching the description of P. l. sexvirgatus ( Taylor, 1962). Similar variation was reported in populations of this complex from Phnom Aural ( Grismer et al., 2007a).

Individuals of these two populations were collected at night while sitting on the leaves of low bushes next to roadside puddles in anthropogenically modified habitats. Many others were heard calling from nearby vegetation.

LSUHC 7847 from Camp 1 (adult male, SVL 49 mm) matches Taylor’s (1962) description except that the dorsum has dark mottling and the flanks have dark stippling. This specimen was collected deep within undisturbed forest while sitting in vegetation along a small stream.

LSUHC 7899 from Camp 2 is a large adult female (SVL 99 m) generally matching Taylor’s (1962) description except that the dorsum is cream coloured with a few isolated dark spots. This specimen was collected while sitting 1.5 m above a fastflowing, rocky stream coursing through secondary forest.

This species complex has been reported from the central Cardamoms by Ohler et al. (2002) and from the northeastern Cardamoms by Grismer et al. (2007a), Ohler et al. (2002), Stuart & Emmett (2006), and Swan & Daltry (2002).