Rhacophorus yaoshanensis Liu & Hu, 1962

Chen, Weicai, Liao, Xiaowen, Zhou, Shichu, Mo, Yunming & Huang, Yong, 2018, Rediscovery of Rhacophorus yaoshanensis and Theloderma kwangsiensis at their type localities after five decades, Zootaxa 4379 (4), pp. 484-496 : 487-492

Rhacophorus yaoshanensis Liu & Hu, 1962

Type locality. Dayaoshan Ranges , Jinxiu County, Guangxi, China.

Specimens examined (n=14). All specimens were collected in the Dayaoshan Ranges, Guangxi, China. NHMG1402013 , adult female, on a tree approximately 1.5 m above the ground in the evergreen forest (first location: 24.165953° N, 110.242814° E, 1218 m asl), collected by Yunming Mo, Zhuqiu Song and Shichu Zhou, at 21:15 h on 26 February, 2014 . NHMG14003024, adult male, on leaves of herbaceous plants approximately 0.5 m above the ground in evergreen forest (second location: 24.148056° N, 110.211111° E, 1460 m asl), collected by Weicai Chen, Yunming Mo and Shichu Zhou, at 21:43 h on 17 March, 2014. NHMG1503011, adult male, on a bamboo approximately 0.8 m above the ground in evergreen forest (third location: 24.090763° N, 110.202444° E, 1417 m asl), collected by Weicai Chen, Yunming Mo and Shichu Zhou, at 22:12 h on 22 March, 2015. NHMG 150401, adult female, and NHMG 150402 -12, 10 adult males, on leaves of herbaceous plants ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 m above the ground in evergreen forest (fourth location: 24.107553° N, 110.185458° E, 1372 m asl), collected by Weicai Chen, Yunming Mo and Shichu Zhou, from 21:30 h to 23:45 h, on 14 April, 2015 ( Fig. 1 ).

Description. Body dorsoventrally compressed; head length less than head width (HL/HW=0.83); snout pointed in dorsal view and profile, projecting slightly beyond margin of the lower jaw; canthus rostral distinct, loreal region sloping; nostrils oval, oblique, slightly protuberant, and much closer to the tip of snout than eye; eye distance less than snout length (ED/SNT=0.77); interorbital region slightly concave; interorbital distance almost equal to eye diameter (IOD/ED=0.98); internarial space almost equal to eye diameter (IN/EYE=1.03); tympanum distinct, rounded, 50% eye diameter (TD/EYE=0.50), slightly concave relative to the skin of temporal region; pupil horizontal; vomerine teeth in two oblique groups (less than 20° to horizontal line), closer to choanae than each other; tongue elongated, deeply notched posteriorly; pineal ocellus absent; oval vocal sac opening at base of the jaw; external single subgular vocal sac; supratympanic fold distinct, extending to beyond level of axilla. ( Table 2; Fig. 1 ).

Forelimbs moderately robust, relative length of fingers I<II<IV<III; tips of all but the first fingers distinctly expanded with circummarginal grooves; the third finger disk width almost equal to tympanum diameter (FTD3/ TD=0.93); webbing formula I 1 -– 1- II 1–1- III 1 +– 2- IV; subarticular tubercles prominent, rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 2; palmar tubercle indistinct; nuptial pads present ( Fig. 2 ).

Tips of toes expanded with distinct circummarginal grooves; disks smaller than those of fingers; relative length of toes I<II<III<V<IV; webbing formula I 1 +–1- II 1 +–1+ III 2 +–2 IV 2 +–2+ V; subarticular tubercles distinct, rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 3, 2; inner metatarsal tubercle oval; outer metatarsal tubercle absent ( Fig. 2 ).

Dorsal surface smooth; ventral surface of belly and thighs coarsely granular; throat and chest smooth; loose skin on the throat; tarsal fold present; outer margin of the forearm, foot and supracloacal region with low dermal ridges.

Coloration of R. yaoshanensis in life. The dorsal surface is green, with or without faint green spots; venter is cream without spots; the anterior and posterior surface of thighs, the ventral surface of shanks and the posterior surface of flanks are orange-red without spots; cloacal region is pale grey; throat is grey in males; and the iris is pale yellowish gold with a network of fine dark gold reticulations ( Fig. 1 ).

Ecology. R. yaoshanensis specimens were collected from four locations in the Dayaoshan Ranges. Except for the first location, all are close to permanent pools, ranging in area from 5 to 50 m 2. At the fourth location, we found about 40 individuals scattered on leaves of herbaceous plants ( Fig. 3 ). Interestingly, we did not observe vocalizing males or amplexus. One adult female (NHMG 150401) was found, but contained no eggs. However, a female (NHMG1402013) containing creamy yellow eggs was collected at the first location in February. The advertisement call and tadpole of R. yaoshanensis are unknown.

Distribution. Currently, this species is known only from the Dayaohan Ranges, and inhabits evergreen forest above 1100 m elevation.

Molecular analyses. Two individuals (NHMG 150404, 150408) were sequenced successfully. Based on our preliminarily phylogenetic analyses, R. yaoshanensis is the sister-species of R. pinglongensis with well-supported values (BBP=1.0) ( Fig. 4 ). The genetic distance between R. yaoshanensis and R. pinglongensis is at the 16S gene fragment examined was 2.0 %.

Figures

FIGURE 2. (A) Ventral view of left hand and (B) ventral view of left foot of Rhacophorus yaoshanensis (NHMG14003024, adult male).

FIGURE 3. Habitat of Rhacophorus yaoshanensis in the Dayaoshan Range, Guangxi, China.

FIGURE 4. Bayesian inference tree based on 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA mitochondrial genes for species currently assigned to Rhacophorus with Spinomantis peraccae and Polypedates megacephalus as outgroups. Numbers above branches represent bootstrap support for Bayesian posterior probabilities.Sample numbers are included in Table 1.

FIGURE1. (A) Dorsolateral, (B) dorsal and (C) ventral view of Rhacophorus yaoshanensis (NHMG1402013, adult female)in life, and (D) dorsolateral, (E) dorsal and (F)thigh view of R. yaoshanensis (NHMG14003024, adult male) in life.