Odorrana sangzhiensis Zhang, Li, Hu & Yang, 2021

Zhang, Bing, Li, Yuan, Hu, Ke, Li, Pipeng, Gu, Zhirong, Xiao, Nengwen & Yang, Daode, 2021, A new species of Odorrana (Anura, Ranidae) from Hunan Province, China, ZooKeys 1024, pp. 91-115 : 91

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1024.56399
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:756CA7F5-A4C1-4759-AB64-8C147F6C9A6A
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3819587B-C4B1-46F8-9FB8-7B25D5FA9A71
taxon LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:act:3819587B-C4B1-46F8-9FB8-7B25D5FA9A71
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Odorrana sangzhiensis Zhang, Li, Hu & Yang
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Odorrana sangzhiensis Zhang, Li, Hu & Yang sp. nov.

Holotype.

CSUFT 4308220051, adult male collected by Bing Zhang on 30 July 2019, in Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie City , Hunan Province, China (29°38'54.66"N, 110°34'44.62"E; 540 m a.s.l.; Figure 3A, B View Figure 3 ). GoogleMaps

Paratypes.

Three adult females, CSUFT 4308220046, CSUFT 4308220047 (Figure 3C View Figure 3 ) and CSUFT 4308220048 (Figure 3E View Figure 3 ); one adult male, CSUFT 4308220049; the same collection information as the holotype.

Diagnosis.

Odorrana sangzhiensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all of its congeners by a combination of following characters: (1) medium size, SDI = 1.03 ( SVL 83.3-92.7 mm in females and 42.1-45.1 mm in males); (2) head length greater than head width; (3) dorsolateral folds absent; (4) a small white or beige dot between eyes; (5) brown supratympanic fold slightly distinct; (6) the tympanum diameter in females 1.53 times as long as the width of the disc of finger III; in males 2.3 times; (7) green dorsal skin with dense granules and sparse, irregular brown spots; the males with several large warts on dorsum; (8) flanks with larger tubercles, 4-7 large tubercles usually arranged in a dorsolateral row of the males; (9) two metacarpal tubercles; (10) discs of all digits with circum-marginal grooves; (11) relative finger lengths: I ≤ II <IV <III; (12) feet fully webbed; (13) tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout; (14) ventre smooth in females; pale spinules present on throat and chest of adult males; (15) dorsal digits light yellow or beige with light brown spots, dorsal limbs green or yellow green with brown transverse bands; (16) having paired external vocal sacs located at corners of the throat, light yellow nuptial pad on finger I in males.

Description of holotype.

Adult male, SVL 42.1 mm; top of head flat; head length greater than maximum head width ( HDL: HDW = 1.36); snout obtusely rounded in dorsal view ( SL / HDL = 0.39), rounded in profile, projecting beyond lower jaw; large and protruding eyes ( ED / SL = 0.79), deeply concave loreal region; IND = 5.3 mm, larger than IOD = 3.9 mm; nasal margin slightly closer to the tip of snout; tympanum circular, large and distinct, surrounded by many granules, tympanum diameter 0.65 times the eye diameter; vomerine teeth developed into mass on two oblique ridges on the inside of two internal nostrils; tongue deeply notched posteriorly.

Forelimbs sturdy ( LW / LAL = 0.21); length of lower arm and hand just over half the body length ( LAL / SVL > 0.50); relative finger lengths: I ≤ II <IV <III; FDW / TYD = 0.44; finger webbing absent, tips of fingers moderately expanded, presenting circular discs with slightly narrow top and circum-marginal grooves; subarticular tubercles prominent; supernumerary tubercle at the base of each finger smaller than subarticular tubercles; two oblong metacarpal tubercles; buff nuptial pad on the first finger.

Hind limbs relatively long, the heels overlapping obviously, tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout; tibia length ( TL) 0.54 times SVL; foot length ( FL) 0.56 times SVL; toes, slender, relative toe lengths I <II <III <V <IV; tibia length slightly shorter than foot length; subarticular tubercles prominent; toes discs same as fingers; obvious horizontal groove in dorsal view of discs; feet fully webbed to discs; lateral fringes on free edges of toes I and V not obvious, metatarsal fold absent; inner metatarsal tubercle present, elliptical; outer metatarsal tubercle absent; inner tarsal fold absent.

Skin slightly rough with dense granules, several large warts on dorsum and flanks; dorsolateral folds absent; two glands behind the back edge of the lips; a small beige dot between anterior corners of the eyes; pale spinules present on throat and chest.

Colouration in life.

In life, the yellow-green dorsum of head and body with scattered irregular dark brown spots; no light edges around spots; small area of dark brown spots on the dorsum of head; large dark black spots in the centre on dorsum, continuing on to light yellow flank with several brown spots; supratympanic fold slightly distinct, brown; upper and lower lip with vertical brown bars; arms green-yellow with brown transverse bands, thighs and tibias with four brown bands; different widths of brown striations on green-yellow limbs, different distances between striations (Figure 3 View Figure 3 ).

Colouration in alcohol.

On dorsum, colour fades to grey-blue with dark grey spots, brown bars on upper and lower lips change to dark grey; ventre variable from yellowish to creamy-white; beige dot between anterior corners of the eyes fades to white; underside of limbs varies from brown to beige (Figure 4 View Figure 4 ).

Variation.

Measurements of the five specimens are shown in Table 1. The specimens show obvious differences between females and males in each character measurement. The snout-vent length of females is approximately twice as long as the males ( SVL mean 88.6 mm, range 83.3-92.7 mm in females; SVL mean 43.6 mm, range 42.1-45.1 mm in males). In the ratio of each character to SVL, HDL, HDW, ED, IOD, TYD and LW, these are all significantly smaller in females than in males. Some females have dense brown spots on the dorsum and most of the yellow green on their limbs is replaced by yellow white (Figure 3E View Figure 3 ).

Comparisons.

Odorrana sangzhiensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from O. absita , O. amamiensis , O. banaorum , O. bolavensis , O. exiliversabilis , O. gigatympana , O. graminea , O. hosii , O. indeprensa , O. khalam , O. leporipes , O. livida , O. monjerai , O. narina , O. nasica , O. nasuta , O. orba , O. supranarina , O. tormota , O. trankieni , O. utsunomiyaorum , O. versabilis and O. yentuensis by lacking dorsolateral folds (vs. present in other species).

Odorrana sangzhiensis sp. nov. differs from O. amamiensis (56-69 mm), O. andersonii (68-76 mm), O. aureola (63.6-67.4 mm), O. bacboensis (54.9 mm), O. cangyuanensis (62-69 mm), O. chapaensis (73-83 mm), O. geminata (71-79 mm), O. grahami (70-84 mm), O. ishikawae (88-106 mm), O. jingdongensis (62-82 mm), O. junlianensis (73-80 mm), O. kuangwuensis (57 mm), O. lungshengensis (60-67 mm), O. macrotympana (50.6 mm), O. margaretae (78-88 mm), O. mawphlangensis (80 mm), O. mutschmanni (85.9-91.6 mm), O. nanjiangensis (50.0- 59.6 mm), O. splendida (92.3-105.6 mm), O. swinhoana (47.7-71.5 mm), O. trankieni (76.1-77.0 mm) and O. wuchuanensis (62-77 mm) by the smaller snout-vent length in males ( SVL 42.1-45.1 mm).

Odorrana sangzhiensis sp. nov. differs from O. anlungensis ( II <I ≈ IV <III), O. chloronota ( II <I <IV <III), O. morafkai ( II <I <IV <III) and O. rotodora ( II <I <IV <III) by the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III; from O. sinica (tympanum indistinct) by tympanum distinct; from O. lipuensis (vocal sacs absent in males) by paired external vocal sacs located at corners of the throat; from O. lungshengensis by tympanum diameter larger than width at the widest part of the disc of finger III (vs. tympanum diameter approximately equal to width at the widest part of the disc of finger III); from O. yizhangensis by the body size of females with minimum SVL 83.3 mm (vs. SVL 58.2-71.5 mm of females in the latter), the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths I <II <IV <III) and tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. only reaching the tip of the snout).

Within the Odorrana schmackeri species complex ( O. hejiangensis , O. huanggangensis , O. kweichowensis , O. schmackeri and O. tianmuii ) (Figure 5 View Figure 5 ) and its relatives ( O. fengkaiensis , O. hainanensis and O. tiannanensis ), Odorrana sangzhiensis sp. nov. differs from O. hejiangensis by the body size of males with maximum SVL 45.1 mm (vs. SVL 50.7-57.8 mm of males in the latter), the larger size dimorphism index ( SDI = 1.03 vs. SDI = 0.49), the head longer than wider (vs. head longer or almost equally wide), two metacarpal tubercles (vs. three metacarpal tubercles), discs of all digits with circum-marginal grooves (vs. without circum-marginal grooves on finger I in the latter), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. reaching to the level between eye to nostril) and the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths II <I <IV <III) (Table 2 View Table 2 ); from O. huanggangensis by the head longer than wide (vs. head longer to almost equally wide), two metacarpal tubercles (vs. three metacarpal tubercles), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. just reaching the nostril) and the relative toe lengths I <II <III <V <IV (vs. relative toe lengths I <II <III ≤ V <IV) (Table 2 View Table 2 ); from O. kweichowensis by the body size of females with minimum SVL 83.3 mm (vs. SVL 67.9-78.7 mm of females in the latter), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. reaching the level between the anterior corner of the eye and the nostril) and the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths II <I <IV <III) (Tables 2 View Table 2 , 3 View Table 3 ); from O. schmackeri by temporal fold non-prominent (vs. temporal fold prominent), the head longer than wide (vs. head longer almost equally wide), two metacarpal tubercles (vs. outer metacarpal tubercle being indistinct), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. reaching to the level between eye to nostril), the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths II <I ≈ IV <III) and the relative toe lengths I <II <III <V <IV (vs. relative toe lengths I <II <III ≈ V <IV) (Table 2 View Table 2 ); from O. tianmuii by two metacarpal tubercles (vs. three metacarpal tubercles), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. reaching to the level between eye to nostril) and the relative toe lengths I <II <III <V <IV (vs. relative toe lengths I <II <III ≤ V <IV) (Table 2 View Table 2 ); from O. fengkaiensis by two metacarpal tubercles (vs. three metacarpal tubercles) and the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths II <I <IV <III) (Table 2 View Table 2 ); from O. hainanensis by two metacarpal tubercles (vs. three metacarpal tubercles), paired external vocal sacs located at corners of the throat (vs. paired internal vocal sacs in males), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. reaching the anterior corner of the eye or the tip of snout) and the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths II <IV ≈ I <III) (Table 2 View Table 2 ); from O. tiannanensis by the body size of males with maximum SVL 45.1 mm (vs. SVL 52.5-53.5 mm of males in the latter), tibiotarsal articulation beyond the tip of the snout (vs. far beyond the snout) and the relative finger lengths I ≤ II <IV <III (vs. relative finger lengths II <I <IV <III) (Tables 2 View Table 2 , 3 View Table 3 ).

Odorrana sangzhiensis sp. nov. differs from O. hejiangensis by having significantly lower ratios of HDL, HDW, SL, TYD and TFL to SVL in females (all p -values <0.05; Table 4); from O. huanggangensis by having significantly lower ratios of HDL, HDW, SL, ED, TFL and FDW to SVL in females (all p -values <0.05; Table 4); from O. kweichowensis by having significantly lower ratios of HDL, HDW, SL, ED, IND, NED, TYD, LAL, TL, TFL, FL and FDW to SVL in females (all p -values <0.05; Table 4); from O. schmackeri by having significantly lower ratios of HDL, HDW, SL, TYD and TFL to SVL in females (all p -values <0.05; Table 4). In females, on the two-dimensional plots of PC1 vs. PC2, the new taxon can be almost separated from O. hejiangensis , O. huanggangensis , O. kweichowensis and O. schmackeri (Figure 6 View Figure 6 ).

Etymology.

The scientific name " Odorrana sangzhiensis " is derived from its type locality Sangzhi County in Hunan Province. As common names, we suggest Sangzhi Odorous Frog (English) and Sang Zhi Chou Wa (Chinese) .

Distribution and natural history.

The new species is currently known only from its type locality, Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China (Figure 1 View Figure 1 ). It is found in canyon streams and perches on the rocks beside the streams (Figure 7A, B View Figure 7 ). They usually hide under the rocks during the day and are active at night. The vegetation on both sides of the stream is luxuriant and comprises a mixed forest of evergreen and deciduous flora. In their habitat, the dominant trees are Ulmus changii Cheng, 1936, Castanopsis carlesii Hayata, 1917 and Sloanea hemsleyana Rehder & Wilson, 1916 and the dominant shrubs are Boehmeria penduliflora Weddell & Long, 1982 and Distylium myricoides Hemsl, 1907. The dominant herbs are Pilea sinofasciata Chen, 1982, Strobilanthes dimorphotricha Hance, 1883 and Miscanthus floridulus Labillardière, 1824. One sympatric amphibian species, Amolops ricketti Boulenger, 1899, was found. In the field investigation, the tadpoles and eggs of this new species were not found. However, we observed reproductive behaviour (Figure 3F View Figure 3 ). In addition, one female ( CSUFT 4308220047 ) collected on 30 July 2019, contained mature eggs (Figure 3C View Figure 3 ). The eggs in preservative showed yellowish-white. Thus, the breeding period of this species may be in July and August .