Review of the genus <italic>Brachytarsophrys</italic> (Anura: Megophryidae), with revalidation of <italic>Brachytarsophrys platyparietus</italic> and description of a new species from China

A new species of the horned toad Megophrys Kuhl &amp; Van Hasselt, 1822 (Anura, Megophryidae) from southwest China

“…By having medium body size, Megophrys chishuiensis sp. nov. differs from M. aceras Boulenger, 1903, M. auralensis Ohler, Swan & Daltry, 2002, M. carinense Boulenger, 1889, M. caudoprocta Shen, 1994, M. chuannanensis (Fei, Ye & Huang, 2001, M. damrei Mahony, 2011, M. edwardinae Inger, 1989 & Yang, 1960, M. glandulosa Fei, Ye & Huang, 1990, M. himalayana Mahony, Kamei, Teeling & Biju, 2018, M. intermedia Smith, 1921, M. jingdongensis Fei & Ye, 1983, M. kalimantanensis Munir, Hamidy, Matsui, Iskandar, Sidik & Shimada, 2019 Li, Pan, , M. major Boulenger, 1908, M. mangshanensis Fei & Ye, 1990, M. maosonensis Bourret, 1937, M. medogensis Fei, Ye & Huang, 1983, M. omeimontis Liu, 1950, M. oreocrypta Mahony, Kamei, Teeling & Biju, 2018 orientalis (Li, Lyu, Wang & Wang, 2020), M. periosa Mahony, Kamei, Teeling & Biju, 2018, M. popei (Zhao, Yang, Chen, Chen & Wang, 2014, M. sangzhiensis Jiang, Ye & Fei, 2008, M. shapingensis Liu, 1950, M. shuichengensis Tian & Sun, 1995, and M. takensis Mahony, 2011 mm in the new species vs. minimum SVL > 53 mm in the latter), and differs from M. acuta Wang, Li & Jin, 2014, M. angka (Wu, Suwannapoom, Poyarkov, Chen, Pawangkhanant, Xu, Jin, Murphy & Che, 2019, M. caobangensis Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Luong & Ziegler, 2020, M. damrei Mahony, 2011, M. dongguanensis Wang & Wang, 2019, M. cheni, M. jiangi, M. jinggangensis (Wang, 2012, M. jiulianensis Wang, Zeng, Lyu & Wang, 2019…”

“…The taxonomic arrangements especially on generic assignments of the group have been controversial for a long time (e.g., Tian and Hu 1983;Dubois 1987;Lathrop 1997;Rao and Yang 1997;Jiang et al 2003;Delorme et al 2006;Fei et al 2009;Chen et al 2016;Fei and Ye 2016;Deuti et al 2017;Mahony et al 2017;Frost 2019). Nevertheless, all molecular phylogenetic studies revealed this group as a monophyletic group which corresponds to the family (Chen et al 2016;Mahony et al 2017;Liu et al 2018;Li et al 2018;Liu et al 2020;Wang et al 2020), and thus many researchers considered it as a large genus Megophrys sensu lato (Mahony et al 2017;Li et al 2018;Liu et al 2018Liu et al , 2020Frost 2020;Wang et al 2020) although several studies divided the taxa of the group into different genera and subgenera, thus introducing better resolution of relationships within the family (Chen et al 2016;Fei and Ye 2016;Deuti et al 2017;Liu et al 2018).…”

“…The large genus Megophrys currently contains 98 species, of which 41 species were described in the last decade (Frost 2020;Liu et al 2020). Many cryptic species in the genus are indicated by molecular phylogenetic analyses (Chen et al 2016;Liu et al 2018) of which several have been described recently (e.g., Liu et al 2020). Obviously, more cryptic species need to be verified and described in detail.…”

Description of a new horned toad of Megophrys Kuhl &amp; Van Hasselt, 1822 (Amphibia, Megophryidae) from Zhejiang Province, China

“…The Asian horned toad Megophrys Kuhl & Van Hasselt, 1822 ( Anura : Megophryidae Bonaparte, 1850) is widely distributed in eastern and central China, throughout southeastern Asia, and extending to the islands of the Sunda Shelf and the Philippines ( Frost 2020 ). The generic assignment of species in the group has been controversial for decades (e.g., Tian and Hu 1983 ; Dubois 1987 ; Rao and Yang 1997 ; Lathrop 1997 ; Jiang et al 2003 ; Delorme et al 2006 ; Fei et al 2009 ; Fei and Ye 2016 ; Chen et al 2017 ; Deuti et al 2017 ; Mahony et al 2017 ; Li et al 2020 ). Recent molecular phylogenetic studies proposed this group as a monophyletic group ( Chen et al 2017 ; Mahony et al 2017 ; Li et al 2018a ; Liu et al 2018 ; Liu et al 2020 ; Wang et al 2020 ), which was recognized as a big genus Megophrys sensu lato ( Mahony et al 2017 ; Li et al 2018b ; Liu et al 2018 ; Liu et al 2018 ; Liu et al 2020 ; Lyu et al 2020 ; Xu et al 2020 ; Wang et al 2020 ), though some studies still divided the taxa of the group into different genera and/or subgenera ( Fei and Ye 2016 ; Chen et al 2017 ; Deuti et al 2017 ; Liu et al 2018 ).…”

Two new Leptobrachella species (Anura, Megophryidae) from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, southwestern China

“…The generic classifications within the family Megophryidae Bonaparte, 1850 have always been controversial. For example, recent comprehensive approaches have produced different taxonomic schemes for the genus Megophrys sensu lato Kuhl and Van Hasselt 1822 ( Chen et al 2017 ; Mahony et al 2017 ; Liu et al 2018 ; Li et al 2020b ). The taxonomy of another group of megophrid toads are facing the same problem: Chen et al (2018) presented the first well-resolved phylogenetic hypothesis for the genera Leptolalax Dubois, 1983 and Leptobrachella Bonaparte, 1850.…”