The Vietnamese population of Megophrys kuatunensis (Amphibia: Megophryidae) represents a new species of Asian horned frog from Vietnam and southern China

Abstract

The Asian frog genus Megophrys is a diverse group of morphologically conserved, forest-dwelling frogs. The genus harbours highly localised species diversification and new species continue to be described on a regular basis. We examined the taxonomic status of a population of Megophrys frogs from the Hoang Lien Range in northern Vietnam and southern China previously identified as M. kuatunensis (subgenus Panophrys). Preliminary phylogenetic analyses using a fragment of 16S rDNA places the species in question within the Megophrys (subgenus Panophrys) species group, a primarily Chinese radiation within the genus. On the basis of morphological, molecular and bioacoustic data, we conclude that this population does not represent M. kuatunensis, or any known species in the genus. We herein describe this species of Megophrys as new. Known only from Sa Pa District, Lao Cai Province in Vietnam and Jinping County, Yunnan Province in China, the new species is likely to be threatened by ongoing deforestation in the region. We provide an updated species description of M. kuatunensis based on type specimens, and suggest that M. kuatunensis is likely to be restricted to eastern China.

Description of six new species of the subgenus Panophrys within the genus Megophrys (Anura, Megophryidae) from southeastern China based on molecular and morphological data

“…Comparative morphological data of Megophrys species allocated to the subgenus Panophrys (currently contains 32 species) (Mahony et al 2017; Tapley et al 2017; Wang et al 2017a; Wang et al 2017b; Zhang et al 2017; Li et al 2018; Tapley et al 2018), and a small-sized species M.feii (incertae sedis), were obtained from examination of museum specimens (see Appendix 1) and from the literature (Table 2). The order of the new species accounts follows the distributions of the new species that located in the longitudinal mountain belt from the south to the north.…”

Multiple data revealed two new species of the Asian horned toad Megophrys Kuhl & Van Hasselt, 1822 (Anura, Megophryidae) from the eastern corner of the Himalayas

“…This species was also reported new range in Lao Cai and Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam (Orlov et al 2002; Nguyen et al 2005). Since Megophrys inhibits astonishing cryptic species biodiversity, and species like M. pachyproctus thought to be widespread from Southwest China to Vietnam confirmed to be another species ( Chen et al 2016 ; Tapley et al 2017 ; Liu et al 2018 ), records from Vietnam where more than 1000 km from type locality should be questioned and specimens should be reexamined.…”

Tadpoles of four sympatric megophryinid frogs (Anura, Megophryidae, Megophryinae) from Mangshan in southern China

“…The external morphology, including oral disc, as well as internal buccal features are highly conserved in all species in this subfamily (Huang et al 1991;Grosjean 2003). The coloration in life, although rarely described, is considered useful for species identification since Leong and Chou (1998) and has attracted more and more attention (Oberhummer et al 2014;Poyarkov et al 2017;Tapley et al 2017Tapley et al , 2020aTapley et al , 2020bLi et al 2018;Munir et al 2019;Liu et al 2020;Shi et al 2020aShi et al , 2020bShi et al , 2021Wu et al 2020). However, compared to the rate of new megophryinid frog species descriptions, tadpole descriptions remain scarce or are very brief, resulting in insufficient diagnostic characters for comparison and/or field recognition.…”

“… brachykolos ), and Brachytarsophrys carinense in “ Fauna Hunan, Amphibia ” ( Shen et al 2014 ). Subsequently, this “ Brachytarsophrys carinense ” population was described as a new species Brachytarsophrys popei Wang, Yang & Zhao in Zhao et al (2014) , while the identity of the two Boulenophrys frogs, that were both previously regarded as widespread (e.g., Fei et al 2009 ; Fei and Ye 2016 ) was questioned after molecular analysis based on large-scale sampling ( Tapley et al 2017 ; Liu et al 2018 ; Gao et al 2022 ).…”