Rana luanchuanensis Zhao & Yuan

Zhao, Haipeng, Yang, Junxiao, Wang, Chunping, Li, Pipeng, Murphy, Robert W., Che, Jing & Yuan, Zhiyong, 2017, A new species of the genus Rana from Henan, central China (Anura, Ranidae), ZooKeys 694, pp. 95-108 : 98-102

Rana luanchuanensis Zhao & Yuan sp. n. Figures 3, 4

Holotype.

KIZ016090, an adult male, collected by Haipeng Zhao and Ruiliang Wang on 4 May 2014 in Tongyi River near the village of Hanqiu (33.80°N, 111.80°E, elevation 810 m a.s.l.), Miaozi town, Luanchuan County, western Henan, central China.

Paratypes.

KIZ047446-KIZ047453, KIZ016089, with the same collection data as the holotype; KIZ047383, with the same locality as the holotype, collected on 16 November 2013; KIZ047470-KIZ047487, KIZ016086-KIZ016088, and KIZ016091 from Wangping village, Tantou town, Luanchuan County (33.95°N, 111.73°E, elevation 530 m a.s.l.) in the same river, collected on 5 May 2014; KIZ0093, KIZ0099, KIZ0101, KIZ0104, and KIZ0105, collected by Li Ding and Xiaobei Zhang from nearby Miaozi town (33.75°N, 111.72°E, elevation 1070 m a.s.l.) on 15 August 2007. A total number of 37 adult individuals included 12 males and 25 females.

Diagnosis.

A small-sized species (SVL 27.2-33.0 mm in males; 23.7-41.2 mm in females) of Rana ; temporal fold distinct; dark mask covering tympanum; curved dorsolateral fold thin, extending from posterior canthus to groin; tips of fingers not expanded; skin smooth with few small granules on dorsum and legs, distinct large tubercles absent; head length slightly less than head width; vocal sac absent in males; white rictal gland absent on the upper lip; ventral surface of throat, chest, and belly white with irregular black spots; poster part of abdomen and ventral surface of thighs and limbs reddish; distinct transverse grayish brown bars on dorsal surface of fingers and toes, lower arms, tarsus, thighs, and tibia; toes two-thirds webbed; gray-blackish nuptial pad prominent and forming two groups in males, with minute nuptial spines; three metacarpal tubercles, inner one close to the nup tial pad at the base of finger I, the two outer ones closed together at the base of fingers III and IV.

Description of holotype.

SVL 32.8 mm. Head slightly shorter than broad (HL\HW = 0.87), snout pointed and projecting; snout length much longer than eye diameter (SL\EYL = 1.35); interorbital space equal to internasal space and both wider than upper eyelid width; tympanum diameter about half of eye diameter, loreal region concave, sloping outwards; vomerine teeth in short oblique series, anterior edges in line with centers of choanae; tongue deeply notched posteriorly; vocal sacs absent.

Forearm robust, fingers slender, unwebbed; tips of fingers not expanded, with no circum-marginal grooves; relative length of fingers: II <I <IV <III; one prominent subarticular tubercle on fingers I and II, two small subarticular tubercles on fingers III and IV; distinct supernumerary tubercles below the base of fingers; inner metacarpal tubercle strong and large, ovoid, close to the nuptial pad at base of finger I; two outer tubercles close together at base of fingers III and IV, flat, long elliptic and obvious. Nuptial pad covered densely by small grey-blackish spines and divided into two groups, one near tip larger than the other one.

Hindlimb long (8.7 mm), heels well overlapping when limb held at right angles to body; tibiotarsal articulation of adpressed limb reaching far anterior to eyes; inner metatarsal tubercle weak and small, smooth, about 0.37 of the first toe; tips of toes similar to fingers; relative length of toes: I <II <III <V <IV; toes two-thirds webbed, webbing formula: I 1-2 II 1-2 ½ III 2-3 IV 3-1 V; web of toe III reaching the first joint from tip and on other toes nearly extending to tip; subarticular tubercles small, but visible; distinct supernumerary tubercles below the base of toes; inner metatarsal tubercle ovoid, small but distinct; outer metatarsal tubercle absent.

Skin rather smooth, except for some small granules near vent and ventral femoral region; temporal fold distinct, extending from posterior margin of eye above and behind tympanum to above arm insertion, a large triangular black and brown patch behind the eye and anterior to temporal fold; thin dorsolateral fold from posterior canthus to groin, obviously curved at upper tympanum and crossing temporal fold; ventral surface smooth, reddish; few granules on the posterior ventral surface of thighs.

Color of holotype.

In life, dorsum gray-brown, with few scattered black spots and grayish brown blotches; dorsolateral fold reddish brown and darker than ground dorsal color; distinct grayish brown crossbars on dorsal surface of fingers and toes, lower arms, tarsus, thighs and tibia; narrow black stripe on edge of canthus rostralis from tip of snout along margin of upper eyelid and across eye continuing along supratympanic ridge; large triangular black and brown patch behind the eye and anterior to temporal fold; lower lip whitish with black spots and bars; throat, chest, and belly white with irregular black spots; poster part of abdomen reddish; ventrally limbs reddish with faint yellow nebulous mottling; faint yellow granules on ventral thigh; foot webbing brownish red with few indistinct black spots; nuptial pad blackish gray. In preservative, dorsal surface dark gray-brown with slightly paler limbs (Fig. 4); all grayish brown crossbars and grayish brown blotches fade to black; throat, chest, and abdomens fade to creamy white, with gray spots.

Habitat and life history.

All specimens of the new species were collected in shallow slow-flowing streams with large gravel beds (Figure 3). Streams were near the mountains with well-preserved forests. Females with mature eggs were collected from Hanqiu village on 16 November 2013, which indicated its breeding season may occur in the winter. However, we did not observe any breeding pairs, egg clutches, or tadpoles. More field work is needed to observe its breeding behavior and other phenomena of life history.

Variation in the type series.

Morphometric data were summarized in Table 3. Individuals varied in their dorsal ground color by ranging from being pinkish orange to dark brown. Number and shape of the spots and grayish brown blotches on dorsum varied. Number of grayish brown crossbars on dorsal surface of fingers, toes, lower arms, tarsus, thighs, and tibia varied. Forearm are much more robust in males than in females; nuptial pads are absent in females.

Etymology.

The specific epithet " luanchuanensis " is in reference to the type locality.

Comparisons.

Rana luanchuanensis sp. n. closely resembles the R. amurensis Boulenger, 1886 and R. coreana Okada, 1928, within the R. amurensis species group, but differs from them by the following morphological characters: 1) skin smooth (vs. many tubercles on the dorsum and dorsolateral surfaces of R. amurensis and many tubercles on the dorsolateral surface of R. coreana ); 2) upper white rictal gland absent (vs. present in R. amurensis and R. coreana ); 3) small size, SVL 27.2-33.0 mm in males and 23.7-41.2 mm in females (vs. SVL 48.8-66.4 mm in males and 51.2-70.4 mm in females of R. amurensis ); 4) nuptial pad forming two groups in males (vs. nuptial pad forming four groups in males of R. amurensis ); 5) toes two-thirds webbed (vs. toes half webbed in R. coreana ); 6) transverse grayish brown bars on dorsal surface of fingers and toes, lower arms, tarsus, thighs, and tibia (vs. absent in R. coreana ); and 7) ventral surface of throat, chest, and belly white with irregular black spots (vs. absence of black spots in R. coreana ).

Distribution.

The species is currently only known from Luanchuan, Henan, China.