Quasipaa verrucospinosa ( Bourret, 1937 )

Dau, Vinh Quang, Pham, Cuong The, Nguyen, Truong Quang, Thai, Toan Canh, Tran, Anh Dinh & Pham, Anh Van, 2024, New records of amphibians from Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 122598-e 122598 : e122598-122598

Quasipaa verrucospinosa ( Bourret, 1937)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: HT. 2023.27; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 0 A 905 E 19 - 8 D 9 C- 5061 - 96 D 1 - 92 FF 26553133; Taxon: scientificNameID: Quasipaa cf. verucospinosa ; scientificName: Quasipaa cf. verucospinosa ; genus: Quasipaa ; specificEpithet: verucospinosa ; scientificNameAuthorship: ( Bourret, 1937); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Ha Tinh; county: Ha Tinh; municipality: Vu Quang; locality: near Huong Quang Commune; verbatimElevation: 240 m; verbatimLatitude: 18 ° 17 ' 13.3 " N; verbatimLongitude: 105 ° 22 ' 08.1 " E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS 84; Event: eventDate: December; eventTime: 2023; eventRemarks: collected by A. V Pham and A. D Tran; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibians; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: HT. 2023.28; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 50 A 86991 - 6867 - 504 B- 9 D 0 B- 7 A 5 F 02 CBE 588; Taxon: scientificNameID: Quasipaa cf. verucospinosa ; scientificName: Quasipaa cf. verucospinosa ; genus: Quasipaa ; specificEpithet: verucospinosa ; scientificNameAuthorship: ( Bourret, 1937); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Ha Tinh; county: Ha Tinh; municipality: Vu Quang; locality: near Huong Quang Commune; verbatimElevation: 240 m; verbatimLatitude: 18 ° 17 ' 13.3 " N; verbatimLongitude: 105 ° 22 ' 08.1 " E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS 85; Event: eventDate: January; eventTime: 2024; eventRemarks: collected by A. V Pham and A. D Tran; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibians; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: HT. 2023.29; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: E 09 D 4017 - 003 D- 50 E 5 - B 90 B- 98 C 4 FFB 9 CDE 5; Taxon: scientificNameID: Quasipaa cf. verucospinosa ; scientificName: Quasipaa cf. verucospinosa ; genus: Quasipaa ; specificEpithet: verucospinosa ; scientificNameAuthorship: ( Bourret, 1937); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Ha Tinh; county: Ha Tinh; municipality: Vu Quang; locality: near Huong Quang Commune; verbatimElevation: 240 m; verbatimLatitude: 18 ° 17 ' 13.3 " N; verbatimLongitude: 105 ° 22 ' 08.1 " E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS 86; Event: eventDate: February; eventTime: 2025; eventRemarks: collected by A. V Pham and A. D Tran; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Amphibians; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Morphological characters of the specimens from Ha Tinh Province matched the descriptions of Bourret (1937), Bourret (1942) and Fei et al. (2009): Body large, SVL 76.0– 95.9 mm in females (n = 3). Head wider than long (HL 30.3–37.0 mm, HW 31.9–39.9 mm; HL / SVL 38.6 – 40.5 %; HW / SVL 41.6 – 43.5 %); snout round, barely projecting beyond upper jaw (RL 12.2–15.0 mm), longer than horizontal diameter of eye (ED 10.6–12.9 mm); canthus rostralis indistinct; loreal region oblique, concave; nostril lateral, closer to eye than to tip of snout (NS 7.2–8.4 mm, EN 5.8–6.4 mm); interorbital space flat, narrower than upper eyelid and internarial distance (IOD 6.3–7.8 mm, UEW 7.7–69.0 mm, IN 8.0– 8.8 mm); tympanum visible (TD 3.0– 3.3 mm), smaller than the distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 4.7–6.5 mm), about 26 – 28 % eye diameter; vomerine teeth present; tongue cordiform, notched posteriorly. Fore-limb short (HAL 31.2–41.8 mm); relative finger lengths II <I < IV < III; fingers free of webbing; fingers II and III with narrow lateral dermal fringes; tips of fingers round, slightly swollen; palmar tubercles two, inner metatarsal tubercle oval, outer metatarsal tubercle elongate. Hind-limb: thigh shorter than tibia (FL 39.5–50.5 mm, TbL 45.0– 54.5 mm); relative toe lengths I < II < V < III < IV; tips of toes swollen; toes fully webbed; outer sides of toes I and V with dermal fringe; tibiotarsal articulation reaching to nostril when limb adpressed along body; inner metatarsal tubercle elongate, outer metatarsal tubercle absent.

Skin: Dorsal surface with oval, round and elongate tubercles; flank covered by oval and round tubercles; supratympanic fold present, from posterior corner of eye to angle of jaw; ventral surface smooth.

Colouration in life: Dorsal surface yellowish-brown; dorsal limbs light brown with indistinct dark crossbars; throat white with brown markings; ventral surface of limbs, chest and belly immaculate white (Fig. 5 ).

Distribution

In Vietnam, this species was recorded from Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Son La, Vinh Phuc, Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue and Kon Tum Provinces ( Frost 2024). Elsewhere, this species is known from Laos ( Frost 2024).

Ecology

All specimens were found near waterfalls in rocky streams between 20: 00 and 22: 00 h pm. The surrounding habitat was evergreen forest of large and medium hardwoods mixed with shurbs.

Notes

Our specimens from Ha Tinh Province slightly differ from those in descriptions of Bourret (1942) and Inger et al. (1999) by having inner metatarsal tubercle oval (vs. inner metatarsal tubercle round); different dorsal pattern (yellowish-brown vs. yellowish-grey); different ventral colour pattern (immaculate white vs. light yellow); and iris dark green (vs. pale copper).

Figures

Figure 5. Quasipaa cf. verrucospinosa (adult female) from Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Photo by A. V. Pham.