Paramesotriton maolanensis, Gu, Xiaoming, Chen, Rongrong, Tian, Yingzhou, Li, Song & Ran, Jingcheng, 2012

Gu, Xiaoming, Chen, Rongrong, Tian, Yingzhou, Li, Song & Ran, Jingcheng, 2012, A new species of Paramesotriton (Caudata: Salamandridae) from Guizhou Province, China, Zootaxa 3510, pp. 41-52 : 46-49

Paramesotriton maolanensis , new species

( Fig. 4 A –F, Table 2 )

Holotype: GZNU 2006030001, an adult male from Wengang, 25°40’N 107°53’E, 817m a.s.l., Libo County, Guizhou Province, P. R. China; collected by Hanji Qin in July, 2008.

Paratypes: adults: GZNU 2006030003-5, GZNU 2008070001, 4 specimens in total collected in July, 2006 and July, 2008 at the same locality as the holotype.

Diagnosis: Paramesotriton maolanensis sp. n. is assigned to the genus Paramesotriton because of its glandular ridge on head side, premaxillary single pieces, long nose protuberance separated left and right nasal bones, maxilla shorter not touching quadrate bone, and laterally compressed tail. This species can be distinguished from all other species of Paramesotriton by the following combination of characteristics: relatively smooth skin, absent granular warts from head and body; large body size (the largest species among the genus Paramesotriton ), especially in the female, TOL 177.4–192.0 mm for male and 197.4–207.8 mm for female; external eyes relative degraded; short skin pleat swelled dorsomidmost ridges, forming buff dorsal fin pleat from occiput to end of tail; dorsolateral stripes indistinct, obviously different from congeners.

P. maolanensis sp. n. further differs from P. longliensis and P. zhijinensis by its ceratobranchial being bone (not cartilage) and the epibranchial bone diverges forming a “ Y ” shape, and two ends of the “ Y ” shape joining the first, second ceratobranchial bones, respectively, in hyoid apparatus.

Description of the holotype: The specimen is in a good state of preservation. Measurements are given in Table 2 . This is a large newt, TOL is 187.1 mm. Head length distinctly longer than head width. Snout length obviously longer than the diameter of eye. Head strongly oblique in profile. Skull broad with maxillaries oriented angular to body axis. Snout short, truncated, extending beyond lower lip; snout arris evident. Nostrils locate on the tip of snout. External eyes relative degraded. Lip pleat developed, extending from lower part of eye to tip of snout. Tongue in elliptical shape and both lateral sides dissociatived. Retral-limbs longer and sturdier than forelimbs. Tip of finger reaches tip of snout when forelimbs keep close to body and extend forward, palm part and sole part superpose one another when forelimb and retral-limb keep close to body and confrontative. Four fingers and five toes, keratose theca on tips of figures and toes,whithout velum and webbing. The third and fourth toes almost equal in length, both whithout inside and outside palm-sole tubers. Dorsomidmost ridge buff forming dorsal fin pleat on tail; ventral tail fin salmon pink, extending from the posterior edge of vent to end of tail. Testicle globose and dimidiate at each side. One premaxilla with tiny teeth on the upper and lower jaws. Vomerine teeth in ‘ ’ pattern. Front edges of dentition rendezvoused between two inner nares. Front end of the epibranchial bone of hyoid apparatus in “ Y ” shape joining the first, second ceratobranchials, respectively. The second ceratobranchial is bone. Apophysis of vent of the male large and low; anus cleft a vertical thread with 6–7 mm with a pair of developed glands in inside; the counter part of the female small and high; anus cleft small and oval without gland in inside.

Color of holotype in life: Body is brown-black; one tubercular dorsal ridges with non-continuous yellow mottling. There are large, irregular orange-red spots on venter, chin, some smaller and yellow spots interspersed on the laterals of venter and chin. Palm-sole part surface is hoar.

Color in holotype in preservative: In 70% ethanol the dorsal brown-black faded to black, yellow dorsal ridge faded to white, or fade away; ventral orange-red and yellow spots faded to yellow and buff, both palm-sole part and finger-toe ventral surface buff.

Variation: The stripes of dorsal ridge of adults are variable, sometimes indistinct. Ventral spots vary in shape and arrangement. All other adult morphological characteristics conform to those of the holotype.

Distribution and Habitat: The Maolan National Nature Reserve locates in Libo County of the south on Guizhou Province which is next to Nandan County of Guangxi Province. The karst forest of the reserve, survived the same latitude in the world, is a large centralized distribution, relatively stable and native forest ecosystems. There are many rare and endangered wild animals and plants in the reserve. All specimens of P. maolanensis sp. n. are found in a 60 m 2 deep pool which is surrounded by lush vegetation in the reserve.Two rivulets from the springs and caves (the lengths are about 0.3 km) disembogue water into the deep pool, but the water level of the pool keeps steady which implies the deep pool communicates with underground river ( Fig. 5 ). The clear water in the pool is warm with a temperature of about 17°C year round. The salamanders usually move into the deep and bottom of the pool and are difficult to be found. They contingently jump out water during the floods. In addition, the pool supports large quantities of aquicolous hexapods, shrimps, crabs and fishes.

Etymology: The specific name maolanensis is an adjective referring to its known distribution in the Maolan National Nature Reserve of Libo County, Guizhou Province, China.

Figures

FIGURE 4. A & B. Dorsal, lateral view and ventral, lateral view of Paramesotriton maolanensis sp. n. (GZNU 2006030001, holotype). C & D. Dorsal view and ventral, lateral view of P. maolanensis sp. n. (GZNU 2008070001, paratype). E & F. Dorsal view and ventral view of skull of P. maolanensis sp. n. (GZNU 2006030003, paratype).

FIGURE 5. A. One of the two rivulets that flow into the deep pool; B. The deep pool where P. m a o l a n e n s i s sp. n. were collected.

Tables

TABLE 2. Linear measurements of Paramesotriton maolanensis sp. n.. See text for abbreviations. Unit: mm.

Measurement TOL	Holotype GZNU 2006030001 187.1	Males (N=3) Paratype Paratype GZNU GZNU 2006030003 2006030004 177.4 192.0	Mean ± SE 184.7± 4.3	Females (N=2) Paratype Paratype GZNU GZNU 2006030005 2008070001 197.4 207.8	Mean 202.6
SVL HL	94.2 34.2	89.7 98.5 32.3 34.7	94.1 ± 2.5 33.7 ± 0.7	112.5 116.8 35.6 37.6	114.7 36.6
HW	25.2	24.4 26.5	25.4 ± 0.6	26.7 29.1	27.9
HH	14.4	13.1 16.2	14.6 ±0.9	13.5 16.8	15.2
SL	9.2	8.4 9.8	9.1 ± 0.4	9.2 10.3	9.8
IO	8.7	8.1 9.0	8.6 ± 0.3	9.0 10.4	9.7
ED	4.9	4.6 5.0	4.8 ± 0.1	4.9 5.5	5.2
TL	86.7	81.8 90.5	86.3 ± 2.5	87.7 94.5	91.1
TW	11.2	9.5 12.1	10.9 ± 0.8	10.8 13.5	12.2
TH	15.2	14.8 16.0	15.3 ± 0.4	11.7 13.5	12.6
FLL	29.1	26.1 31.8	29.0 ± 1.7	29.2 34.6	31.9
HLL	33.1	30.3 35.3	32.9 ± 1.5	32.9 38.0	35.5
IN	6.1	5.8 6.6	6.2 ± 0.2	5.9 6.4	6.2
AX	38.4	37.0 41.6	39.0 ± 1.4	53.6 57.1	55.4