Pseudohynobius jinfo, Wei, Gang, Xiong, Jian-Li, Hou, Mian & Zeng, Xiao-Mao, 2009

Wei, Gang, Xiong, Jian-Li, Hou, Mian & Zeng, Xiao-Mao, 2009, A new species of hynobiid salamander (Urodela: Hynobiidae: Pseudohynobius) from Southwestern China, Zootaxa 2149, pp. 62-68 : 63-67

Pseudohynobius jinfo , sp. nov.

Holotype. CIB 85290 ( Fig. 1 and 2 ), an adult male, collected on 3 May 2006 by Mian Hou from a spring pond (28°50’N, 107°20’E), 2150 m, nearby the Phoenix-Temple in montane region of Mt. Jinfo , Nanchuan County, Chongqing Municipality, Southwestern China.

Paratypes. CIB 85291, an adult female, and CIB 85292-85293, two larvae, collected on 1 May 2006, by Gang Wei from the same locality and habitat data as the holotype.

Diagnosis. The new species differs from all other species of this genus by the following combination of characters: a longer tail (distinctly longer than SVL); fewer vomerine teeth (8–9 on each side); presence of small yellow dorsal spots; and a greater separation between the forelimbs and hindlimbs when adpressed.

Description of holotype. An adult male with slender body (for measurements see Table 1). Head moderately depressed, 25 % of SVL and slightly longer than width. Snout rounded in dorsal view, gently sloping from eye to nostrils. Nostril small, near the tip of snout. Interorbital space smaller than internarial space. Eye large, and distinctly protuberant; eyelid width smaller than diameter of eye. Gular fold distinct. A protuberance exists from the angle of jaw to the gular fold. Upon the protuberance, presence of a longitudinal groove from the angle of jaw to the gular fold, which intersects with the transverse groove of angle of jaw. A “V”-shaped protuberance present in the back of eyelid, extending posterior to the middle of the tip of head. Both the maxilla and mandible with tiny teeth. Tongue elliptical. Vomerine tooth rows located on the posterior portion of the vomer, arranged in “ ” shape, with 8–9 teeth on each side. Vomerine tooth rows composed of an inner and an outer series, the inner series doubling the outer series. Outer series ending in the posterior of choanae, inner series ending at the end of vomer.

Body stout, shorter than tail. On dorsum, a distinct groove present from back of head to base of tail. Costal grooves 12. Forelimb slightly shorter than hindlimb; hindlimb distinctly stronger, and twice the width of forelimb. Tips of digits touching or slightly overlapping when forelimb and hindlimb adpressed. Fingers four, 2-3-4-1; toes five, 3-4-2-5- 1 in order of decreasing length. Tips of fingers and toes rounded, without horny cover. No palmar and tarsal tubercles.

Tail long, distinctly longer than SVL, its height slightly more than its width. Tail rounded at base, gradually flattening to tip, obtuse at tip. Tail fin moderately high, upper fin originating at the base, and gradually increasing; lower fin originating at the third of anterior tail.

Coloration. In life, dorsal color purple, mottled with small yellowish spots, which are also scattered on the limbs and tail ( Fig. 1 ). Ventral color generally pale, flank with small yellowish spots but not as bright as the dorsal ones ( Fig. 2 ). In preservative, dorsal color generally black brown, and ventral color grey; small yellowish spots appearing as grey spots.

Larva. The following description is based on the two larval paratypes (for measurements see Table 1). Head depressed, and width smaller than length. Interorbital space smaller than internarial space. Lips distinct, no eyelid. Vomerine teeth rows arranged in a “ ” shape. External gills three pairs, gill silts flat and short. Limbs slender, fingers and toes flat, with black horny cover at tips. Tail high, smaller than SVL, tip of tail abruptly peaked. Dorsal fin, like a wave, originating at the half of the truck; tail ventral fin originating at the back edge of cloaca.

Coloration of larve. In life, dorsal color flaxen, mottled with black brown spots ( Fig. 3). In preservative, dorsum brown, spots grey.

Distribution. Pseudohynobius jinfo is known only from two adjacent mountains, Mt. Jinfo and Mt. Baima, Chongqing municipality, Southwestern China. Both adults and larvae were obtained from Mt. Jinfo , but only larvae were found from Mt. Baima. The larvae from Baima used for obtaining mitochondrial DNA sequences ( Zeng et al. 2006), are not included in paratype series.

Habitat. The type locality of P. j i n f o is a mountain pond near the Phoenix Temple, on the south slope close to the top of Mt. Jinfo . The pond is formed by a montane spring, with a width of 5 m, a length of 7 m and a depth of 60 cm. Water quality is good, and the priests use its water for drinking. The bottom of the pond is silt, with fewer stone and withered leaves. The margin of the pond is covered with grass. Many gammarids were found in the pond. Adult and larvae of newts were found in the hassock of margin in daytime and in the water at night.

Etymology. The name jinfo is derived from the name of the mountain, Mt. Jinfo or Jinfo Shan, where the animals were collected. This name is a noun in apposition to the generic name, and is therefore invariable.

Trait P. jinfo P. kuankuoshuiensis P. flavomaculatus P. shuichengensis Trait P. flavomaculatus 1 P. shuichengensis2

10 3 10 Ƥ 10 3 10 Ƥ

R R R R SVL 87.0 85.8 101.7 106.0

HL 20.6 23.6% 20.7 24.2% 26.7 26.3% 26.4 24.9% HW 14.9 17.1% 13.6 15.8% 15.3 15.0% 13.3 12.5% HH 7.7 8.9% 7.2 8.4% 10.0 9.8% 9.8 9.2% IOS 4.5 5.1% 4.4 5.1% 4.7 4.6% 4.7 4.4% DE 5.6 6.5% 5.3 6.2% 6.2 6.1% 6.2 5.9% TL4 87.5 102.0% 79 92.0% 95.7 94.1% 96.1 90.7% TW 9.8 11.3% 8.4 9.8% 12.8 12.6% 11.5 10.9% TH 10.1 11.6% 7.1 8.3% 12.2 12% 11.9 11.2% FLL 22.4 25.7% 21.4 25.0% 29.4 28.9% 26.8 25.3% HLL 23.5 27.0% 25.0 29.0% 32.6 32.1% 32.4 30.6% AGS 34.6 40.0% 38.6 45.0% 43.2 42.5% 49.6 46.8% 1 Data of P. flavomaculatus are from Fei and Ye (1982).

2 Data of P. shuichengensis are from Tian et al. (1998).

3 Data of P. kuankuoshuiensis are from Xu et al. (2007).

4 The tails of one male and two female of P. kuankuoshuiensis are broken, so only one female tail data used.

Comparisons. Pseudohynobius jinfo was recongnized as a population of P. flavomaculatus for a long time ( Fei et al. 2006). Recently, the mitochondrial DNA sequence data showed that P. j i n f o and P. flavomaculatus are sister taxa ( Fig 4 ). The allozyme electrophoresis data showed that P. j i n f o has fixed allelic differences from P. flavomaculatus at loci PGDH-A, sCAT-A, and mCAT-A, indicating reproductive isolation. Cytochrome b gene sequence divergence of the new species is high and amounts to 7.5% compared with its sister species P. flavomaculatus , 14.5% with P. shuichengensis , and 15.0% with P. kuankuoshuiensis , which are relatively high values compared to other salamanders (e.g., 4% in Hynobius yiwuensis, Fu et al. 2003 ), supporting the species status of P. j i n f o ( Zeng et al. 2006). Morphologically, P. j i n f o has a longer tail (tail length to snout-vent length ratio>1) and fewer vomerine teeth (8–9 on each side) and is readily distinguished from its sister species P. flavomaculatus by these two characters (see Table 2 ).

Including the new species P. j i n f o described in this article, the genus Pseudohynobius now consists of four species. Pseudohynobius jinfo differs from the other three species mainly in its longer tail. The tail length of P. jinfo is distinctly longer than SVL, whereas the tail length of the other three species is less than SVL ( Tables 2 and 3). Moreover, P. j i n f o differs from P. flavomaculatus and P. kuankuoshuiensis in having fewer vomerine teeth, and from P. shuichengensis in its greater separation of adpressed limbs and small yellow dorsal spots ( Table 2 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsal view of the holotype of Pseudohynobius jinfo (CIB 85290).

FIGURE 2. Ventral view of the holotype of Pseudohynobius jinfo (CIB 85290).

FIGURE 4. Phylogenetic hypothesis of species of Pseudohynobius derived from a Bayesian analysis of cytochrome b sequence data, reproduced from Zeng et al. (2006). Numbers above branches are Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPPs) / bootstrap proportions (BSPs), and only nodes with greater than 95 BPPs are mapped on the tree. A “ X ” represents a 100 BPP and a greater than 95 BSP. Pseudohynobius jinfo is referred to as P. sp. 1; P. kuankuoshuiensis is referred to as P. sp. 2.

Tables

TABLE 2. Characters comparison among all species of the genus Pseudohynobius.

Vom e r in e t e et h number	8 – 9	12 – 17	12 – 17	8 – 14
Distance when limbs adpressed	meet or slightly overlap	meet or slightly overlap	meet or slightly overlap	overlap half of the metacarpus and metatarsals
Life dorsal color	grayish brown, more or less variegated with smaller yellow spots	grayish brown with oval yellow spots	grayish brown, mottled with larger yellow spots	purplish brown without spots
Tail length to snout- vent length ratio	>1	<1	<1	<1