Amolops putaoensis Gan, Qin, Lwin, Li, Quan, Liu & Yu, 2020

Zhang, Yin-Peng, Liu, Xiao-Long, Stuart, Bryan L., Wu, Dong-Yi, Wang, Yu-Fan, Che, Jing & Yuan, Zhi-Yong, 2022, Amolops putaoensis Gan, Qin, Lwin, Li, Quan, Liu & Yu, 2020, a newly recorded torrent frog for China, Herpetozoa 35, pp. 231-237 : 231

Amolops putaoensis Gan, Qin, Lwin, Li, Quan, Liu & Yu, 2020

Fig. 2

Specimens examined

(n = 10 adult males). KIZ 035035-035044 (Fig. 2 ), collected from Dulongjiang Village , Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China (27.66995°N, 98.26822°E, 1218 m elev.) by Yu-Fan Wang, Xiao-Long Liu and Zhi-Yong Yuan on 4 July 2019 .

Expanded diagnosis.

A member of the A. monticola group having males (n = 13) with side of head dark with light-colored upper lip stripe extending to axilla; distinct dorsolateral fold; weak to moderately developed supratympanic fold; no outer metatarsal tubercle; circummarginal groove on tip of first finger; SVL 37.6-51.3 mm; head length slightly short or subequal to head width, with HDL: HDW 0.87-1.02; smooth dorsal skin, with dense, tiny dermal granules distributed from posterior margin of nostril to cloaca; tympanum diameter less than half of eye diameter; distinct transverse bands on dorsal surfaces of limbs; venter greyish white, with irregular spots from throat to mid-belly; visible pineal body; vomerine teeth; nuptial pads; external subgular vocal sacs; and maxillary gland.

Expanded description.

In life, dorsum with smooth skin; dorsum colored in brown with black irregular spots from snout to vent; lateral region lemon yellow to olive green, dorsal and lateral coloration divided by a distinct dorsolateral gland extending from posterior margin of eye to near vent; tiny dermal granules extending from posterior margin of nostrils and eyelid to near vent, absent from lateral and ventral regions of body; tarsal and skin folds absent; venter greyish white, with irregular spots from throat to chest. In preservative (75% ethanol), dorsal coloration faded to dark bluish-green and ventral coloration to creamy yellow.

Expanded variation.

In life, dorsal coloration varied from yellowish brown to dark brown; lateral coloration varied from lemon yellow to olive green; irregular spots on flank rather distinct or weak; number of transverse bands on forearm ranged from 4-8; and number of transverse bands on tibia ranged from 6-7 (Fig. 3 ).

Expanded comparisons.

Gan et al. (2020) did not compare A. putaoensis with the closely related A. kohimaensis (Fig. 1 ) and only distinguished A. putaoensis from A. aniqiaoensis on the basis of male body size, a character that does not hold up with the addition of the Gongshan specimens. Its other two relatives, A. monticola and A. adicola (Fig. 1 ), were poorly known or undescribed, respectively, at the time of the description of A. putaoensis . With the addition of the Gongshan specimens, A. putaoensis can be distinguished from A. kohimaensis by lacking an outer metatarsal tubercle (vs. present); and having distinct dorsolateral folds (vs. absent). Amolops putaoensis can be distinguished from A. aniqiaoensis by having distinct transverse bands on dorsal surfaces of limbs (vs. absent or indistinct patterns); and lacking a "/ \"-shaped mark on chest (vs. present). Amolops putaoensis can be distinguished from A. monticola by lacking an outer metatarsal tubercle (vs. present); and having circummarginal grooves on finger Ⅰ (vs. absent). Amolops putaoensis can be distinguished from A. adicola by having distinct transverse bands on dorsal surfaces of limbs (vs. reticulation); and having ventral spots from throat to mid-belly (vs. absent).

Expanded distribution.

Amolops putaoensis is known only from its type locality in Putao County, Kachin State, northern Myanmar, and from our newly recorded locality in Dulongjiang Village, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China, approximately 133.7 km northeast of the type locality.

Figures

Figure 1. Known localities and molecular phylogenetic relationships of Amolops putaoensis. A. The type locality (yellow star) at Putao County, Kachin State, Myanmar and the new locality (red star) at Dulongjiang Village, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China. Map generated by ArcGIS Pro; B. Phylogenetic tree based on Bayesian inference of a fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene. Branches support values of posterior probability (PP) and bootstrap supports (BS) were performed, where the strong supports found in represented Circles represent very strong nodal support of posterior probabilities (PP) of 1.0 and bootstrap support (BS) from a separate maximum likelihood analysis of 100, and squares represent strong nodal support of PP ≤ 0.95 and BS ≤ 70, with lower support values not shown.

Figure 2. Chinese specimens of Amolops putaoensis in preservative A, B: Dorsal and ventral views of nine specimens. (A. KIZ 035035 - 035039; B. KIZ 035040 - 035043); C-H: Ventral hand, ventral foot with webbing, lateral side of head, a pair of external subgular vocal sacs, a pair of short oblique vomerine teeth, and heart-shape notched tongue. Photo credit: Yin-Peng Zhang.

Figure 3. Chinese specimens of Amolops putaoensis in life (A. KIZ 035044; B. KIZ 035043; C. KIZ 035042; D. KIZ 035046). Photo credit: Xiao-Long Liu.