Abstract

A new species of the genus Kurixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) is described from western Yunnan, China. Genetically the new species, Kurixalus yangi sp. n., is closer to Kurixalus naso than to other known congeners. Morphologically the new species is distinguished from all other known congeners by a combination of the following characters: smaller ratios of head, snout, limbs, IND, and UEW to body size; male body size larger than 30 mm; curved canthus rostralis; weak nuptial pad; brown dorsal color; absence of large dark spots on surface of upper-middle abdomen; presence of vomerine teeth; gold brown iris; single internal vocal sac; serrated dermal fringes along outer edge of limbs; granular throat and chest; rudimentary web between fingers; and presence of supernumerary tubercles and outer metacarpal tubercle.

Highlights

  • The genus Kurixalus Ye, Fei, & Dubois in Fei (1999) distributes widely in eastern India, Indochina, Sunda Islands, Philippine archipelago, montane forests of southern China, and adjacent continental islands, and cur­rently contains 15 species (Frost 2018)

  • On the basis of broad sampling, recently Yu et al (2017a) suggested that K. hainanus is valid and revealed six lineages that might represent undescribed species in the genus Kurixalus, one of which occurs in western Yunnan, China and northern Myanmar and is genetically closer to Kurixalus naso (Annandale, 1912) than to other known congeners with a divergence of 6.18% estimated from COI sequences

  • This result indicates that the new species differs from K. naso by a series of characters associated with the head and limbs such as shorter HL, shorter SL, narrower IND, narrower UEW, shorter FLL, shorter THL, shorter TL, and shorter TFL

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Summary

Introduction

The genus Kurixalus Ye, Fei, & Dubois in Fei (1999) distributes widely in eastern India, Indochina, Sunda Islands, Philippine archipelago, montane forests of southern China, and adjacent continental islands, and cur­rently contains 15 species (Frost 2018). On the basis of broad sampling, recently Yu et al (2017a) suggested that K. hainanus is valid and revealed six lineages that might represent undescribed species in the genus Kurixalus, one of which occurs in western Yunnan, China and northern Myanmar and is genetically closer to Kurixalus naso (Annandale, 1912) than to other known congeners with a divergence of 6.18% estimated from COI sequences (clade C, Fig. 1). We further describe the lineage consisting of specimens from western Yunnan, China as a new species. Morphological comparisons demonstrate that the new species is distinctive from K. naso and other known congeners and warrants taxonomic recognition

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