Abstract
Recent phylogenetic analysis encompassing multilocus nuclear-gene and matrilineal mtDNA genealogy has revealed a series of cryptic species of the subgenus Panophrys within genus Megophrys from southern and eastern China. This study demonstrates that the Panophrys specimens from the hilly areas among Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan can be morphologically distinguished from all recognized congeners, thereby providing additional supports for the recognitions of four new species of Panophrys, namely Megophrys (Panophrys) mirabilis Lyu, Wang & Zhao, sp. nov. from northeastern Guangxi, Megophrys (Panophrys) shimentaina Lyu, Liu & Wang, sp. nov. from northern Guangdong, and Megophrys (Panophrys) xiangnanensis Lyu, Zeng & Wang, sp. nov. and Megophrys (Panophrys) yangmingensis Lyu, Zeng & Wang, sp. nov. from southern Hunan. The descriptions of these species take the number of Megophrys species to 101, 46 of which belong to the subgenus Panophrys.
Highlights
The Asian horned toad genus Megophrys Kuhl & Van Hasselt, 1822 within the family Megophryidae Bonaparte, 1850, is a typical representative for Oriental fauna, spreading throughout southern China, southern and eastern Himalayas, across Indochina to islands of the Sunda Shelf and the Philippines (Mahony et al 2017; Liu et al 2018; Frost 2020)
The phylogenetic analysis encompassing multilocus nuclear-gene and matrilineal mtDNA genealogy conducted by Liu et al (2018) has indicated that these specimens should be regarded as four cryptic species of the subgenus Panophrys, i.e., M. sp29 from northern Guangdong, M. sp25 from northeastern Guangxi, and M. sp2 and M. sp28 from southwestern Hunan
Eight of them were described as seven new species (Li et al 2018; Wang et al 2019a, b)
Summary
The Asian horned toad genus Megophrys Kuhl & Van Hasselt, 1822 within the family Megophryidae Bonaparte, 1850, is a typical representative for Oriental fauna, spreading throughout southern China, southern and eastern Himalayas, across Indochina to islands of the Sunda Shelf and the Philippines (Mahony et al 2017; Liu et al 2018; Frost 2020). During our herpetological surveys in the hilly areas among Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan, southern China (Fig. 1), a series of specimens of horned toads were collected. These specimens morphologically belong to genus Megophrys but could not be assigned to any recognized species by the combinations of characteristics. As a follow-up work on this series of specimens, we provide the additional morphological comparisons and descriptions to substantiate the recognition of these four cryptic species of Panophrys from southern China
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