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. 2024 Feb 22:1192:213-235.
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1192.106013. eCollection 2024.

A new species of Raorchestes (Anura, Rhacophoridae) from Yunnan Province, China

Lingyun Du  1 , Yuhan Xu  1 , Shuo Liu  2 , Guohua Yu  1
Affiliations

A new species of Raorchestes (Anura, Rhacophoridae) from Yunnan Province, China

Lingyun Du et al. Zookeys. .

Abstract

A new bush frog species is described from Yunnan, China, based on phylogenetic analyses, species delimitation analyses, and morphological comparisons. Raorchesteshekouensissp. nov. is distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of 11 morphological characters. The new species brings the current number of Raorchestes species in China to ten, nine of which are distributed in Yunnan. Molecular analyses supported an unnamed lineage previously recorded as "Raorchestesgryllus" in northern Vietnam. Further studies including additional samples are necessary to clarify the species diversity and boundaries of Raorchestes in China and Indochina.

Keywords: Indochina; Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov.; species diversity; taxonomy; “Raorchestesgryllus”.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map showing type localities of Raorchestes species originally described from China (1–10), type locality of K.gryllus in Vietnam (13), and collection sites of R. UI used in this study (11, 12). Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. is known from the type locality (9) and Pac Ban, Tuyen Quang, Vietnam (11).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Bayesian phylogram of Raorchestesparvulus group estimated from 16S rRNA showing placement of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. Nodal support values are shown above branches as Bayesian posterior probability (BPP) / ML bootstrap support (BS), and the symbol “-” indicates value below 50.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
ASAP species delimitation within Raorchestes based on 16S sequences. ASAP analysis generated 10 partitions and ranked them using the lowest ASAP score as the best option, and the best partition is highlighted in red. Black and gray vertical bars indicate results of bPTP species delimitation.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Photographs of holotype of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. (GXNU YU000159) in life. Lateral view (A), dorsal view (B), ventral view (C), fingers (D), toes (E), crotch (F).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Photographs of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. holotype (GXNU YU000159) in preservative, dorsal view (A), ventral view of hand (B), ventral view of foot (C), ventral view (D).
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Photographs of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. paratype (GXNU YU000160) in preservative, dorsal view (A), dorsal view of hand (B), ventral view of foot (C), ventral view (D).
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Photographs of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. paratype (GXNU YU000156) in preservative, dorsal view (A), and ventral view (B).
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Photographs of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. paratype (GXNU YU000537) in life, dorsal view (A), and lateral view (B).
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
Habitat at type locality of Raorchesteshekouensis sp. nov. at Liangzi Village, Hekou, Yunnan, China.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Kurixalusgryllus from Dak Lak Province (Chu Yang Sin National Park) and Lam Dong Province (Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park) in southern Vietnam (sourced from Orlov et al. 2012).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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