Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2012-01-10
Page range: 29–37
Abstract views: 110
PDF downloaded: 69

A new Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) from the highlands of southeastern Laos

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 West Jones Street, Raleigh NC 27601, USA
National University of Laos, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 2273, Dong Dok Campus, Vientiane, Laos Kasetsart University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology, Ngam Wong Wan Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
National University of Laos, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 2273, Dong Dok Campus, Vientiane, Laos Wildlife Conservation Society, P.O. Box 6712, Vientiane, Laos
National University of Laos, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 2273, Dong Dok Campus, Vientiane, Laos
Anura Bolaven Plateau Dakchung Plateau Laos Leptobrachium buchardi

Abstract

Twelve species of Leptobrachium are known from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, most of which have been described toscience in the past twelve years. Our fieldwork on the Dakchung Plateau of southeastern Laos discovered a small Lepto-brachium with a yellow upper iris that resembled L. buchardi, a species known only by the female holotype from the Bo-laven Plateau of southern Laos. We use our new collections to expand the original description of L. buchardi, and describethe Dakchung species as new. Leptobrachium xanthops sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by having small bodysize (males with SVL 44.7, females with SVL 38.8–45.2), the upper one-half of iris and scleral arc pale yellow, a dark venter, and sexually active males without spines on the upper lip.

References

  1. Bain, R. H., Nguyen, T. Q. & Doan, K. V. (2009) First record of Leptobrachium promustache from Vietnam. Herpetology Notes, 2, 27–29.

    Bourret, R. (1937) Notes herpétologiques sur l’Indochine française. XIV. Les batraciens de la collection du Laboratoire des Sciences Naturelles de l’Université. Descriptions de quinze espèces ou variétés nouvelles. Annexe au Bulletin Général de l’Instruction Publique, 1937, 5–56.

    Brown, R. M., Siler, C. D., Diesmos, A. C. & Alcala, A. C. (2009) Philippine frogs of the genus Leptobrachium (Anura; Megophryidae): phylogeny-based species delimitation, taxonomic review, and descriptions of three new species. Herpetological Monographs, 23, 1–44.

    Dubois, A. & Ohler, A. (1998) A new species of Leptobrachium (Vibrissaphora) from northern Vietnam, with a review of the taxonomy of the genus Leptobrachium (Pelobatidae, Megophryinae). Dumerilia, 4, 1–32.

    Edgar, R. C. (2004) MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research, 32, 1792–1797.

    Lathrop, A., Murphy, R. W., Orlov, N. L. & Ho, C. T. (1998) Two new species of Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam with a redescription of Leptobrachium chapaense. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 5, 51–60.

    Matsui, M., Hamidy, A., Murphy, R. W., Khonsue, W., Yambun, P., Shimada, T., Ahmad, N., Belabut, D. M. & Jiang, J.-P. (2010) Phylogenetic relationships of megophryid frogs of the genus Leptobrachium (Amphibia, Anura) as revealed by mtDNA gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56, 259–272.

    Matsui, M., Nabhitabhata, J. & Panha, S. (1999) On Leptobrachium from Thailand with a description of a new species (Anura: Pelobatidae). Japanese Journal of Herpetology, 18, 19–29.

    Nguyen, V. S., Ho, C. T. & Nguyen, T. Q. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main.

    Ohler, A., Teynié, A. & David, P. (2004) A green-eyed Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) from southern Laos. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 52, 695–700.

    Orlov, N. L. (2005) A new species of the genus Vibrissaphora Liu, 1945 (Anura: Megophryidae) from Mount Ngoc Linh (Kon Tum Province) and analysis of the extent of species overlap in the fauna of amphibians and reptiles of the north-west of Vietnam and Central Highlands. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 12, 17–38.

    Palumbi, S. R. (1996) Nucleic acids II: the polymerase chain reaction. pp. 205–247. In: D. M. Hillis, C. Moritz & B. K. Mable (eds.), Molecular Systematics. Second edition. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.

    Rao, D.-Q. & Wilkinson, J. A. (2008) Phylogenetic relationships of the mustache toads inferred from mtDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 46, 61–73.

    Rao, D.-Q., Wilkinson, J. A. & Zhang, M.-W. (2006) A new species of the genus Vibrissaphora (Anura: Megophryidae) from Yunnan Province, China. Herpetologica, 62, 90–95.

    Stuart, B. L. (2005) New frog records from Laos. Herpetological Review, 36, 473–479.

    Stuart, B. L., Rowley, J. J. L., Tran, D. T. A., Le, D. T. T. & Hoang, H. D. (2011) The Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) of the Langbian Plateau, southern Vietnam, with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 2804, 25-40.

    Swofford, D. L. (2002) PAUP*: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony *(and other methods). Version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.

    Zheng, Y., Li, S. & Fu, J. (2008) A phylogenetic analysis of the frog genera Vibrissaphora and Leptobrachium, and the correlated evolution of nuptial spine and reversed sexual size dimorphism. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 46, 695–707.