A New Species of the Genus Liurana(Anura:Ceratobatrachidae)from Medog,China

A new species of the genus Liurana is described from Medog,Xizang,China,based on morphological and molecular data.Molecular phylogenetic analysis based on the mitochondrial gene COI indicated that this new species represented an independent evolutionary lineage.In addition,the uncorrected genetic distance between the new species and its closest congener species,L.alpina,was 9.6%-9.8%for COI.The new species,Liurana namchabarwa sp.nov.Yu,Lin,Wang,Jiang and Xie,could be distinguished from its congeners by following characters:(1)relatively large body size in this genus,SVL=21.2-23.1 mm in adult males(n=3);(2)relatively narrow head(HL/HW=100.5%-104.8%(n=3));(3)digital disc not expanded;(4)relatively long hindlimbs,with tibiotarsal articulation reaching tip of snout when adpressed.

The Australasian frog family Ceratobatrachidae in China,Myanmar and Thailand:discovery of a new Himalayan forest frog clade

In an effort to study the systematic affinities and species- level phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic anurans vadably assigned to the genera Ingerana or Limnonectes （family Dicroglossidae）, we collected new molecular sequence data for five species including four Himalayan taxa, Limnonectes xizangensis, Lim. medogensis, Lim. alpine, Ingerana borealis and one southeast Asian species, I. tasanae, and analyzed these together with data from previous studies involving other ostensibly related taxa. Our surprising results demonstrate unequivocally that Lim. xizangensis, Lim. medogensis and Lira. alpine form a strongly supported clade, the sister-group of the family Australasian forest frog family Ceratobatrachidae. This discovery requires an expansion of the definition of Ceratobatrachidae and represents the first record of this family in China. These three species are distinguished from the species of Ingerana and Limnonectes by the： （1） absence of interdigital webbing of the foot, （2） absence of terminal discs on fingers and toes, （3） absence of circumarginal grooves on the fingers and toes, and （4） absence of tarsal folds. Given their phylogenetic and morphological distinctiveness, we assign them to the oldest available generic name for this clade, Liurana Dubois 1987, and transfer Liurana from Dicroglossidae to the family Ceratobatrachidae. In contrast, Ingerana tasanae was found to be clustered with strong support with the recently described genus Alcalus （Ceratobatrachidae）, a small clade of otherwise Sundaic species; this constitutes a new record of the family Ceratobatrachidae for Myanmar and Thailand. Finally, Ingerana borealis clustered with the ＂true＂ Ingerana （family Dicroglossidae）, for which the type species is L tenasserimensis.