Description
Zhangixalus jodiae is a small sized green tree frog, described from nine males specimens with a snout-vent length range of 36.1 - 39.8 mm. The moderately compressed head is about equal in width and length, and slightly convex. The snout is anteriorly rounded but protrudes over the lower jaw in the lateral view. The round nostrils are closer to the tip of the snout than the eye and do not have a lateral flap. The canthus rostralis is round, and the loreal region is concave and oblique. The diameter of the eyes are about two-thirds the length of the snout, and the interorbital distance is greater than the internarial distance. The pupils are oval and horizontal. There are no spinules on the upper eyelid, and no pineal ocellus. The distinct, round tympanum is about half the size of the eye’s diameter, and located about a quarter of an eye diameter distance away from the eye. The distinct supratympanic fold starts behind the eye and continues past the axilla. The dorsal skin is smooth, as is the skin on the throat and chest. However, the belly and ventral skin of limbs has a grainy texture. Males have a single vocal sac. Dorsolateral grooves are absent, and there are no dermal appendages around the cloaca. The upper arms are short, about a third of the forearm length. There is a poorly developed dermal fringe along the outer edge of the forearm. Prominent, smooth, oval nuptial pads are present. The fingers are webbed with a formula of I1 - 1 II 1 - 1 III 2 - 1 IV, and a relative finger length of I < II < IV < III. Fingers I and II have one distinct and bluntly rounded subarticular tubercle and fingers III and IV have two. The tips of the fingers expand into enlarged discs with distinct circummarginal grooves. The disc of finger III is about twice as large as the width of the finger, but smaller in diameter than the tympanum. When the hind limbs are held at right angles to the body, the heels overlap. The tibias are slightly longer than the thighs, but shorter than the foot length. There is a dermal ridge along the outer edge of the tibia and tarsus, and dermal projections can be found at the tibiotarsal articulation. The inner metatarsal tubercle is small. The webbed toes have a formula of I 1 - 1 II ½ - 1 III 0 - 1½ IV 1 - ½ V and a relative toe length of I < II < III < V < IV. Toes I and II have one distinct and bluntly rounded subarticular tubercle while toes III and V have two, and toe IV has three. The tips of the toes expand into enlarged discs with circummarginal grooves that are slightly smaller than the finger discs (Nguyen et al. 2020).

DIAGNOSIS:

Zhangixalus jodiae is closely related to Z. nigropunctatus, Z. yaoshanensis, Z. pinglongensis, and Z. chenfui. All are small, have smooth, green dorsums with no spots, moderate digital webbing, and no dermal flaps or supra-cloacal dermal ridges. However, they can be differentiated from Z. jodiae by the coloration of the axilla, flanks, thighs and groin among other features. Zhangixalus jodiae has large black blotches in the axilla and cream flanks and thighs with irregular black and orange blotches, and orange blotches in the groin. Zhangixalus nigropunctus has cream flanks and thighs with black blotches with no orange; Z. yaoshanensis has small greyish spots on the flanks and orange-red thighs without spots; Z. pinglongensis has irregular black and white blotches on the axilla, flank, and thigh. Additionally, the ventral surface of the feet and webbing in Z. pinglongensis is tangerine while it is cream in Z. jodiae, and the former has a two note call with six pulses while Z. jodiae's call has a six, single-pulsed notes. Lastly, Z. chenfui does not have a dorsolateral white line separating the dorsal and ventral coloration between the limbs (Nguyen et al. 2020).

COLORATION:

In life, the dorsal coloration of the head, body, and limbs is solid green. Ventral coloration is greyish on the throat, vocal sac, and jaw, and cream on the belly and chest. The flanks are cream colored with large black splotches found in the axilla, groin, thigh, and ventral side of the tibia. Smaller orange splotches are also found in the groin, thigh, and ventral side of the tibia. The supra cloacal region is white as are the dermal fringes of the limbs. Ventrally, webbing on hands is cream, and orange on the toes. The nuptial pads in males are yellow. The iris is silver (Nguyen et al. 2020).

In preservative, the patterning is retained, with green and orange colorations fading to grey and white, respectively (Nguyen et al. 2020).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Viet Nam

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

At the time of the species description, Z. jodiae was only known from its type locality in the limestone karst forests of Tung Vai Commune in the Quan Ba district, Ha Jiang Province in Northeastern Vietnam. It was observed at elevations of 1180 - 1320 meters above sea level. The forest consists of hardwoods, shrubs, and liane (Nguyen et al. 2020).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Zhangixalus jodiae can be found on the ground, near streams in hardwood forests at night (Nguyen et al. 2020).

Advertisement calls of Z. jodiae were recorded at ambient temperatures of 17.3 °C. It consists of six evenly dispersed, single-pulsed notes that are 1.1 seconds long. Each note is ~ 6 ms and are spaced ~ 15 ms apart. Calls are 8.8 seconds apart. The main frequency of the call is 2.0 kHz and had harmonics ranging from 3.7 - 5.5 kHz with the last note being of a lower amplitude (Nguyen et al. 2020).

Trends and Threats
At the time of the species description, little data on abundance, distribution, or population trends could be discerned. Individuals were only observed at one locality, in undisturbed forest (Nguyen et al. 2020).

Comments

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS:

Based on Bayesian inference and Maximum Likelihood of 16S rRNA, Z. jodiae is sister to the clade composed of Z. nigropunctatus, Z. yaoshanensis, and Z. pinglongensis with strong support. The next most closely related clade is of Z. chenfui (Nguyen et al. 2020).

ETYMOLOGY:

The species epithet, “jodiae”, and common names, Jodi’sTreefrog (English) and Ếchcâyjô-đi (Vietnamese), are in honor of Dr. Jodi Rowley from the Australian Museum for her work on the taxonomy of Asian herpetofauna (Nguyen et al. 2020).

References
Nguyen, T.T., Ninh, H.T., Orlov, N., Nguyen, T.Q., & Ziegler, T. (2020) A new species of the genus Zhangixalus (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae) from Vietnam. Journal of Natural History, 54(1-4), 257-273 [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2023 Zhangixalus jodiae: Jodi’s Treefrog (English) <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9213> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Feb 1, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 1 Feb 2025.

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