AmphibiaChina 中国两栖类.

Conservation Status (definitions)

IUCN Red List Status Account CITES No CITES Listing National Status None Regional Status None

Description
Leptobrachella shimentaina is a small frog described from six males and two females. The snout-vent length range is 26.4 - 28.9 mm in males and the two females were 30.1 and 30.7 mm. The head is slightly longer than wide with a snout that slightly projects over the lower jaw. The nostrils are positioned closer to the snout tip than the eye. The canthus rostralis is gently rounded and the loreal region is somewhat concave. The interorbital space is flat and narrower than the internarial space. There is no pineal ocellus. The pupil is vertical and the eye diameter is shorter than the snout length. The distinct, round tympanum has a diameter that is smaller than the eye diameter, but larger than the space between the eye and tympanum. The supratympanic ridge touches the upper margin of the tympanum. Their dorsal skin texture is shagreen and granular, without enlarged tubercles or warts. However, some granules form short longitudinal folds. The ventral skin is smooth with the exception of small raised tubercles on the scapular and abdominal regions, and oval glands in the pectoral and femoral region. There is also a distinct ventrolateral gland that forms a broken longitudinal series. Males have a single vocal sac. The hands have a large, rounded inner palmar tubercle that is distinctly separated from the small, round outer palmer tubercle. The unwebbed fingers have a relative length of I = II = IV < III. No subarticular tubercles are present. The rounded fingertips are slightly swollen. No nuptial pads were found on males, however males have distinct lateral fringes, which are absent in females. When the hind limb is adpressed along the body, the tibiotarsal articulation reaches the middle of the eye. When the hind limbs are held at right angles to the body, the heels slightly overlap. The tibia is 47% of the snout-vent length. The large inner metatarsal tubercle is oval and the outer metatarsal tubercle is absent. The toes have a relative toe length of I < II < III = V < IV, rudimentary webbing, and lateral fringes, which are wide in males and narrow in females. There are also continuous longitudinal ridges on the ventral side of the toes that have constrictions at the toe joints (Wang et al. 2022).

DIAGNOSIS:

Leptobrachella shimentaina is most closely related to L. bashaensis, L. laui, L. liui, L. mangshanensis, L. maoershanensis, and L. yunkaiensis, but can be differentiated from them based on toe morphology, skin texture, and coloration. Wide lateral fringes on the toes in male L. shimentaina distinguish it from L. bashaensis, L. mangshanensis, and L. maoershanensis. While L. shimentaina has distinct, continuous longitudinal ridges under the toes that have constrictions at the articulations, L. laui and L. yunkaiensis do not have constrictions; the ridges on L. liui are interrupted at the articulations; and L. maoershanensis has indistinct ridges with no interruptions. Additionally, L. shimentaina has granular dorsal skin with granular folds that distinguish it from L. laui (which lack granular folds), L. mangshanensis (which has spines on smooth skin), and L. yunkaiensis (which has shagreen skin with short ridges and raised warts). The dense patch of tubercles on the chest and either side of the abdomen in L. shimentaina, differentiate it from the smooth ventral surfaces of L. laui, L. liui, L. mangshanensis, L. maoershanensis, and L. yunkaiensis. Lastly, the grayish pink ventral coloration with distinct, but hazy brown speckling on the chest and ventrolateral flanks in L. shimentaina differentiate it from the creamy-white chest and belly of L. bashaensis (with irregular black spots), L. laui (with dark brown dusting on ventrolateral flanks), L. liui (with dark brown spots on the chest and ventrolateral flanks), L. mangshanensis (irregular black spots), and the pink belly with indistinct speckling in L. yunkaiensis (Wang et al. 2022).

COLORATION:

In life, L. shimentaina has an overall coloration dorsal side of yellowish-brown coloration with small orange granules, distinguishable dark brown markings, spots, and a scattering of irregular gray-brown pigmentation. A dark brown inverted triangular marking is between the anterior corners of the eyes, connecting to a dark brown W-shaped marking in the interorbital area. The W-shaped marking is connected to another W-shaped marking that is located in the occipital area. The tympanum is dark brown, with the lower edge being grayish yellow. There is a black supratympanic line. There are dark brown blotches on the flanks, transverse dark brown bars on the distal limbs and digits, and coppery orange coloration on the elbows and upper arms. The supra-axillary and femoral glands are also coppery orange. The pectoral gland is grayish white, and the ventrolateral glands are brown. The throat, chest, and belly are grayish pink with hazy, but distinct brown speckling on the chest and ventrolateral flanks. The ventrum lacks black spots. The lower lip and chin are brown with grayish white patches and spots. The ventral surfaces of the limbs are brown with pink hues. The iris is bicolored, with the upper half coppery orange and the bottom half silver (Wang et al. 2022).

In preservative, L. shimentaina has a grayish-brown coloration with irregular light grayish-brown pigmentation. The markings, bars, and spots are more distinct, and the tympanum is dark brown with a lower gray margin. The ventral surface is yellowish brown, and the speckling on the flanks and chest are more distinct. The ventral surface of the limbs is dark brown. All the glands become grayish yellow (Wang et al. 2022).

VARIATION:

Male paratypes of L. shimentaina show similarities in morphological characteristics with the possibility of varying dark coloration on the dorsum and ventrum. There is some sexual dimorphism. Female paratypes typically have a lighter background coloration with more distinct dark brown marking orange tubercles on the back side. Males also have internal vocal sac openings, lateral fringes on the fingers, and broader lateral fringes on the toes (Wang et al. 2022).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: China

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Leptobrachella shimentaina can be found in Shimentai Nature Reserve in Yingde City, and Luokeng Nature Reserve in Shaoguan City, both of which are in Guangdong China. They inhabit the forest floor and rocky streams of hilly broad-leaved evergreen forests located in karst and granite landforms. Their elevational range is from 300 - 600 m above sea level (Wang et al. 2022).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Leptobrachella shimentaina are found on forest floors and near rocky streams (Wang et al. 2022).

Males call while perching on rocks under flowing streams. The breeding season is believed to last from April to June due to the males calling and females possessing mature oocytes. The females deposit their eggs in streams and exhibit indirect development (Wang et al. 2022).

Near Hengshitang Protection Station in the Shimentai Nature Reserve, L. shimentaina can be found in sympatry with L. mangshanensis (Wang et al. 2022).

Larva
Members of the Leptobrachella genus exhibit indirect development. Tadpoles in the genus display fossorial, aquatic lifestyles, aided by their elongated body shapes, semi-calcified vertebrae, and muscular tails (Chen et al. 2018). Specifics surrounding the larval form of this particular species were not reported in the species description.

Comments

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS:

At the time of the species description, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses were conducted on partial 16S rRNA. These analyses confirmed that L. shimentaina was a distinct lineage, but was not robust enough to clearly indicate a sister lineage. Instead L. shimentaina formed a polytomy with two clades; the first was composed of L. liui, and L. mangshanensis, and the second composed of L. bahamensis, L. maoershanensis, and L. laui. The next most closely related lineage is L. yunkaiensis (Wang et al. 2022). A slightly later study, which described another species, using the same analyses and gene supported these finding but with better resolution. Their results showed that shimentaina was sister to the clade composed of L. liui, L. mangshanensis, and L. verrocosa. The next most closely related the clade was composed of L. bashaensis, L. laui, and L. maoershanensis (Lin et al. 2022).

References
Chen, J. M., Poyarkov, N. A. Jr., Suwannapoom, C., Lathrop, A., Wu, Y.-H., Zhou, W.-W., Yang, Z.-Y., Jin, J.-Q., Chen, H.-M., Liu, H.-Q., Nguyen, T. Q., Nguyen, S. N., Duong, T. V., Eto, K., Nishikawa, K., Matsui, M., Orlov, N. L., Stuart, B. L., Brown, R. M., Rowley, J. L., Murphy, R. W., Wang. Y.-Y., Chi, J. (2018). Large-scale phylogenetic analyses provide insights into unrecognized diversity and historical biogeography of Asian leaf-litter frogs, genus Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 124(2018), 162-171. [link]

Lin, S.-S., Li, Y.-H., Lu, Y.-H., Su, H.-L., Wu, S.-B., Zhang, Q.-Q., Mo, M.-J., Xiao, S.-J., Pan, Z., Pan, H.-J., Zeng, Z.-C., Wang, J. (2022). A new species of the genus Leptobrachella (Anura, Megophryidae) from the northwestern Guangdong Province, China. OGH Herpetoza 35, 165-178. [link]

Wang, J., Qi, S., Dai, K.-Y., Lyu, Z.-T., Zeng, Z.-C., Chen, H.-H., Li, Y.-Q., Zhao, Y.-Y., Wang, Y.-Z., Wang, Y.-Y. (2022). A new Leptobrachella species (Anura, Megophryidae) from South China, with comments on the taxonomic status of L. chishuiensis and L. purpurus. Zoosystematics and Evolution, 98(1), 165–180. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2024 Leptobrachella shimentaina: Shimentai Leaf Litter Toad <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9567> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 21, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 21 Nov 2024.

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