Description
Raorchestes malipoensis is a bush frog with a very small body size. The snout-to-vent range among seven males was 14.6 - 17.7 mm and 18.3 - 19.6 mm among four females. The head has a greater width than the length. The top of the head is slightly compressed. The snout extends past the lower jaw, and appears rounded from the profile. The nostrils are closer to the snout tip than to the corners of the eyes and the distance between nostrils is greater than the width of the upper eyelids. There is a rounded canthus rostralis and a concave loreal region. The distance between their eyes is larger than each eye’s horizontal diameter. Small granules are present on the upper eyelid, which cause roughness. The eyes are large with horizontal pupils and protrude from the face. The tympanum is small and the supratympanic fold is distinct. The pineal ocellus is absent. The dorsal surfaces of the body, head, and limbs, as well as the ventral thigh area and vent region, are rough and granular. However, the ventral surfaces are smooth (Huang et al. 2023).

The forelimbs are robust. Both the inner and outer metacarpal tubercles are subtle. The unwebbed fingers have lateral dermal fringes on both sides and a relative length of I < II < IV < III. All four fingertips expand into discs with circum-marginal grooves. The round subarticular tubercles are distinct, and there are no supernumerary tubercles. When the hind limbs are held perpendicular to the body, the heels do not touch. When stretched along the body, the hindlimbs reach the anterior border of the eye. The foot is robust and long, longer than the tibia. A rounded inner metatarsal tubercle is present but the outer metatarsal tubercle is absent. The toes have a relative length of I < II < V < III < IV. Like the fingers, the toes have lateral dermal fringes on the sides of the toes and the tips expand into discs with circum-marginal grooves. The toes also have distinct, rounded subarticular tubercles, and no supernumerary tubercles. The webbing formula on the toes is I 2 – 2 II 2 – 2 III 2 – 3 IV 3 – 2 V (Huang et al. 2023).

DIAGNOSIS:

Other species that are found in the wider geographic region as R. malipoensis include R. andersoni, R. annandalii, R. bombayensis, R. cangyuanensis, R. dulongensis, R. ghatei, R. hillisi, R. huanglianshan, R. longchuanensis, R. manipurensis, R. menglaensis, R. parvulus, R. rezakhani, R. sahai, R. shillongensis and R. tuberohumerus. Raorchestes malipoensis is smaller than R. bombayensis, R. ghatei, R. longchuanensis, R. parvulus, R. rezakhani, and R. sahai. Raorchestes malipoensis has a head that his wider than long, which differentiates it from R. annandalii, R. dulongensis, R. hillisi, R. longchuanensis, and R. menglaensis. The interorbital distance is greater than the horizontal eye diameter in R. malipoensis, which differentiates it from R. andersoni, R. cangyuanensis, R. dulongensis, R. hillisi, R. longchuanensis, R. parvulus, and R. rezakhani. The presence of a distinct tympanum differentiates R. malipoensis from R. bombayensis, R. cangyuanensis, R. ghatei, R. menglaensis, R. rezakhani, and R. tuberohumerus. Raorchestes malipoensis is distinguished by the presence of lateral dermal fringes on their digits from R. huanglianshan, R. menglaensis, and R. rezakhani. The yellow disc color in R. malipoensis differentiates it from R. andersoni, R. cangyuanensis, R. dulongensis, R. huanglianshan, R. longchuanensis, R. menglaensis, and R. rezakhani. And lastly, small, milky white nuptial pads distinguish R. malipoensis from R. cangyuanensis and R. menglaensis, which are reddish and white respectively, and from R. dulongensis, R. ghatei, and rezakhani, which do not have nuptial pads (Wu et al. 2021, Huang et al. 2023).

COLORATION:

Live R. malipoensis adults are dorsally beige. A pale brown band extends between the eyes. They have spots of black and white on their lips. The supratympanic fold is pale brown. And the vocal sacs in males are transparent during calling. Their irises appear golden brown. There is a brown X-shape on the dorsum that extends into dark brown transverse bars on the dorsal surface of each limb. The hidden portions of flanks and hind limbs have black patches surrounded by creamy white. The background color of the ventrum is also beige. Small black spots and a larger black patch are found near the vent. The nuptial pad on the first finger is small and milky white and the digital discs are yellow (Huang et al. 2023).

When preserved in alcohol, the dorsal patterns remain the same, but the dorsal color appears grayish brown and the ventral side becomes lighter. The markings also change to a blackish brown and the tips of the fingers and toes turn from yellow to pale gray (Huang et al. 2023).

VARIATION:

One specimen had large black spots on the dorsal side, and another’s dorsal color was noticeably darker (Huang et al. 2023).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: China

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

At the time of the species description R. malipoensis was only known in Malipo County, Yunnan Province, China, and Pac Ban, Tuyen Quang, Vietnam. Specimens were collected at 1496 m elevation. The species is found in forests (Huang et al. 2023).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Raorchestes malipoensis is terrestrial and nocturnal (Huang et al. 2023).

Like other Raorchestes species, males call to attract mates (Huang et al. 2023).

Reproductive behavior was not observed in the collected specimens. However, in captivity, the closely related species R. longchuanensis was observed to lay two clutches of 10 - 12 eggs each, and the eggs hatched after 25 - 30 days (Yan et al. 2021).

Larva
All Raorchestes species with known reproductive modes exhibit direct development with no free-swimming tadpole stage, so R. malipoensis is inferred to have direct development as well (Huang et al. 2023).

Trends and Threats
Raorchestes malipoensis has only been recently described, so there is a lack of information about the population trends for the species. However, the species’ authority recommends further research to determine the impact of global warming and habitat destruction on the species in the China-Vietnam border region (Huang et al. 2023).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Climate change, increased UVB or increased sensitivity to it, etc.

Comments

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS:

Raorchestes malipoensis was previously mis-identified as R. gryllus. However, the locality of R. malipoensis is 1200 km from the type locality of R. gryllus, which prompted the investigation that described R. malipoensis (Huang et al. 2023).

References
Huang, J., Liu, X. L., Du, L., Bernstein, J. M., Liu, S., Yang, Y., Yu, G., and Wu, Z. (2023). A new species of Bush frog (Anura, Rhacophoridae, Raorchestes) from southeastern Yunnan, China. ZooKeys 1151, 47–65. [link]

Wu, Y.-H., Liu, X.-L., Gao, W., Wang, Y.-F., Li, Y.-C., Zhou, W.-W., Yuan, Z.-Y., and Che, J. (2021). Description of a new species of bush frog (Anura: Rhacophoridae: Raorchestes) from northwestern Yunnan, China. Zootaxa, 4941(2), 239–258. [link]

Yan, F., Liu, X., Zhang, Y., and Yuan, Z. (2021). Direct development of the bush frog Raorchestes longchuanensis (Yang and Li 1978) under laborary conditions in Southern China. Journal of Natural History, 55(1–2), 125–132. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2024 Raorchestes malipoensis: Malipo Bush Frog (English) <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9681> 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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