AmphibiaChina 中国两栖类.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: China

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (16 records).

The distribution of this species is primarily the Yunkwei Plateau, southern China, from Yunnan east of the Red River, southern Sichuan, and western Guizhou.

Comments
This species was featured in News of the Week 1 December 2024:

Amplexus is a specialized mating grip used by frogs during which the male typically grasps the female around the thorax or waist. In the majority of species, successful amplexus ultimately leads to external fertilization as the female extrudes eggs and the male simultaneously releases sperm. Often males developed keratinized nuptial pads on their enlarged thumbs or forearms (and sometimes on the chest) during the breeding season that allow the male to maintain a firmer grip on the slippery female during amplexus. Zheng et al. (2024) explored another function of nuptial pads – as a source of protein pheromones that can be released onto the female’s skin during amplexus. The authors used transcriptome sequencing (sequencing of genes being expressed in the tissue at time of sampling) to show that pheromones are highly expressed in the nuptial pads of the Yunnan Pond Frog, Nidirana pleuraden. The identified pheromones are homologous with plethodontid modulating factor (PMF) pheromones of salamanders and so-called amplexins identified in studies of the common frog (Rana temporaria). Amplexins were shown to be homologous with PMFs in a prior study but not characterized functionally. Here, they not only found these hormones to be highly expressed in N. pleuraden nuptial pads, but furthermore, confirmed experimentally for the first time that exposure to the pheromones shortens the breeding process in frogs by inducing females to release their eggs more rapidly than is the case for females not exposed to the hormones. The use of PMF hormones by male frogs to enhance receptivity is similar to the use of PMF hormones by salamanders. The authors further speculate that the use of nuptial pads to abraid the skin may allow pheromones to be introduced internally to the female in a manner similar to the process in salamanders termed “vaccination” whereby males scratch the female with their teeth while releasing PMF hormones generated by the mental gland on the chin. These findings suggest that use of hormones to manipulate female receptivity is an ancient and important feature of the reproductive biology of frogs and salamanders. (Written by Jim McGuire)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2024 Nidirana pleuraden: Yunnan Music Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5129> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Jun 6, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 6 Jun 2025.

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