Description
Diagnosis: This species is a medium-sized member of the genus Leptobrachium, with the single adult female specimen measuring 58.3 mm and the single adult male specimen measuring 50.0 mm in SVL. It can be diagnosed as belonging to the genus Leptobrachium by the following combination of characters: (1) presence of femoral glands (very small) and flat, ovoid axillary glands; (2) absence of rictal glands and ventrolateral glandular ridges; (3) presence of large, circular inner palmar tubercle that does not extend along the first metacarpal; (4) lack of snout and palpebral dermal projections; (5) lack of keratinized spines on the upper lip; (6) lack of vomerine dentigerous processes. It can be distinguished from all other congeners by iris color (entire iris light blue in adults, with fine black reticulations, and gray in juveniles); all other Leptobrachium species with this eye color (L. chapaense, L. hainanense, L. huansen, and species in the subgenus Vibrissaphora) have only the upper half of the iris as light blue. It is the only Sundaland species of Leptobrachium to have any blue color in the eye (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

Description: Single adult female specimen 58.3 mm SVL; single adult male specimen 50.0 mm SVL. Head is broad (though slightly longer than wide) and depressed. Snout is rounded in dorsal view, and truncate as well as very slightly projecting in profile. Eyes are large. Canthus rostralis is sharp. Loreal region is oblique and somewhat concave. Nares are closer to snout tip than to eyes. Interorbital distance is much wider than internarial distance. Pineal spot is lacking. Tympanum is distinct, with a diameter about 60% that of the eye, and located half of its diameter from the eye. A very low supratympanic fold runs from the eye to behind the tympanum. Vomerine teeth are lacking. Heart-shaped tongue is notched at the posterior and lacks papillae. Forelimbs are long and slender, about 60% of hindlimb length. Upper surface of forelimb has indistinct, low dermal ridges. Fingers are unwebbed and somewhat slender. Finger I is slightly longer than Fingers IV and II, while Finger III is much longer. Fingertips are rounded but not expanded. Inner palmar tubercle is large and circular, but does not extend onto the first metacarpal; outer palmar tubercle is smaller. Subarticular tubercles are indistinct but low calluses are present on the underside of the fingers. A flat, oval-shaped axillary gland is present posterior to the arm insertion. Hindlimbs are somewhat short and slender. Heels do not meet when legs are placed at right angles to the body. Tibiotarsal articulation of adpressed hind limbs reaches the middle of the tympanum. Femoral gland (visible as a very small white spot) is present on the posterior thigh. Toes have poorly developed webbing. Toe III is longer than Toe V. Inner metatarsal tubercle is oval-shaped and low, while the outer metatarsal tubercle is lacking. Subarticular tubercles are elongated but obscure, and appear to be replaced by low calluses. Dorsal skin is nearly smooth to somewhat rugose, except for minute granules at the posterior, particularly around the waist, the sides, and on the posterior thighs. Venter is slightly granular. Males have an internal vocal sac with paired openings (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

In life, the dorsum is uniform dark brownish-gray. Brownish-orange, faint to more distinct V-shaped interorbital and parietal mark. Supratympanic ridge bordered by thin brownish-orange line. The upper half of the tympanum may have markings. Lips lack black bars. Dorsal surfaces of head, fingers, and toes may have a faint orange hue. Toes are orange-brown dorsolaterally. Sides of the body are dark gray with numerous tiny white and orange spots. Venter is light gray, with a brownish throat; the chest and throat have a higher density of tiny white spots than does the abdomen. Forelimbs have somewhat indistinct dark brown bars on the upper surface. Groin lacks markings from posterior flank to anterior thigh. Iris light blue with black reticulations; when eye is fully open, a light blue orbital arc can be seen to surround the iris (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

In life, the single juvenile specimen had a light gray iris with irregular black reticulations. An orange line runs from the canthus through the margin of the upper eyelid, above the tympanum to the insertion of the arm. Dorsal surfaces of limbs have dark brown narrow bars with medial orange spots. Toes are light brown on the dorsal surface (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

In preservative, the dorsal ground color is darker and all tiny spots are white. Other aspects of color and pattern remain the same (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Indonesia

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Known only from southwestern Sumatra, Indonesia, but may occur in central Sumatra, in the western part of Jambi Province. The type locality is Way Sepunti trail, Kubu Perahu, Liwa, West Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia. This trail is located about 250 m from a rocky stream. L. waysepuntiese has been collected from 691-852m asl. Habitat is primary forest; the adult female was found in leaf litter (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The female holotype and juvenile were collected in mid-February 2009, while the male paratype was collected in November 2004. No calls were heard during the mid-February 2009 expedition (data not reported for November 2004); neither were eggs or larvae found in mid-February 2009. The female was in leaf litter (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

Trends and Threats
This species has only recently been described and is known from only three specimens. It occurs within a protected area, the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

Comments
The specific epithet waysepuntiese refers to the type locality, Way Sepunti trail, Kubu Perahu, Lampung, Sumatra (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

One other Leptobrachium species is known to undergo ontogenetic color change in iris color: L. chapaense, from Vietnam, in which the upper half of the iris is off-white to yellow in juveniles and white in adults (Bain and Nguyen 2004).

This species shares certain characters with other Bornean species and may possibly be more closely related to Bornean species than Sumatran species of Leptobrachium (Sumatran congeners include L.hasseltii, L. hendricksoni, and L. nigrops); like all of the Bornean endemic Leptobrachium species, L. waysepuntiese completely lacks groin markings. Like the Bornean species L. gunungense, L. waysepuntiese has a very small femoral gland, and as for L. montanum and L. abbotti juveniles, juvenile L. waysepuntiese have a thin orange line running along the supratympanic ridge (Hamidy and Matsui 2010).

Species authority: Hamidy and Matsui (2010).

References

Bain, R., and Truong, N. (2004). ''Herpetofaunal diversity of Ha Giang province in northeastern Vietnam, with descriptions of two new species.'' American Museum Novitates, (3453), 11-12.

Hamidy, A., and Matsui, M. (2010). ''A new species of blue-eyed Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) from Sumatra, Indonesia.'' Zootaxa, 2395, 34-44.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2010 Leptobrachium waysepuntiense <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7466> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Feb 2, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 2 Feb 2025.

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