Theloderma asperum

Abstract: Mitochondrial gene fragments of 16S rRNA gene of four species (Rhacophorus rhodopus, R. reinwardtii, Philautus albopurwtatus and P. rhododiscus) from 11 populations were sequenced in this study. Homologous sequences of R. bipuiwtatus, Theloderma asperum, T. corticale and Buergeria japonica were obtained by screening the GenBank database. After excluding all gaps and ambiguous positions, aligned sequences were 500 bp in length with 115 variable sites and 92 parsimony-informative sites. Using B .japonica as an outgroup, phylogenetic relationships were analyzed using Bayesian inference, maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. Our results indicated that neither of R. rhodopus and P. albopunctatus were monophyletic at the species level. The population of R. rhodo pus from Hainan Island was more close to R. bipuiwtatus than to populations of R. rhodopus from Yunnan Province. Furthermore, the populations of R. rhodopus from Yunnan Province can be divided into two main lineages. Theloderma corticale and P. rhododiscus were clustered together and T. asperum was nested in P. albopunctatus. We considered that P. albopunctatus Liu and Hu, 1962, was the synonymy of T. asperum Boulenger, 1886, and suggested removing P. rhododiscus from Philautus into the genus Theloderma.

Abstract: I describe a new species of Theloderma from two regions in Myanmar (Chin State in western Myanmar and Kachin State in northern Myanmar). Highly similar in appearance and size to Theloderma albopunctatum and Theloderma asperum, the new species differs by the presence of small, bilateral vocal sac openings absent in T. albopunctatum and T. asperum. Molecular phylogenetic analysis from two mitochondrial and four nuclear gene fragments infers that individuals are members of a unique genetic lineage within the T. asperum Complex.

Abstract: Six species of amphibians are reported for the first time from Thuong Tien Nature Reserve, Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam: Babina chapaensis, Kurixalus bisacculus, Theloderma asperum, Rhacophorus kio, R. feae, and Tylototriton asperrimus. These new findings bring the total number of amphibian species to 33 in Thuong Tien Nature Reserve.