Leptobrachella kungfu, Zhang & Lin & Li & Su & Chen & Zhang & Zeng & Wang, 2025

Zhang, Qi-Qi, Lin, Shi-Shi, Li, Yuan-Hang, Su, Hong-Lin, Chen, Hong-Hui, Zhang, Xiu-Yu, Zeng, Zhao-Chi & Wang, Jian, 2025, A new species of the genus Leptobrachella (Anura, Megophryidae) from central Guangdong Province, China, ZooKeys 1259, pp. 185-204 : 185-204

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1259.164646
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1BC0F101-A42A-4BB5-B705-858C948D1CE0
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17598778
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/4680A168-394C-5C95-8F87-A7B40C9723EE
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Leptobrachella kungfu
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Leptobrachella kungfu sp. nov.

Fig. 3 Foshan Leaf Litter Toad (in English) / Fo Shan Zhang Tu Chan (佛山掌突蟾 in Chinese View Figure 3 )

Type material.

Holotype • ♂. GEP a 419, collected by Shi-Shi Lin and Yuan-Hang Li on 29 April 2025 from Mt Laoxiangshan / 老香山 ( 22°46'50.63"N, 112°26'37.95"E; ca. 250 m a. s. l.), Gaoming District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China GoogleMaps . Paratypes. • 5 ♂: GEP a 420–423, SYS a 009517 (field number: GEP a 424), the same collection data as the holotype GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis.

(1) Small body size [ SVL 25.7–28.2 mm in six adult males]; (2) iris bicolored, upper half coppery orange and lower half grayish brown; (3) tympanum distinct; (4) distinct black supratympanic line; (5) fingers without lateral fringes; (6) toes with rudimentary webbing and wide lateral fringes; (7) longitudinal ridges under toes continuous; (8) heels just meeting when adpressed, tibial-tarsal articulation reaching loreal region; (9) dorsal surface shagreened with dense tubercles and raised warts, lacking skin ridges; (10) ventral surface smooth; (11) dorsum grayish brown to dark brown with indistinct dark brown scattered markings; (12) flank with several dark spots; (13) surface of throat, chest and abdomen creamy white.

Description of holotype.

Adult male. Body size small, SVL 25.8 mm. Head length slightly longer than head width, HDW / HDL 0.92; snout slightly protruding, projecting slightly beyond margin of lower jaw; nostril closer to snout than eye; canthus rostralis gently rounded; loreal region slightly concave; interorbital space flat, internarial distance slightly larger than interorbital distance, IND / IOD 1.03; pineal ocellus absent; pupil vertical; eye diameter slightly longer than snout, SNT / EYE 0.97; tympanum distinct, rounded, diameter smaller than that of eye and larger than tympanum-eye distance, TMP / EYE 0.50, TEY / TMP 0.56; upper margin of tympanum in contact with supratympanic ridge; vomerine teeth absent; a single vocal sac; vocal sac openings slit-like, paired, located posterolaterally on floor of mouth, close to margins of mandible; tongue deeply notched distally; supratympanic ridge distinct, extending from posterior corner of eye to supra-axillary gland.

Tips of fingers rounded, slightly swollen; relative finger lengths I = II = IV <III; nuptial pad absent; subarticular tubercles absent; inner palmar tubercle large, rounded, distinctly separated from outer palmar tubercle; outer palmar tubercle small, rounded; fingers lacking interdigital webbing and lateral fringes. Tips of toes rounded, slightly swollen; relative toe length I <II <V <III <IV; longitudinal ridges under toes continuous; inner metatarsal tubercle large, oval; outer metatarsal tubercle absent; interdigital webbing between toes rudimentary; wide lateral fringes present on all toes. Tibia 49 % of snout-vent length; tibiotarsal articulation reaches loreal region; heels just meeting where thighs are appressed at right angles with respect to body.

Skin on dorsum shagreened and scattered with dense tubercles and raised warts; ventral skin smooth; pectoral and femoral glands oval, both larger in diameter than tip of digits; femoral gland situated on posteroventral surface of thigh, closer to knee than to vent; supra-axillary gland raised. Ventrolateral gland distinctly visible, forming a longitudinal discontinuous series.

Coloration in life.

Dorsal background color grayish brown with indistinct dark brown markings and rounded spots. A dark brown inverted triangular marking present in the interorbital region, connected to dark brown W-shaped marking on occipital region. Tympanum dark brown, lower margin light yellow. Supratympanic line black. A pair of dark brown vertical bars under the eyes; transverse dark brown bars on dorsal surfaces of distal limbs and digits. Distinct dark brown blotches on flanks; surfaces of elbows and upper arms coppery orange.

Surface of throat, chest, and belly creamy white. Undersides of limbs grayish purple with numerous white spots. Supra-axillary, pectoral, femoral and ventrolateral glands light yellow. Iris bicolored: upper half coppery orange, lower half grayish brown.

Coloration in preservative.

Dorsal background color dark brown, scattered with irregular gray pigmentations. All markings, bars, and spots indistinct. Tympanum dark brown.

Ventral surface grayish white; grayish white spots absent, dark brown spots become more distinct. Supra-axillary, pectoral, and ventrolateral glands greyish white.

Variation.

Measurements and body proportions are listed in Table 2 View Table 2 . All the specimens showed relatively small differences in coloration and color patterns.

Etymology.

The type locality of the new species, Foshan, is known as the City of Chinese Kungfu. Many renowned Kungfu masters, such as Fei-Hong Huang (黄飞鸿), Zan Liang (梁赞), Yip Man (= Wen Ye / 叶问), and Bruce Lee (= Xiao-Long Li / 李小龙), had ancestral homes in Foshan and received their training there. The specific name kungfu is chosen to commemorate an important cultural aspect of Foshan City.

Distribution, ecology, and conservation.

Leptobrachella kungfu sp. nov. is currently known only from its type locality (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ), ca 800–1400 m a. s. l. The new species inhabits clear-water rocky streams in primary forests surrounded by broad-leaved forest on granite landforms. Males were observed calling while perched on rocks or on the leaves of dwarf shrubs near flowing seeps. The breeding season lasts from February to June according to our long-term observation. Given that the current information on the distribution and threats of this species is still not fully understood, we recommend the new species be listed as Data Deficient (DD) according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List categories and criteria.

Comparisons.

In the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ), Leptobrachella kungfu sp. nov. is most closely related to L. yunkaiensis . However, the new species differs from the latter by the absence of skin ridges on the dorsal surface (vs present), the absence of lateral fringes on the fingers (vs present), the absence of dark brown speckling on the belly (vs present), surface of belly cream white (vs pinkish), black supratympanic line distinct (vs weak).

Leptobrachella kungfu sp. nov. differs from the other five species occurring in Guangdong Province, i. e. L. laui , L. liui , L. mangshanensis , L. shimentaina , and L. verrucosa , by the absence of lateral fringes on the fingers (vs present in L. laui and males of L. shimentaina ), the absence of skin ridges on the dorsal surface (vs present in L. liui , L. mangshanensis , and L. shimentaina ), the presence of wide lateral fringes on the toes (vs presence of narrow lateral fringes on toes in L. mangshanensis and L. verrucosa ), longitudinal ridges under toes continuous (vs longitudinal ridges interrupted in L. liui ). Leptobrachella kungfu sp. nov. further differs from its closely related species, i. e. L. bashaensis , L. maoershanensis , and L. flaviglandulosa , by the presence of wide lateral fringes on the toes (vs narrow lateral fringes).

Compared with the 26 known congeners of the genus Leptobrachella occurring south of the Isthmus of Kra, by the presence of supra-axillary and ventrolateral glands, L. kungfu sp. nov. can easily be distinguished from L. arayai , L. dringi , L. fritinniens , L. gracilis , L. hamidi , L. heteropus , L. kajangensis , L. kecil , L. marmorata , L. melanoleuca , L. maura , L. picta , L. platycephala , L. sabahmontana , and L. sola , all of which lack the supra-axillary and ventrolateral glands; and by its distinctly larger male body size, SVL 25.7–28.2 mm, L. kungfu sp. nov. differs from the smaller L. baluensis ( SVL 14.9–15.9 mm), L. brevicrus ( SVL 17.1–17.8 mm), L. bondangensis ( SVL 17.8 mm), L. fusca ( SVL 16.3 mm), L. itiokai ( SVL 15.2–16.7 mm), L. juliandringi ( SVL 17.0– 17.2 mm), L. mjobergi ( SVL 15.7–19.0 mm), L. natunae ( SVL 17.6 mm), L. parva ( SVL 15.0– 16.9 mm), and L. palmata ( SVL 14.4–16.8 mm); and is even distinctly larger than female L. serasanae ( SVL 16.9 mm).