Morphological and molecular data reveal one new species of the genus Brachytarsophrys Tian & Hu, 1983 (Anura, Megophryidae) from Guizhou, China

We describe a new species of megophryid frog from Mt. Foding National Nature Reserve in Guizhou Province, China. The new species is morphologically distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: medium body size (SVL 88.1–93.2 mm in five adult males and 108.7–111.2 mm in two adult females); head wider than long; tympanum hidden; dorsal skin slightly rough with irregularly shaped dark blotches and stripes; chin, ventral surface of throat rough with brown, irregularly shaped dark markings, two large longitudinal black-brown stripes on lateral throat; ventral surface brown-black with small brown granular spots; occipital region slightly uplifted; upper eyelid with tubercles, one of which is prominent, bluntly conical horn; margin of tongue shallow notched behind; toes webbing formular: I (1 ½) - (2) II (1 ½) - (3) III (2 ½) - (4) IV (4) - (2) V, webbing extending as a wide fringe along either side of each toe; large single subgular vocal sac located laterally on floor of mouth in males; tadpoles with a transverse white stripe on ventral surface and two longitudinal white stripes along sides of the body.

In addition, phylogenetic analysis of 16 S rRNA and COI fragment confirms its distinct identity, which clusters the new species closest to B. orientalis, with uncorrected p - distances of COI at least 3.77 %. At present, the new species is known only from small streams in Mt. Foding National Nature Reserve at about 740–1000 m elevation.

Its natural history and conservation status is discussed.