Amolops cuongi (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae), a new species from the Hoang Lien Range, Vietnam

A new species of the genus Amolops is described from the Hoang Lien Range, northwestern Vietnam as Amolops cuongi sp. nov. While morphological and molecular data assign these individuals to the Amolops mantzorum group, the new species is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: size small (SVL 33.9–36.9 mm in males; 37.9–44.4 mm in females); head longer than wide; vomerine teeth absent or weakly developed; snout short (SE / SVL 0.15–0.17 in males; 0.14–0.16 in females); tympanum small (TD / ED 0.26–0.37 in males; 0.25–0.35 in females); the absence of circummarginal groove on the first finger; disc of finger III larger than tympanum; supratympanic fold present; dorsolateral fold absent; webbing formula I 0–1 II 0 – 1 III 0 – 1 IV 1 – 0 V; the presence of a band of small spinules and / or tubercles running from below nares, along upper lip, around lower half of eye, between tympanum and eye and rear axis of mandibles; granular skin on flanks and ventral surfaces of body; in life, dorsal body colouration of dark brown with diffuse-edged blotches of bluish grey, copper and yellowish green or pale green and copper; ventral surface of throat, chest and belly pale cream with white dots; males without vocal sacs; and nuptial pad velvety without spines.

In the phylogenetic analysis using a combination of mitochondrial 16 S ribosomal RNA, ND 2, and cytochrome b (cyt b) genes, the new species is strongly supported as the most genetically distinct member of the Amolops mantzorum group with genetic distance ≥ 1.53 % in the 16 S rRNA, ≥ 8.70 % in ND 2, and ≥ 8.56 % in cyt b compared to other members within the genus Amolops.