The Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) of the langbian plateau, southern Vietnam, with description of a new species

Abstract

We sampled two forms of Leptobrachium in syntopy at the type locality of L. pullum at upper elevations on the Langbian Plateau, southern Vietnam. The two forms differed in morphology (primarily in coloration), mitochondrial DNA, and male advertisement calls. One form closely agrees with the type series of L. pullum (but not to its original description due to error), and the other is described as new. Leptobrachium leucops sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by having small body size (males with SVL 38.8-45.2), the upper one-third to one-half of iris white, a blue scleral arc, a dark venter, and sexually active males without spines on the upper lip. Leptobrachium pullum and L. mouhoti, a recently described species from low-elevation slopes of the Langbian Plateau in eastern Cambodia, are morphologically divergent but genetically similar, warranting further investigation into geographic variation in the red-eyed Leptobrachium of southern Indochina. © 2011 Magnolia Press.