Megophrys (Panophrys) hoanglienensis Tapley, Cutajar, Mahony, Nguyen, Dau, Luong, Le, Nguyen, Nguyen, Portway, Luong, and Rowley

Megophrys (Panophrys) hoanglienensis

Figs. 3D and 7

Molecular data: A 16S sequence was generated from tissue samples collected from one tadpole (VNMN010903) and uncorrected p -distance between this sequence and that of the holotype of M. hoanglienensis also collected on Mount Fansipan, Sa Pa District, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam (Genbank accession number MH 514889) was 0.0 %.

Collection site: The following tadpole description is based on a single specimen (VNMN010903) at Stage 26. The specimen was found feeding in a 5 m wide stream in disturbed evergreen forest on Mount Fansipan, Hoang Lien National Park, Tam Duong District, Lai Chau Province, Vietnam (22.3483°N 103.7700°E, 1901 m asl; Figs. 1 and 2B), on 10 September 2018 by Luan Nguyen, Chung Nguyen and Luong Hoang.

Morphology: The body is longitudinally oval shaped and dorsally compressed; the nares are oval and are closer to the eyes than to the snout, the rims of the nares are serrated and raised from the body wall, the internarial distance is less than the interorbital distance; the eyes are positioned dorsolaterally, the pupils are round; the spiracle is sinistral and the spiracular tube protrudes from midway along the body wall and anterior to maximal trunk width and opens laterally; the tail length is 73.2% of the total length; the dorsal tail fin inserts behind the body-tail junction, the dorsal fin is low, particularly towards the anterior half of the tail length; the basal tail width is 43.5%, of the maximal trunk width, the tail tip is pointed; the oral disc is subterminal and antero-dorsal; the lateral corners fold medially and turn upward when not fully extended (and in preservative), the mean width of the umbelliform oral disc makes up 47.8% of the maximal width of the trunk, in life the width of the umbelliform oral disc exceeds the maximal width of the trunk; in life the maximal BW is 79.3% (n =1) the maximal width of the fully extended ODW; the lower lip is bi-triangular shaped; marginal papillae are absent, the edges of the lips are smooth; four rows of submarginal papillae are present on the upper lip when they are counted medially at the maximal width of the oral disc; these are longitudinally oblong shaped at the edge of the disc and become increasingly rounded towards the maximal width of the disc, and become substantially smaller in the outermost row; five rows of longitudinally oblong submarginal papillae are present on the lower lip when they are counted medially at the maximal width of the oral disc; these are regularly positioned and become smaller on the outermost row; the lower lip is deeper than the upper lip; labial teeth are absent; the upper jaw sheath is serrated and has a medial notch; the lower jaw sheath lacks a medial notch. See Table 1 for measurements.

Colour in life: (Fig. 7) Dorsally, the head and body are dark brown, a darker brown irregular shaped bar runs dorsally from nare to nare, a large reddish brown blotch is present posterior to each of the eyes, the area between these reddish brown blotches and mid dorsum is reticulated with blackish brown; the upper lateral surface of the body is beige with darker brown reticulations and light grey flecks, the skin of the lower lateral surface of the body is also flecked with grey over slightly translucent skin, the colour of the organ structures is visible beneath; the neuromasts are distinct; the oral disc is translucent beige brown, the colouration becoming darker towards the outer margins of the disc, the submarginal papillae are dark brown; the dorsal apex of the tail has light brown saddle, the margins of which are bordered by a dark brown band on the lateral surfaces of the tail, this saddle extends from the body and terminates closer to body than to tail tip; at the point where the tail meets the body there is a brown stripe that extends from the body-tail junction and runs along the midline of the lateral tail surface, this stripe becomes increasingly broken and fades into brown blotches half way along the length of the tail; the dorsal and ventral tail fins are opaque, the upper tail fin is a pale yellowish brown with many dark brown speckles, the lower tail fin is largely translucent with many dark brown speckles; the venter is translucent, speckled with metallic grey blue flecks; the sclera of the eye is broad and black with green-gold flecks; the pupil is black and round; the iris is orange and speckled with black dots.

Colour in preservative: (Fig. 3D) The body is brown with darker speckles; the oral disc is a translucent grey brown with dark brown submarginal papillae; the dorsal and ventral fins are opaque, upper fin pale grey brown with darker speckles; the venter is speckled grey and brown.