Quasipaa verrucospinosa (Bourret, 1937)

Figs 4, 5, 6, Table 5

Rana spinosa verrucospinosa Bourret, 1937: 8., fig. 7.

Rana verrucospinosa: Bourret 1942: 295–296, fig. 83.

Paa verrucospinosa: Inger et al. 1999: 22–23.

Quasipaa verrucospinosa: Ohler and Dubois 2006: 781.

Quasipaa cf. verrucospinosa 1: Suwannapoom et al. 2021: 1–12.

Material examined.

(n = 14) • IEBR A. 5153 –5155, three adult males and IEBR A. 5021, 5156, two adult females, collected by C. T. Pham, on 18 July 2022, in Tam Dao National Park (21°27.507'N, 105°38.874'E, at an elevation of 985 m a. s. l.), Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam; • IEBR A. 5023, 5024, two adult males and IEBR A. 5022, adult female, collected by C. V. Hoang, on 23 November 2015, in Bac Me Nature Reserve (22°49.976'N, 105°07.648'E, at an elevation of 780 m a. s. l.), Ha Giang Province, Vietnam; • IEBR A. 5028, adult male and IEBR A. 5026, 5027, two adult females, collected by C. T. Pham and T. Q. Phan, on 25 August 2017, in Sinh Long Commune (22°34.288'N, 105°20.119'E, at an elevation of 801 m a. s. l.), Na Hang District, Tuyen Quang Province; • IEBR A. 5025, adult female, collected by C. T. Pham, C. V. Hoang, and T. Q. Phan, on 27 October 2018, in Cham Chu Nature Reserve (22°12.494'N, 105°04.423'E; at an elevation of 981 m a. s. l.), Ham Yen District, Tuyen Quang Province; • IEBR A. 5157, adult male and IEBR A. 5158, adult female, collected by C. T. Pham, on 12 October 2022, in Hoang Lien National Park (22°09.557'N, 104°04.194'E; at an elevation 2,078 m a. s. l.), Sa Pa District, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam.

Revised diagnosis.

(1) A large frog (SVL up to 106 mm in males and 95 mm in females); (2) head broader than long (HL / HW 0.88 in males, 0.89 in females); (3) vomerine teeth present; (4) external vocal sacs absent; (5) tympanum visible, round; (6) dorsum with thick ridges and small round tubercles; (7) flanks covered by oval and round tubercles; (8) supratympanic fold present; (9) dorsolateral fold absent; (10) males with dense spines on chest, 2 / 3 anterior part of belly and fingers I, II, III (sometimes present on fingers I and II only); (11) male without spines on finger IV and ventral surface of forelimbs; (12) finger I with nuptial pad in males; (13) yellowish cream eggs with melanic poles in females; (14) toes fully webbed to distal end of terminal phalanx; and (15) in life, dorsum yellowish grey or pale brownish grey, chest and belly pale yellowish white, iris pale copper.

Description.

A large frog (SVL up to 106 mm in males and 95 mm in females); habitus robust with enlarged head (HL / SVL 0.38 ± 0.01, HW / SVL 0.43 ± 0.01, in males and HL / SVL 0.38 ± 0.01, HW / SVL 0.43 ± 0.01, in females); head broader than long (HL 38.0 ± 2.8 mm, HW 42.9 ± 3.0 mm, in males and HL 32.8 ± 2.0 mm, HW 37.0 ± 2.2 mm, in females); snout round anteriorly in dorsal view, projecting beyond lower jaw; nostril lateral, closer to eye than to the tip of snout; canthus rostralis indistinct; loreal region oblique and slightly concave; rostral length greater than eye diameter; internarial distance wider than interorbital distance and upper eyelid width; tympanum slightly visible (TD 5.4 ± 0.5 mm, in males and 5.0 ± 0.5 mm, in females) smaller than the distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 6.3 ± 0.6 mm, in males and 5.6 ± 0.7 mm, in females), ~ 50 % eye diameter; vomerine teeth in two oblique ridges; tongue cordiform, notched posteriorly; external vocal sac absent.

Forelimbs: arms short; upper arm length (UAL 20.1 ± 2.8 mm, in males and UAL 15.5 ± 1.4 mm, in females), forearm length (FAL 48.5 ± 3.5 mm, in males and FAL 38.4 ± 2.6 mm, in females); relative finger lengths: II <I <IV <III; fingers free of webbing; sides of fingers I, II, and III with narrow dermal ridge; tips of fingers swollen, not expanded; subarticular tubercles prominent, round, formula 1, 1, 2, 2; inner metatarsal tubercle round; outer metatarsal tubercle elongate; finger I with nuptial pad in males.

Hindlimbs: tibia length longer than thigh length (FeL 52.0 ± 3.1 mm, TbL 53.1 ± 3.0 mm, in males and FeL 44.8 ± 3.3 mm, TbL 45.7 ± 3.1 mm, in females), ~ 3 × longer than wide (TbW 18.9 ± 1.8 mm, in males and TbW 15.0 ± 1.7 mm, in females); tips of toes swollen, round; relative length of toes: I <II <V <III <IV; toes fully webbed to distal end of terminal phalanx; dermal ridge present on outer sides of toes I and V; subarticular tubercles prominent, oval, formula 1, 1, 2, 3, 2; inner metatarsal tubercle elongate; outer metatarsal tubercle absent; tibio-tarsal articulation reaching to nostril.

Skin texture in life: dorsal surface of head with oval and round tubercles, dorsum with thick ridges intermixed with small round tubercles; flanks covered by oval and round tubercles; supratympanic fold distinct, extending from eye to angle of jaw; dorsolateral fold absent; dorsal surface of forelimb and hindlimb with small tubercles; belly and ventral surface of thigh smooth.

Nuptial spines: body of males with spines; dense spines on lower flanks, chest, 2 / 3 anterior part of belly and fingers I, II, III; spines present on dorsum, upper flanks, upper lip, dorsal surface of fore- and hindlimbs, lower lip, and throat small and scattered; spines absent on finger IV and ventral surface of forelimbs.

Coloration in life: iris pale copper; dorsum and upper part of flanks yellowish grey or pale brownish grey; lower part of flanks whitish yellow with white tubercles and black spines on top; dorsal surface of limbs yellowish with brown crossbars; ventral surface of limbs yellowish white; throat white with brown markings; chest and belly pale yellowish white; toe webbing pale brown.

Sexual dimorphism.

Measurements and morphological characters of the Quasipaa verrucospinosa are provided in Table 5. males are slightly larger than females (SVL 100.7 ± 6.6 mm, n = 7 males vs 86.8 ± 7.4 mm, n = 7 females). The male specimens have a nuptial pad on finger I and dense spines on lower part of flanks, chest, 2 / 3 anterior part of belly, and fingers I, II, III. The females contained yellowish cream eggs with melanic poles.

Distribution.

The species was recorded in Lao Cai (Hoang Lien National Park), Vinh Phuc (Tam Dao National Park), Ha Giang (Bac Me Nature Reserve), and Tuyen Quang (Na Hang Nature Reserve and Cham Chu Nature Reserve) provinces, northern Vietnam.

Remarks.

The specimens agreed well with the descriptions of Bourret (1942) and Inger et al. (1999) in size, skin texture, and coloration; males with dense spines on 2 / 3 anterior part of belly. In addition, dorsum yellowish grey and belly pale yellowish white (more yellow in females); males with spines on fingers I, II, and III (some times present on fingers I and II only); yellowish cream eggs with melanic poles in females; iris pale copper.