Ansonia lumut Chan, Jr, Anuar, Muin, Quah, Sumarli & Grismer, 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Chan, Kin Onn
name: Wood Jr, Perry L.
name: Anuar, Shahrul
name: Muin, Mohd Abdul
name: Quah, Evan S. H.
name: Sumarli, Alexandra X. Y.
name: Grismer, L. Lee
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Bufonidae
Ansonia
Ansonia lumut

description: Ansonia lumut sp. nov.
Fig. 2
Ansonia malayana Dring 1979:184
Holotype. Adult female (ZRC 1.12503) collected on 31 August 2012 from Gunung Tebu, Terengganu, Malaysia (05°36.11’ N 102°36.19’E; 610 m a.s.l) by Shahrul Anuar, Mohd. A. Muin, E. Quah, L. Grismer, B. Beltran, A. Cobos, A. Alonso, C. Thompson, and C. Ogle.
Paratypes. Adult male (LSUHC 10899) collected on 31 August 2012 from Gunung Tebu, Terengganu, Malaysia (05°36.11’ N 102°36.19’E; 610 m a.s.l) by Shahrul Anuar, Mohd. A. Muin, E. Quah, L. Grismer, B. Beltran, A. Cobos, A. Alonso, C. Thompson, and C. Ogle. Adult male (LSUHC 11172) and adult females (LSUHC 11211, 11214) collected on 1 July 2013 from the same locality by Chan Kin Onn, Shahrul Anuar, Mohd, A. Muin, A. Sumarli, J. Chan, H. Heinz and L. Grismer.
Diagnosis. Ansonia lumut sp. nov. is assigned to the genus Ansonia based on its phylogenetic placement and the following morphological characters: small body size; slender limbs; no parotoid glands; weak subarticular tubercles; and membranous foot webbing (Inger 1960, 1992). Ansonia lumut sp. nov. can be differentiated from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: SVL 21–23.6 mm in males, 27.7–31.6 mm in females; first finger shorter than second; absence of interorbital and tarsal ridges; distinct dorsal tubercles and dorsolateral row of enlarged tubercles; finger tips not expanded into discs; slightly less than two phalanges free of web on fifth toe; light interscapular spot and light patch below eye absent; presence of large, yellow rictal tubercle; dorsum black with greenish-yellow reticulations; flanks with small yellow spots; fore and hind limbs with yellow crossbars; venter light gray with fine, white spotting; males with nuptial pads on first finger.
Description of holotype. Adult female, SVL 29.3 mm; head longer than wide (HL/HW=1.12); snout wider than long (SW/SL=1.18), longer than eye diameter (SL/ED=1.46), slightly projecting beyond lower jaw, dorsally convex with a midline depression, truncated with slight median point in dorsal view, truncated and caudoventrally sloping in lateral view; canthus rostralis distinct, lores vertical, slightly concave; nares open laterally, just below canthus, nearly terminal on snout, distance between nares smaller than snout length (IND /SL=0.58), approximately half of snout width (IND /SW=0.49); eyes large, slightly protruding beyond labials in dorsal view, diameter less than snout length (ED/SL=0.68) and interorbital distance (ED/IOD=0.87), pupils circular; interorbital region flat, distance smaller than snout width (IOD/SW=0.67) and snout length (IOD/SL=0.79); tympanum distinct, oval, taller than wide, vertical diameter smaller than eye diameter (TD/ED=0.65); choanae subcircular, separated by distance larger than their diameter; vomerine ridge and teeth absent; tongue narrow, ending in median point, posterior ⅓ free.
Forelimbs and fingers long and slender; finger length from shortest to longest: I<II<IV<III; basal webbing not extending beyond proximal subarticular tubercle; tips rounded, slightly dilated but not forming discs; subarticular tubercles indistinct; inner and outer metacarpal tubercles weak, oval, flat, inner smaller than outer; supernumerary tubercles absent (Fig. 3 A).
Hindlimbs and toes long and slender (CL/SVL=0.47), foot shorter than tibia (PL/CL=0.76); toe length from shortest to longest: I<II<III≤V<IV; webbing formula: I ½– 2 II ½– 3- III 1–3½ IV 3 ½– 2- V; tips rounded, slightly dilated but not forming discs; subarticular tubercles indistinct; inner metatarsal tubercle elongate, flat; outer metatarsal tubercle slightly raised, oval, slightly smaller than inner (Fig. 3 B).
Upper eyelid, interorbital region, dorsal part of snout and canthus covered with small, flat tubercles bearing brown, keratinized tips; interorbital ridges absent; tubercles absent on lores; single row of small spinules on upper lip and outer margin of upper eyelid; large tubercle at posterior end of upper lip, level with anterior margin of tympanum and a larger tubercle just above rictus, posterior to tympanum; supratympanic fold and parotoid gland absent; slight scapular swelling; back, flanks and dorsal part of limbs with irregularly spaced large and small tubercles bearing brown keratinized spinules, larger tubercles may have more than one spinule; dorsal tubercles largest around nuchal, scapular and dorsolateral region, smallest on dorsal part of limbs (Fig. 3 C); entire ventral surface except for manus and pes with fine, evenly spaced spinules that are most dense around rictal and pectoral region (Fig. 3 D). Complete measurements of holotype and paratypes are presented in Table 4.
ZRC 1.12503 LSUHC LSUHC Mean ± Std Error LSUHC LSUHC Mean ± Std Error Holotype 11214 11211 Min–Max 11172 10899 Min–Max Paratype Paratype Paratype Paratype
Coloration in life. Dorsal base color dark brown to black. Top of head, lores and back with yellow reticulations bearing greenish flecks. Large, yellow tubercle at rictus, followed anteriorly by smaller yellow tubercle at posterior end of upper lip. An even smaller, yellow tubercle present between rictal and posterior upper labial tubercles on left side of head but absent on right side. Three small, yellow patches along upper lip, below eye, lore, and rostrum. Yellow patches on ventral side of mandible. Flanks with small yellow spots. Yellow crossbars on front and hind limbs. Venter light gray with fine, white spotting.
Coloration in preservative. Yellow coloration creamy white and dorsal reticulations light gray. Keratinized tips on tubercles brown. Venter uniform creamy white with very fine dark brown stippling that is most dense on gular region, tibia, tarsus, manus, and pes.
Variation. All paratypes closely resemble holotype in coloration and pattern. Female paratypes (LSUHC 11211, 11214) have additional yellow tubercle below tympanum between rictal and posterior upper labial tubercle, tubercle on right side larger than one on the left. Male paratypes (LSUHC 10899, 11172) smaller in size, SVL 21.0 mm and 23.6 mm respectively. Vocal slit present on left side of mouth leads into median subgular vocal sac. Small, indistinct nuptial pad of brown asperities on medial surface of first finger between base and distal phalangeal joint. Nuptial pad not visible on LSUHC 10899.
Comparisons. Morphological data for species comparisons were obtained from Wood et al. (2008), Wilkinson et al. (2012), and material examined (see Appendix). Ansonia lumut sp. nov. is most closely related to three other Peninsular Malaysian species, A. malayana, A. penangensis, and A. jeetsukumarani but can be morphologically distinguished from them by the absence of a light interscapular spot (vs. present in A. malayana, A. penangensis, and A. jeetsukumarani), dorsum with greenish-yellow reticulations (vs. orange hourglass-shaped lines in A. malayana, almost uniform black in A. penangensis and A. jeetsukumarani), large, yellow rictal tubercle (vs. whitish in A. malayana, A. penangensis, and A. jeetsukumarani), and yellow cross-bars on limbs (vs. orange in A. malayana, A. penangensis, and A. jeetsukumarani). On the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Indochina, it differs from A. latiffi by smaller body size in males (vs. SVL 34.1–38.2 mm) and females (vs. SVL 50.5–50.7 mm), first finger shorter than second (vs. first finger reaching tip of second), absence of tarsal ridge (vs. presence), dorsum blackish with greenish-yellow reticulations (vs. almost uniform brown), presence of large, yellow rictal tubercle (vs. absence), and yellow crossbars on limbs (vs. pale orange); from A. latirostra by the absence of interorbital ridges (vs. present), no rictal gland (vs. present), and greenish-yellow reticulations on dorsum (vs. almost uniform black); from A. tiomanica by smaller body size in males (vs. SVL 31.2 mm) and females (vs. SVL 38.4 mm), and greenishyellow reticulations on dorsum (vs. yellow spots); from A. endauensis by having blackish dorsum with greenishyellow reticulations (vs. almost uniform black), and yellow crossbars on limbs (vs. orange); from A. siamensis by smaller body size in males (vs. SVL 28.0 mm) and females (vs. SVL 35.0 mm), finger tips not expanded into discs (vs. expanded into distinct discs), distinct dorsal tubercles (vs. reduced or absent), presence of large, yellow rictal tubercle (vs. absence), and slightly less than two phalanges free of web on fifth toe (vs. one phalanx free); from A. kraensis by the absence of a light interscapular spot (vs. present), presence of large, yellow rictal tubercle (vs. absence); slightly less than two phalanges free of web on fifth toe (vs. half phalanx free), dorsum with greenishyellow reticulations (vs. dorsum brown with darker hourglass-shaped pattern), and venter light gray with fine, white spots (vs. dark brown with distinct, white reticulations); from A. inthanon Matsui, Nabhitabhata & Panha by larger body size in females (vs. SVL 23.3–25.2 mm), absence of light, interscapular spot (vs. presence), presence of large, yellow tubercle (vs. absence), dorsum blackish with greenish-yellow reticulations (vs. brown with lighter, indistinct markings), presence of dorsolateral row of enlarged tubercles (vs. absence), slightly less than two phalanges free of web on fifth toe (vs. one phalanx free), and venter light gray with fine, white spots (vs. brown with bright yellow blotches); from A. thinthinae by the absence of a light patch below eye (vs. presence), absence of light interscapular spot (vs. presence), dorsum black with greenish-yellow reticulations (vs. dark brown, lacking distinct markings), slightly less than two phalanges free of web on fifth toe (vs. half phalanx free), venter light gray with fine, white spots (vs. dark brown with yellow reticulations), and males with nuptial pads on first finger (vs. nuptial pad covering first and second fingers). Differences between the new species and other geographically and phylogenetically distant congeners are summarized in Wood et al. (2008: Table 1).
Distribution and natural history. Ansonia lumut sp. nov. occurs in hill dipterocarp forest on Gunung Tebu (at 610 m elevation) and Gunung Lawit (at 790–1280 m elevation; Dring 1979) in the northeastern state of Terengganu (Fig. 4). During the day, specimens were found in small rock fissures along a slow moving stream. The stream was approximately 5 m wide under a semi-closed canopy forest and consisted of dark-colored granite rock covered with algae and moss (Fig. 5). At night, toads were found on rocks and small, overhanging vegetation within the stream and along its banks away from strong torrent zones. Female paratype LSUHC 11214 was found to be gravid with unfertilized, unpigmented eggs that were approximately 1.7–1.8 mm in diameter.
Etymology. The specific epithet “ lumut ” is derived from the Malay word for moss, in reference to the new species’ color pattern, which gives it a mossy appearance. Suggested English name: Mossy Stream Toad; Malay name: Kodok lumut.
description: Published as part of Chan, Kin Onn, Wood Jr, Perry L., Anuar, Shahrul, Muin, Mohd Abdul, Quah, Evan S. H., Sumarli, Alexandra X. Y. & Grismer, L. Lee, 2014, A new species of upland Stream Toad of the genus Ansonia Stoliczka, 1870 (Anura: Bufonidae) from northeastern Peninsular Malaysia, pp. 427-440 in Zootaxa 3764 (4) on pages 431-437, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3764.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/230623