SALAMANDRA 51(1) 1–11 30 April 2015New RhacophorusISSN 0036–3375 from Borneo A new species of Rhacophorus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from Gunung Kinabalu, Borneo J. Maximilian Dehling Institut für Integrierte Naturwissenschaften, Abteilung Biologie, AG Zoologie, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Universitätsstr. 1, 56070 Koblenz, Germany e-mail: [email protected] Manuscript received: 6. October 2014 Accepted: 8. January 2015 Abstract. A new species of Rhacophorus from the eastern slope of Gunung Kinabalu (Sabah, North Borneo) is described. It is similar to, and has previously been confused with, R. gauni, but differs from it by length and shape of head, less ex- tensive webbing between fingers and toes, presence of vomerine ridges and teeth, absence of a pointed tubercle on the up- per eyelid, relatively larger interorbital width, and a smaller thenar tubercle. Characteristics of the advertisement call and ecological data are provided. Key words. Amphibia, Rhacophorus malkmusi sp. n., R. gauni, Sabah, Malaysia, taxonomy. Introduction uously distinguish them from R. gauni. Therefore, they are herein described as a new species. Tree frogs of the genus Rhacophorus are a species-rich group in Borneo. Within the last decade, three new species have been discovered and described (Das & Haas 2005, Materials and methods Dehling & Grafe 2008, Dehling 2008) and another spe- cies has been shown to be distinct from populations from The format of description follows Dehling (2008, 2011). outside Borneo and given a new name (Matsui et al. 2013). The following measurements were taken with digital calli- On the other hand, three species that have formerly been pers (to the nearest 0.1 mm): snout–vent length (SVL, from included in Rhacophorus were assigned to other genera tip of snout to vent); tibiofibula length (TFL, measured based on genetic analyses (Hertwig et al. 2011, 2013, Yu et with both knee and tibiotarsal articulation flexed); head al. 2013), so that 14 species of Rhacophorus are now known width (HW, distance between angles of jaw); head length to occur on Borneo. (HL, distance from angle of jaw to tip of snout); horizontal Rhacophorus gauni (Inger, 1966) is a small species, eye diameter (ED); horizontal tympanum diameter (TD); characterized by having the fourth finger webbed beyond upper eyelid width (EW); interorbital distance (IO, short- the distal subarticular tubercle, a conical dermal tubercle est distance between upper eyelids); eye to nostril distance in the middle of the upper eyelid, and a smooth back (In- (EN, distance between anterior margin of eye and nostril); ger 1966). Originally described from Mengiong River at nostril to snout distance (NS, distance between nostril and Nanga Tekalit in Sarawak, it has so far been recorded from tip of snout); internarial distance (NN, distance between several localities in Sabah and Sarawak (Inger 1966, 1992, nostrils); hand length (HND, distance from proximal edge Inger & Stuebing 1992, Dehling 2010) and was listed for of thenar tubercle to tip of third finger); foot length (FOT, eastern Kalimantan (Iskandar 2004). The record from distance from proximal edge of inner metatarsal tubercle Brunei Darussalam, which is based on tadpoles (Leong & to tip of fourth toe). Tan 2002), probably refers to Rhacophorus belalongensis In addition to the distinct morphological characters that Dehling & Grafe, 2008 (Dehling & Grafe 2008). Ex- distinguish the new species from R. gauni, I ran a Princi- amining voucher specimens collected from several locali- pal Component Analysis (PCA) on the morphometric data ties in Sarawak and Sabah, I found a small series of indi- set including 16 variables with 38 (females) and 37 (males) viduals of a tree frog from submontane forests in Sabah, observations (= individuals), respectively; this included all which have been considered identical with R. gauni. How- available specimens of the new species and paratypes of ever, they show a number of character states that unambig- R. gauni. The webbing formulae are given as proposed by © 2015 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde e.V. (DGHT), Mannheim, Germany All articles available online at http://www.salamandra-journal.com 1 J. Maximilian Dehling Myers & Duellman (1982). Males were identified by the (Field Museum of Natural History), Chicago (FMNH); presence of a vocal sac. Females were confirmed by exam- Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHW); Naturhisto ri- ining their gonads by means of dissection. Life colouration sches Museum der Bürgergemeinde Bern (NMBE); Mu- of female type specimens is described after field notes and seum und Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt am photographic slides by R. Malkmus. Advertisement calls Main (SMF); Sabah Parks Zoological Museum, Kinabalu of topotypic males were recorded in the field (Sungai Lan- Park Headquarters, Ranau District, Sabah (SP); Zoological ganan) using a Sony WM-D6C stereo cassette recorder and Museum of the Department of Biology, Universiti Brunei a Sony ECM-S959C microphone. Calls were digitised at Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan (UBD); Zoologisches 16 bits and 44.1 kHz and analysed using Adobe Audition 1.5. Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn For comparisons, I examined voucher specimens of (ZFMK); and Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut Rhacophorus, including type specimens and topotypic ma- für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung an der Hum- terial of taxa that are morphologically similar to the new boldt-Universität zu Berlin (ZMB). Additional informa- species (see Appendix). Museum abbreviations are as fol- tion used for comparisons was taken from Inger (1954, lows: The Natural History Museum (British Museum 1966), Brown &Alcala (1994), Harvey et al. (2002), and [Natural History]), London (BMNH); The Field Museum Das & Haas (2005). Figure 1. Dorsal view (top) and ventral view (bottom) of the preserved holotype of Rhacophorus malkmusi (ZFMK 85131). Scale bar represents 1 cm. 2 New Rhacophorus from Borneo Taxonomy Referred specimens: SP 2387, adult male, Sungai Malina, Crocker Range Park, collected by “Paul [Imbun], Fred- Rhacophorus malkmusi sp. n. dy, Patrick”, 16 October 1999; SP 2634, adult male, Sun- gai Ulu Tomani, Sabah Forest Industry [near Kemabong/ Rhacophorus gauni (nec Philautus gauni Inger, 1966): Sipitang], collected by “Paul [Imbun], David, Johnny”, Malkmus (1996: 287–288), Malkmus et al. (2002: 212– 10 May 2000. 214, partim). Diagnosis: Currently, there are no morphological synapo- Holotype: ZFMK 85131, adult female, collected at Sungai morphic characters considered diagnostic for the genus Langanan (approx. 750 m a.s.l.) in the vicinity of Air Panas Rhacophorus. I assign the new species to this genus for its Poring (Poring Hot Springs), Ranau District, Sabah, East morphological resemblance of several Bornean species in- Malaysia (Borneo) in August of 1994 by Rudolf Malk- cluded in Rhacophorus. The new species is distinguishable mus. from all other Southeast Asian members of the genus by the combination of the following characters: Small size, Paratypes: ZFMK 85132, adult female (Figs 1, 2), same data SVL 32.2–35.4 mm in females and 26.4–29.3 mm in males; as holotype; SP 21113, adult male, Sungai Kipungit Dua, head wider than long and wider than body; snout obtuse, Poring Hot Springs, collected by M. Matsui, “Paul [Im- rounded in dorsal view, sub-truncate in profile, slightly bun] et al.”, 8 August 2005. projecting beyond mandible; low, short vomerine ridges between choanae; row of small white tubercles but no der- mal flap along forearm; Finger III webbed to proximal sub- articular tubercle on the preaxial side and to the distal sub- articular tubercle on the postaxial side; Finger IV webbed to distal subarticular tubercle; Toe IV webbed to penulti- mate subarticular tubercle on the preaxial side and to distal subarticular tubercle on the postaxial side; pointed dermal projection on heel; skin of dorsum, including upper eye- lids, smooth; supratympanic and supracloacal folds weak- ly developed; large number of small white tubercles in the infraanal region and on ventral surface of thighs; dorsum grey to brown in life; lateral faces of legs and groin region bright yellow in life; iris ruby, lightened to yellow margin- ally. Description of holotype: Measurements are given in Ta- ble 1. Body moderately slender, widest across temporal re- gion, tapering to groin (Fig. 1); head short (HL/SVL 0.27), wider than trunk and wider than long (HW/HL 1.35); snout obtuse, rounded in dorsal view, sub-truncate in lateral view, slightly projecting beyond mandible; canthus ros- tralis distinct, slightly curved in profile, concave in dorsal view; loreal region oblique; nostrils directed dorso laterally, situated in low protuberances, a little closer to tip of snout than to eye (EN/NS 1.13), separated from each other by a distance larger than that between eye and nostril (NN/EN 1.43); eyes directed anterolaterally, large (ED/HL 0.53), pro- truding; pupil horizontal; eye diameter greater than eye– nostril distance (ED/EN 1.75); interorbital distance great- er than upper eyelid width (IO/EW 1.58) and greater than internarial distance (IO/NN 1.09); frontoparietals domed, forming two low humps between eyes; skin not co-ossified to forehead; tympanum distinct, its vertical diameter equal to its horizontal diameter, slightly more than one third of eye dia meter (TD/ED 0.37); upper jaw with dentition; cho- Figure 2. Volar and plantar views of hand (A) and foot (C), re- anae located on the margins of roof of mouth, largely