A new species of Gracixalus (Anura, Rhacophoridae) from Guangxi, China, with comments on the taxonomy of Orixalus

A new treefrog of the genus Gracixalus , Gracixalus huaping sp. nov. , is described based on the specimens collected from Huaping National Natural Reserve, Guangxi, China. Both maximum likelihood analysis and Bayesian inference found that the Huaping population formed a distinct lineage as sister to Gracixalus jinxiuensis . It was strongly supported that Gracixalus consists of four distinct clades. Morphological analysis suggested that the new species can be distinguished from other known congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: size small, SVL 26.6–28.8 mm in males and 29.8–32.8 mm in females; vomerine teeth absent; dorsal surface yellowish brown; internal vocal sac and linea masculina present in males; vocal sac opening oval and rim of the opening dark brown; throat smooth; iris golden brown; flanks granular with white blotch. In addition, we agree that the genus Orixalus is a junior subjective synonym of Gracixalus and consider that more studies are needed to investigate the species diversity and taxonomy of genus Gracixalus .