A New Species of the Genus Quasipaa (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Guangdong, China

We herein describe a new species of spiny frog, Quasipaa yunkaiensis sp. nov. from Yunkaishan National Nature Reserve, Xinyi City, Guangdong Province, China. Morphological examination combined with mitochondrial (810 bp Cyt b) and nuclear (1852 bp concatenated Rag2, Tyr, and Rhod) genetic data was used to test its distinctiveness within Quasipaa. Morphologically, the new species differs from other congeners by the following diagnostic characteristics: relatively large body size within Quasipaa; dorsal skin relatively smooth, having sparse tubercles; lacking spiny tubercles on the ventrolateral sides of the body; lacking keratinized spines in ventral surface of body, only present on prepollex, fingers Ⅰ and ⅠⅠ, in breeding males. Both mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenetic results indicate that Quasipaa yunkaiensis sp. nov. constitutes a highly supported, deeply divergent lineage, but its precise phylogenetic placement within the genus Quasipaa remains unresolved. In view of the pronounced discordance between mitochondrial and nuclear datasets within Quasipaa, we encourage future studies to use genome-wide data to improve phylogenetic resolution and to estimate species diversity more accurately.