Quasipaa spinosa ( David, 1875 )

Quasipaa spinosa ( David, 1875) View in CoL

Figs 3 View Figure 3 , 5 C, D View Figure 5 , Table 1 View Table 1

Specimen examined.

CIB T 1026 (Stage 37, field voucher WT 06) collected on 26 July 2023 from Dazhulan , Guadun, Wuyishan, Fujian Province, China .

External morphology.

A large tadpole in stage 37, TTL 72.6 mm, BL 22.2 mm; the body is oval, and the snout is round, BW / BH 134 %; the eyes are moderate in size, positioned and directed dorsolaterally, not visible from ventral view, ED / BL 12 %; the pupils are round; nares positioned and directed anterolaterally, closer to snout than to eye, RND / NPD 79 %, NND / PPD 56 %; the rim of nares slightly raised from the body wall; the spiracle is single, short, square, and sinistral; the opening of spiracle oriented posterodorsally, free from the body wall at the tip, and closer to the tip of snout than to the anal tube opening, SSD / BL 62 %; the tail muscle is strong, gradually tapering until reaching the tail tip, TMH / BH 84 %, TMH / MTH 68 %; the tail fins are moderate in size, UFH / MTH 37 %, LFH / MTH 27 %, MTH / BH 124 %; the upper fin arises in front of the body-tail junction, SU / BL 100 %; the lower fin is connected to the trunk; the tail tip is rounded; the anal tube is approximately conical in shape, medial, and entirely attached to lower fin, opening on lateral right side, posteriorly directed; the oral disc is positioned and directed anteroventrally, emarginated, and elliptical, ODW / BL 25 %, ODW / BW 44 %; a row of papillae on upper labium, with a large papilla gap, DG / ODW 50 %; two rows of papillae on lower labium; a median notch on the lower labium, and the papillae on the inner row are distinctly larger; KRF 1: 4 + 4 / 1 + 1: 2, the 3 rd tooth row on lower labium was unconnected on the left 1 / 3 (Fig. 5 C, D View Figure 5 ); the 1 st – 3 rd tooth rows on upper labium are subequal, the inner 4 th – 5 th rows gradually shortened; the 1 st – 3 rd tooth rows on lower labium are subequal; the jaw sheaths are keratinized with fine serrations; the upper sheath is thin, covers the lower sheath, and the lower sheath is wide.

In life, the body is dark brown laterally; the tail muscle is light brown scattered with pale brown spots on upper edge, and smaller and paler spots on lower parts; tail fin with sparse pale brown pigmentation; dorsally, the body and tail are brown, and the trunk is darker; a V-shaped dark stripe on body-tail junction; the lateral lines are goldish and clearly visible; the iris is bronze, and the pupil is black; ventrally, the body and tail is semi-translucent; the chest is deep purple scattered with whitish pigmentations; the abdomen is white, the gut coil is barely visible; the anal tube and hindlimbs are covered by goldish pigments; the lower tail fin and bottom of tail muscle are scattered with sparse whitish pigments; the mouth corner is surrounded by goldish chromocytes.

Remarks.

The tadpoles described by Fei et al. (2009) have transparent abdomens with visible gut coils; that is not consistent with our data. However, our specimens are larger ( SVL 27.3 mm vs. 18.7–22.1 mm; see Table 2 View Table 2 ), potentially indicating developed pigmentation associated with preparation for metamorphosis.