A New Species of the Genus Rhacophorus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from Dabie Mountains in East China

A new species of rhacophorid of the genus Rhacophorus is described from the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, east China. The new species, Rhacophorus zhoukaiyae sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: 1) the ventral surface and front-and-rear of the femur is paler yellowish and decorated with irregular grayish blotching, and without obvious spots on the dorsum of the hand and foot webbing; 2) the outer metatarsal tubercle is small; 3) outer fingers are half-webbed and outer toes two third webbed; 4) the skin on the dorsum is smooth and without compressed warts; 5) the throat, chest and belly are pure paler yellowish; 6) the dorsal part of the fingers and toes are grayish-white; 7) the iris is golden-yellow. In addition, the phylogenetic tree showed that all the individuals of R. zhoukaiyae sp. nov. clustered into one distinct clade which suggested the validity of this species. This results could also be used to the support of species delimitation. Currently, this species is known only from mid-elevation montane evergreen forest in the Dabie Mountains of west Anhui, China.