Amolops xinduqiao Fei, Ye, Wang, and Jiang, 2017

Distribution

Above 3000 m elevation on the western part of Mount Zheduo in the Yalong River Basin, of Sichuan, China. 

Comment

The naming of Amolops xinduqiao puts to rest a confusion of names within the Amolops of Sichuan, China. Amolops kangtinensis was originally named as Staurois kangtingensis by Liu, 1950, Fieldiana, Zool. Mem., 2: 349, from "Kangting [=Kangding County], Sikang [now Sichuan], 8000 feet altitude", China, but subsequently placed into the synonymy of Amolops mantzorum by Liu and Hu, 1961, Tailless Amph. China: xxx, due to the morphological similarity of the types of the species. However, as background knowledge here, two different species of Amolops were confounded, one found above 3000 m in the Yalong River Basin of Sichuan, and another found at 1200 to 2400 m elevation in the Dadu River basin. Fei, Ye, Wang, and Jiang, 2017, Zool. Res., Kunming, 38: 138–145. reexamined the types of kangtingensis and, more importantly, noted that the original type locality had to be corrected to "Yalagou of Kangding (in the Dadu River Basin:, meaning that the name Amolops kangtinensis applied not to the high-elevation population has had been thought by Wu, Tan, and Zhao, 1987, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, N.S.,, 6 (4): 39-41, Wu, Tan, and Zhao, 1987, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, N.S.,, 6 (4): 39-41; Lu, Bi, and Fu, 2014, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 73: 40–52 (who found nominal Amolops mantzorum to be a complex of species and explicitly retained Amolops kangtingensis, but from the wrong population); and Zhang, Yuan, Xia, and Zeng, 2015, Sichuan J. Zool., 34: 801–809.  Fei, Ye, Wang, and Jiang, 2017, Zool. Res., Kunming, 38: 138–145, sorted the problem by correcting the type locality of Amolops kangtingensis, placing Amolops kangtingensis into the synonymy of Amolops mantzorum, and naming as Amolops xinduqiao the population formerly incorrectly assigned the name Amolops kangtingensis.

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