New lab paper with collaborators describing a new Rhacophorid treefrog from Zhejiang in China! The species is named Kurixalus inexpectatus (Changxing Treefrog ; 长兴原指树蛙 ) following it’s unexpected presence in the region, a full 600 km further north than the closest related species – and across the sea!
The species diverged from its closest relative during the Late Pliocene to Pleistocene, ca. 3.06 Mya (HPD 95%: 5.82-0.01), based on calibrations with a relaxed clock species tree of unlinked mtDNA 12S rRNA and nuclear DNA TYR. The status of the newly-described species is also supported by a divergence in call properties and morphometrics.
For more information on the backstory – and why we were looking for a totally different treefrogs, here is a fun read!
Laboratory of Animal Behaviour and Conservation 