Abstract

We described a new species of Rana (Anura: Ranidae) from Zhejiang, China, based on morphological and molecular analyses. The new species, Rana minuscula sp. nov. clusters with R. ulma, R. kobai and R. tsushimensis and can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: body size small, snout-vent length less than 40 mm in adults; dorsolateral fold narrow and slightly curved, extending from above temporal fold to groin, not connecting to posterior corner of eye; vocal sac absent; tibiotarsal articulation extends forward to anterior corner of eye; lateroventral grooves absent; nuptial pad present and divided into two groups: the larger part is nearly rectangular and close to the tip of finger I and the basal part is smaller and round.

 Rana minuscula sp. nov.

Etymology: The specific name “minuscula” refers to this species having the smallest body size of Rana in China. We suggest “Lesser brown Frog” as its English common name, and “j ī lín wā (姬林蛙)” as its Chinese common name.