This work summarizes the history and progress of the studies on Chinese amphibians since they first appeared in the Chinese literature.A wide range of research has been carried out,including the history of the definition of amphibians,faunal surveys,systematic research,ecological research,biochemical research(isozyme and other proteins or peptides,chromosomes,DNA),anatomical research,embryological research,phylogenetic and zoogeographical research,and many others such as ultrastructure of organs,crossbreeding test,regeneration of organs,abnormality survey,acoustics,fossils,sperm ultrastructure and parasites.In addition,the prospects for studies on Chinese amphibians in future are proposed in this paper.
We investigated the early embryonic and larval development of the concave-eared torrent frogs, Odorrana tormota （Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae）. Embryos were derived from artificial fertilization of frogs’ eggs, and the staging of development was based on morphological and physiological characteristics. Two major periods of development were designated： i） early embryonic period, from fertilization to operculum completion stage, lasted for 324 h at water temperature （WT） 18 ？23℃; ii） larval period, from operculum completion stage to tail absorbed stage, took 1207 h at WT 20 ？ 24℃. Tadpoles of the concave-eared torrent frogs showed no evidence of abdominal sucker. Absence of this key characteristic supports the view from molecular systematics that concave-eared torrent frog does not belong to the genus Amolops. Two cleavage patterns were observed in embryos at 8-cell and 16-cell stages, with Pattern I2 （latitudinal cleavage at the 8-cell stage, and meridional cleavage at the 16-cell stage with two perpendicular meridional furrows） being the predominant pattern and only 1.5% belonging to Pattern II （meridional cleavage at the 8-cell stage and latitudinal cleavage at the 16-cell stage）. The factors affecting cleavage and hatching ratios, developmental speed, and ecological adaptation were discussed.
A new species, Feirana kangxianensis sp. nov., is described from the western Qinling Mountains in Gansu, China. Both morphological and molecular data support its validity. The new species is characterized by： （1） presence of keratinized nuptial spines on the thenar region of the hands in males of the new species, in contrast to F. taihangnica and F. quadranus; （2） of females, the ratios of UEW, INS, NSD and IPTL to SVL ofF. kangxianensis were significantly less than those of F. taihangnica and F. quadranus （P 〈 0.05）, while the ratio of IOS to SVL of the new species was significantly larger than that of the latter two species （P 〈 0.05）; and （3） of males, the ratios of INS, NSD, IPTW to SVL of the new species were significantly less than those ofF. taihangnica and F. quadranus （P 〈 0.05）, while the ratio of HL to SVL of the former was significantly larger than that of the latter, and the ratio of HW to SVL ofF. kangxianensis was significantly larger than that of F. taihangnica but less than that of F. quadranus, the ratio of OPTL to SVL of F. kangxianensis was significantly less than that of F. taihangnica but larger than that of F. quadranus （P 〈 0.05）. The three species of Feirana can be easily identified and significantly differ from each other by the canonical discriminant analyses with high correct classification （〉92%）. Concurrently, based on partial mitochondrial ND2 gene sequences, the result of the molecular phylogenetic analyses of the Feirana indicates that the F. kangxianensis is sister to F. taihangnica.
