Rhacophorus bipunctatus
Encyclopedia
Rhacophorus bipunctatus is a frog
species
in the moss frog family
(Rhacophoridae
). It is found from eastern India
into Southeast Asia
, possibly to southeastern China
and south to Malaysia. Due to the identification problems surrounding this species
, the eastern and southern limits of its range remain undetermined; all that is known is that the species certainly occurs in the border region of India, China and Myanmar
; its range might extend south to Malaysia as similar frogs have been reported from Pahang
.
This species is notable for having a highly confusing taxonomy, discussed in detail in the "Taxonomy" section below. It had its scientific name changed twice, was described under different names two times and more than 130 years apart, and has had a second species confused with it. Only in 2007, some degree of certainty about what kind of frog the name R. bipunctatus actually applies to was achieved.
It can be distinguished from R. rhodopus
, with which it was long confused, by the larger size (R. rhodopus has a body length of about 31–55 mm) and unspotted back with at least some trace of green or olive, often being entirely green (R. rhodopus has a reddish-brownish back with darker spots and lacks greenish hues). In individuals of similar size, R. bipunctatus has a much larger head.
s are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland
, intermittent river
s, freshwater marsh
es, intermittent freshwater marches, plantation
s and rural gardens. It is known from altitudes of several hundreds of meters ASL
to more than 2,000 meters ASL; it is unclear whether this species is ever found in the lowlands.
The IUCN classified R. bipunctatus as a Species of Least Concern
in 2004. However, they include R. rhodopus under the name. It is not known whether the true R. bipunctatus occurs across the whole of Southeast Asia
like R. rhodopus; the available data indicates that it is only known with certainty from a rather restricted area in the hills and mountains of the India
-China
-Myanmar
border region, but the status of the similar frogs from Pahang
in Malaysia needs to be determined. Therefore, it is probably most appropriate to consider this frog a Data Deficient
species. Indeed, R. htunwini – a junior synonym of R. bipunctatus as it seems – was in fact evaluated as Data Deficient by the IUCN in 2006 for precisely these reasons.
, even by the standards of the taxonomically confusing genus
Rhacophorus
. Believed at its discovery in 1870 to represent a population of the Black-webbed Treefrog
(Rhacophorus reinwardtii), it was first described in 1871 as R. maculatus by John Anderson
. His five syntype
s, from the Khasi Hills
in India
, were placed in the ZSI
collection, with the numbers 2753, 2754, 2755, 2756 and 10291; seven other Khasi Hills specimens collected by Thomas C. Jerdon
were deposited in the NMH
and are also considered part of the syntypical series because they were referred to in Anderson's description. The ZSI specimens might subsequently have become lost; NMH specimen 1872.4.17.127, collected by Jerdon in 1870, was designated a lectotype
in 2007.
, originally described by John E. Gray
as Hyla maculata some decades earlier was known as Rhacophorus maculatus in the late 19th century. Thus it was a senior homonym, preoccupying Anderson's name.
This was soon noticed and in 1882, George A. Boulenger
proposed R. bimaculatus as a new name for Anderson's frogs. But in 1927, Ernst Ahl
realized that the frog described by Wilhelm Peters
as Leptomantis bimaculata in 1867 was also a member of Rhacophorus and thus Boulenger's replacement name was also preoccupied. Ahl solved the issue by establishing the currently valid name, Rhacophorus bipunctatus, for the frog species that had first come to the notice of scientists 50 years earlier.
(described in 1960) is considered a junior synonym of the present species. However, when proposing this synonymy in 1999, neither the holotype
s nor verified specimen from the type locality were examined. In fact, the alleged specimens of R. bipunctatus were from localities where that species is not known to occur. When the approproate comparisons were finally done almost 10 years later, it turned out the R. rhodopus actually refers to the frogs described as R. namdaphaensis in 1985, which therefore is properly known by the older name R. rhodopus.
This confusion has had further consequences. In 2005, a moss frog similar to R. rhodopus – then known as R. bipunctatus and R. namdaphaensis – was described as Htun Win's Treefrog (Rhacophorus htunwini). But the describers believed that the taxon
R. rhodopus was a junior synonym of R. bipunctatus; therefore they compared the new species only with misidentified R. rhodopus but not with the actual R. bipunctatus. That was still fortuitous however, as they did not compare their "new" species to frogs assigned to the taxon R. namdaphaensis (as they might have wanted to, given the similarities and close geographic proximity). In any case, this situation was resolved in 2007, when it was found that the differences between R. htunwini and the original R. bipunctatus were too slight and varied too much between individuals to consider the former anything but a junior synonym of the latter.
Thus, the failure to compare R. rhodopus with the original type specimens of R. bipunctatus led to the long-known species being described once again und er a new name, more than 130 years after it became first known to science. There are still a few doubts regarding the taxonomy of all these frogs, given that they look quite similar and that they are partly sympatric. Ancient DNA
sequence
analyses of the original type specimens would be necessary to resolve the remaining questions.
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the moss frog family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(Rhacophoridae
Rhacophoridae
Rhacophoridae is a family of frog species, which occur in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. They are commonly known as shrub frogs, or more ambiguously as "moss frogs" or "bush frogs". Some Rhacophoridae are called "tree frogs"...
). It is found from eastern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
into Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, possibly to southeastern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and south to Malaysia. Due to the identification problems surrounding this species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, the eastern and southern limits of its range remain undetermined; all that is known is that the species certainly occurs in the border region of India, China and Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
; its range might extend south to Malaysia as similar frogs have been reported from Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
.
This species is notable for having a highly confusing taxonomy, discussed in detail in the "Taxonomy" section below. It had its scientific name changed twice, was described under different names two times and more than 130 years apart, and has had a second species confused with it. Only in 2007, some degree of certainty about what kind of frog the name R. bipunctatus actually applies to was achieved.
Description
R. bipunctatus is a smallish treefrog with a pointed snout and body length of about 37–60 mm when adult, females being larger than males. Its back is intensely green to violet-brown in living animals; in preserved specimens this becomes blue to violet. No conspicuous pattern is visible on the back, though there may be a few tiny whitish and/or dark speckles. The arms and legs have very faint darker bands. The sides, belly and toes are brilliant yellow, becoming dull pink in preserved specimens. Behind the arms, there is almost always a conspicuous large black spot on the flanks; towards the hindlegs there may be another one or two such spots, but very rarely the flank spots are absent entirely. The well-developed webbing of the toes is bright orange-red and unspotted, becoming whitish in preserved specimens. The eyes are dull green, sometimes with yellow rim.It can be distinguished from R. rhodopus
Rhacophorus rhodopus
Rhacophorus rhodopus is a disputed species of frog in the moss frog family . It occurs in southeastern Asia, from India to southern China, and south to Malaysia. Previously unknown from Laos, it has now been found in Phongsali Province and at Luang Prabang.-Description:R...
, with which it was long confused, by the larger size (R. rhodopus has a body length of about 31–55 mm) and unspotted back with at least some trace of green or olive, often being entirely green (R. rhodopus has a reddish-brownish back with darker spots and lacks greenish hues). In individuals of similar size, R. bipunctatus has a much larger head.
Ecology and status
Its natural habitatHabitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...
, intermittent river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, freshwater marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es, intermittent freshwater marches, plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s and rural gardens. It is known from altitudes of several hundreds of meters ASL
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
to more than 2,000 meters ASL; it is unclear whether this species is ever found in the lowlands.
The IUCN classified R. bipunctatus as a Species of Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
in 2004. However, they include R. rhodopus under the name. It is not known whether the true R. bipunctatus occurs across the whole of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
like R. rhodopus; the available data indicates that it is only known with certainty from a rather restricted area in the hills and mountains of the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
-China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
-Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
border region, but the status of the similar frogs from Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
in Malaysia needs to be determined. Therefore, it is probably most appropriate to consider this frog a Data Deficient
Data Deficient
Data Deficient is a category applied by the IUCN, other agencies, and individuals to a species when the available information is not sufficient for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made...
species. Indeed, R. htunwini – a junior synonym of R. bipunctatus as it seems – was in fact evaluated as Data Deficient by the IUCN in 2006 for precisely these reasons.
Taxonomy
This frog has a highly convoluted taxonomyTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, even by the standards of the taxonomically confusing genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Rhacophorus
Rhacophorus
Rhacophorus is a genus of frogs in the moss frog family which together with the related Hylidae makes up the true tree frogs. They live in India, Japan, Madagascar, Africa, and Southeast Asia...
. Believed at its discovery in 1870 to represent a population of the Black-webbed Treefrog
Black-webbed Treefrog
The Black-webbed Treefrog, Green Flying Frog, or Reinwardt's Tree Frog is a species of frog in the Rhacophoridae family....
(Rhacophorus reinwardtii), it was first described in 1871 as R. maculatus by John Anderson
John Anderson (zoologist)
John Anderson was a Scottish anatomist and zoologist who worked in India.He was born in Edinburgh and graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1861. His thesis however was in zoology...
. His five syntype
Syntype
In biological nomenclature, a syntype is a term used to indicate a specimen with a special status.In zoological nomenclature, a syntype is defined as "Each specimen of a type series from which neither a holotype nor a lectotype has been designated [Arts. 72.1.2, 73.2, 74]. The syntypes...
s, from the Khasi Hills
Khasi Hills
The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi range in the Indian state of Meghalaya, and is part of the Patkai range and of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, were placed in the ZSI
Zoological Survey of India
The Zoological Survey of India is a premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies. It was established on 1 July 1916 to promote the survey, exploration and research of the fauna in the region...
collection, with the numbers 2753, 2754, 2755, 2756 and 10291; seven other Khasi Hills specimens collected by Thomas C. Jerdon
Thomas C. Jerdon
Thomas Caverhill Jerdon was a British physician, zoologist and botanist. He is best remembered for his pioneering works on the ornithology of India...
were deposited in the NMH
Nmh
NMH can refer to:* Neutral Milk Hotel, an Indie rock band.* Northfield Mount Hermon School, a college preparatory school in Massachusetts* No More Heroes, a video game.* the Norwegian Academy of Music ,...
and are also considered part of the syntypical series because they were referred to in Anderson's description. The ZSI specimens might subsequently have become lost; NMH specimen 1872.4.17.127, collected by Jerdon in 1870, was designated a lectotype
Lectotype
In botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature, a lectotype is a kind of name-bearing type. When a species was originally described on the basis of a name-bearing type consisting of multiple specimens, one of those may be designated as the lectotype...
in 2007.
Multiple homonyms
However, Polypedates maculatusPolypedates maculatus
The Common Indian Tree Frog or Chunam Tree Frog is a common species of tree frog found in South Asia. It was described by John Edward Gray in 1830....
, originally described by John E. Gray
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
as Hyla maculata some decades earlier was known as Rhacophorus maculatus in the late 19th century. Thus it was a senior homonym, preoccupying Anderson's name.
This was soon noticed and in 1882, George A. Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger FRS was a Belgian-British zoologist who identified over 2000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles and amphibians.-Life:...
proposed R. bimaculatus as a new name for Anderson's frogs. But in 1927, Ernst Ahl
Ernst Ahl
Christoph Gustav Ernst Ahl was a German zoologist.He was the director of the department of ichthyology and herpetology in the Museum für Naturkunde....
realized that the frog described by Wilhelm Peters
Wilhelm Peters
Wilhelm Karl Hartwich Peters was a German naturalist and explorer.He was assistant to Johannes Peter Müller and later curator of the Berlin Zoological Museum. In September 1842 he travelled to Mozambique via Angola. He returned to Berlin with an enormous collection of natural history specimens...
as Leptomantis bimaculata in 1867 was also a member of Rhacophorus and thus Boulenger's replacement name was also preoccupied. Ahl solved the issue by establishing the currently valid name, Rhacophorus bipunctatus, for the frog species that had first come to the notice of scientists 50 years earlier.
R. rhodopus and R. htunwini
Often, R. rhodopusRhacophorus rhodopus
Rhacophorus rhodopus is a disputed species of frog in the moss frog family . It occurs in southeastern Asia, from India to southern China, and south to Malaysia. Previously unknown from Laos, it has now been found in Phongsali Province and at Luang Prabang.-Description:R...
(described in 1960) is considered a junior synonym of the present species. However, when proposing this synonymy in 1999, neither the holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
s nor verified specimen from the type locality were examined. In fact, the alleged specimens of R. bipunctatus were from localities where that species is not known to occur. When the approproate comparisons were finally done almost 10 years later, it turned out the R. rhodopus actually refers to the frogs described as R. namdaphaensis in 1985, which therefore is properly known by the older name R. rhodopus.
This confusion has had further consequences. In 2005, a moss frog similar to R. rhodopus – then known as R. bipunctatus and R. namdaphaensis – was described as Htun Win's Treefrog (Rhacophorus htunwini). But the describers believed that the taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
R. rhodopus was a junior synonym of R. bipunctatus; therefore they compared the new species only with misidentified R. rhodopus but not with the actual R. bipunctatus. That was still fortuitous however, as they did not compare their "new" species to frogs assigned to the taxon R. namdaphaensis (as they might have wanted to, given the similarities and close geographic proximity). In any case, this situation was resolved in 2007, when it was found that the differences between R. htunwini and the original R. bipunctatus were too slight and varied too much between individuals to consider the former anything but a junior synonym of the latter.
Thus, the failure to compare R. rhodopus with the original type specimens of R. bipunctatus led to the long-known species being described once again und er a new name, more than 130 years after it became first known to science. There are still a few doubts regarding the taxonomy of all these frogs, given that they look quite similar and that they are partly sympatric. Ancient DNA
Ancient DNA
Ancient DNA is DNA isolated from ancient specimens. It can be also loosely described as any DNA recovered from biological samples that have not been preserved specifically for later DNA analyses...
sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
analyses of the original type specimens would be necessary to resolve the remaining questions.