Rhacophorus rhodopus
Encyclopedia
Rhacophorus rhodopus is a disputed species
of frog
in the moss frog family
(Rhacophoridae
). 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
.
It can be distinguished from R. bipunctatus
, with which it was long confused, by the smaller size (R. bipunctatus has a body length of about 37-60 mm) and spotted brown back without any green or olive (R. bipunctatus has a bright green to brownish green back without darker spotting). In individuals of similar size, R. bipunctatus has a much larger head.
s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest
s, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and intermittent freshwater marsh
es. It occurs from nearly sea level to altitudes of at least 1,500 meters ASL
.
R. rhodopus was included in the IUCN status assessment for R. bipunctatus, with which it was then considered synonymous, and assessed as a Species of Least Concern
due to its wide range in 2004. R. namdaphaensis, which refers to the same frogs as R. rhodopus, was assessed as a Data Deficient
species in 2004, due to uncertainties about the limits of its distribution. Altogether, when R. rhodopus is accepted as a valid species (including R. namdaphaensis), it would be of Least Concern, meaning it is not threatened.
of Yunnan
, China
; the holotype
is in the CIB, specimen 571171. Subsequently, frogs that matched the description of R. rhodopus were also found at Chiang Mai
and in the Doi Chiang Dao mountains (Thailand
), Buon Luoi (Vietnam
), and Arunachal Pradesh
(India
). The latter were described as R. namdaphaensis in 1985; however, they were not compared with R. rhodopus at that time, only with R. dulitensis
.
In 1999, it was stated that R. rhodopus is a junior synonym of the frog that, after much renaming due to homonymy, had become known as R. bipunctatus
. But the type specimens were not examined; it was simply stated that Lui and Hu had misread some old descriptions of R. bipunctatus and that, as frogs from Vietnam were quite obviously of the same species as those from Thailand – which were believed to be R. bipunctatus –, R. rhodopus was synonymized with R. bipunctatus. However, R. bipunctatus had in fact never been reported from so far to the southeast by any older author. In 2005, a similar moss frog from Myanmar
was described as Htun Win's Treefrog (Rhacophorus htunwini).
The mystery was unravelled when the type specimens of R. bipunctatus and R. namdaphaensis were finally examined and compared with other specimens from southeastern Asia in 2007. It turned out that the frogs from the border region of India, China and Myanmar, originally described as R. bipunctatus, matched R. htunwini, but not the frogs described as R. rhodopus and R. namdaphaensis. So the actual situation seems to be that the three taxa refer to two, not three species, with R. htunwini being a junior synonym of R. bipunctatus – possibly a restricted-range endemic of upland forest at the eastern end of the Himalayas
, though it might occur south to Malaysia –, and R. namdaphaensis a junior synonym of R. rhodopus, a species that ranges widely from eastern India to the east and south and also occurs in lower-lying regions.
Thus, it seems that the 1999 study compared only specimens of R. rhodopus with other specimens of R. rhodopus, and therefore its conclusion that these constituted just one species was indeed correct. The mistake was rather the failure to compare even a single individual of the actual R. bipunctatus with the frogs from Thailand and Vietnam. Indeed, the authors of the 1999 study stated,
but that it usually does have a green back was confirmed both by the description of R. htunwini and by examination of the lectotype
specimen of R. bipunctatus. In fact, the separation of R. htunwini from R. rhodopus – then called R. bipunctatus – was partly due to that striking difference in dorsal coloration.
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...
of frog
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...
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 occurs in southeastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, from 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...
to southern 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. Previously unknown from Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, it has now been found in Phongsali Province and at Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang, or Louangphrabang , is a city located in north central Laos, where the Nam Khan river meets the Mekong River about north of Vientiane. It is the capital of Luang Prabang Province...
.
Description
R. rhodopus is a smallish treefrog with a pointed snout and body length of about 31-55 mm when adult, females being larger than males. Its back is reddish-, pinkish- or yellowich-brown without any green hues in living animals; in preserved specimens this becomes purplish brown. There are many darker spots all over the back, usually forming an X-shaped pattern behind the head and sometimes stripes across the lower back. Someimtes, there are a few large white spots on the back also. The hindlegs and the upperside of the arms are for the most part or entirely the color of the back; there are usually dark bands across the upperside of arms and hindlegs. The sides, belly and toes are dark yellow, becoming dark pink in preserved specimens. Behind the arms, there is almost always a conspicuous large black spot on the flanks. The well-developed webbing of the toes is bright orange-red and unspotted. The eyes are light brown.It can be distinguished from R. bipunctatus
Rhacophorus bipunctatus
Rhacophorus bipunctatus is a frog species in the moss frog family . It is found from eastern India into Southeast Asia, possibly to southeastern China and south to Malaysia...
, with which it was long confused, by the smaller size (R. bipunctatus has a body length of about 37-60 mm) and spotted brown back without any green or olive (R. bipunctatus has a bright green to brownish green back without darker spotting). 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 lowland forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and intermittent 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. It occurs from nearly sea level to altitudes of at least 1,500 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...
.
R. rhodopus was included in the IUCN status assessment for R. bipunctatus, with which it was then considered synonymous, and assessed 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...
due to its wide range in 2004. R. namdaphaensis, which refers to the same frogs as R. rhodopus, was assessed as 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 in 2004, due to uncertainties about the limits of its distribution. Altogether, when R. rhodopus is accepted as a valid species (including R. namdaphaensis), it would be of Least Concern, meaning it is not threatened.
Taxonomy
R. rhodopus was described in 1960, based on specimens from Mengyang in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous PrefectureXishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture
Xishuangbanna is an autonomous prefecture in Yunnan Province, China. The capital city is Jinghong, the largest settlement in the area and one that straddles the Mekong River, called the Lancang River in Chinese.-Name:...
of Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, 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...
; 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...
is in the CIB, specimen 571171. Subsequently, frogs that matched the description of R. rhodopus were also found at Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...
and in the Doi Chiang Dao mountains (Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
), Buon Luoi (Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
), and Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
(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...
). The latter were described as R. namdaphaensis in 1985; however, they were not compared with R. rhodopus at that time, only with R. dulitensis
Rhacophorus dulitensis
Rhacophorus dulitensis is a species of frog in the Rhacophoridae family.It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and intermittent freshwater marshes....
.
In 1999, it was stated that R. rhodopus is a junior synonym of the frog that, after much renaming due to homonymy, had become known as R. bipunctatus
Rhacophorus bipunctatus
Rhacophorus bipunctatus is a frog species in the moss frog family . It is found from eastern India into Southeast Asia, possibly to southeastern China and south to Malaysia...
. But the type specimens were not examined; it was simply stated that Lui and Hu had misread some old descriptions of R. bipunctatus and that, as frogs from Vietnam were quite obviously of the same species as those from Thailand – which were believed to be R. bipunctatus –, R. rhodopus was synonymized with R. bipunctatus. However, R. bipunctatus had in fact never been reported from so far to the southeast by any older author. In 2005, a similar moss frog from 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....
was described as Htun Win's Treefrog (Rhacophorus htunwini).
The mystery was unravelled when the type specimens of R. bipunctatus and R. namdaphaensis were finally examined and compared with other specimens from southeastern Asia in 2007. It turned out that the frogs from the border region of India, China and Myanmar, originally described as R. bipunctatus, matched R. htunwini, but not the frogs described as R. rhodopus and R. namdaphaensis. So the actual situation seems to be that the three taxa refer to two, not three species, with R. htunwini being a junior synonym of R. bipunctatus – possibly a restricted-range endemic of upland forest at the eastern end of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, though it might occur south to Malaysia –, and R. namdaphaensis a junior synonym of R. rhodopus, a species that ranges widely from eastern India to the east and south and also occurs in lower-lying regions.
Thus, it seems that the 1999 study compared only specimens of R. rhodopus with other specimens of R. rhodopus, and therefore its conclusion that these constituted just one species was indeed correct. The mistake was rather the failure to compare even a single individual of the actual R. bipunctatus with the frogs from Thailand and Vietnam. Indeed, the authors of the 1999 study stated,
"[Liu and Hu] assumed that [R. bipunctatus] was green, possibly because Boulenger (1882) reported that it resembled R. reinwardtii.";
but that it usually does have a green back was confirmed both by the description of R. htunwini and by examination of the 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...
specimen of R. bipunctatus. In fact, the separation of R. htunwini from R. rhodopus – then called R. bipunctatus – was partly due to that striking difference in dorsal coloration.