Raorchestes
| Raorchestes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Raorchestes signatus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | "Amphibia" (wide sense) |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Rhacophoridae |
| Subfamily: | Rhacophorinae |
| Genus: | Raorchestes Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010[1] |
| Type species | |
| Ixalus glandulosus Jerdon, 1854 | |
Raorchestes is a genus of frogs in the Rhacophorinae subfamily. These frogs can be found in South and Southeast Asia, from southern India to Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos to southern China and Vietnam and West Malaysia.[2] They are particularly diverse in the Western Ghats of India.[1] Before the description of the genus in 2010, species now in Raorchestes had been assigned to genera Ixalus (no longer recognized), Philautus, and Pseudophilautus.[2] The genus is named in honour of C. R. Narayan Rao in recognition of his contribution to Indian batrachology. The scientific nomen Orchestes is based on the first generic nomen coined for frogs of the Philautus group, Orchestes Tschudi 1838.[1]
Description
Raorchestes are largely nocturnal, relatively small frogs with adult body size 15–45 mm (0.59–1.77 in) in snout-vent length. They lack vomerine teeth. Males have a large transparent vocal sac while calling. All Raorchestes where development is known have direct development, that is, their life cycle does not involve a free-swimming tadpole stage.[1] Their sister taxon is Pseudophilautus.[1][2]
Conservation
IUCN has assessed 38 species of Raorchestes. Many species are Critically Endangered, and one species (Raorchestes travancoricus) was already considered extinct,[3] only to be rediscovered in 2004.[4][5] The Amphibian Specialist Group's list of "lost frogs" (frogs not seen for decades) includes 10 Raorchestes species.[6]
Species
Many new species from India have been described in recent years. As of early 2013, the genus contains 49 species:[2]
- Raorchestes agasthyaensis Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes akroparallagi (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes anili (Biju and Bossuyt, 2006)
- Raorchestes annandalii (Boulenger, 1906)
- Raorchestes beddomii (Günther, 1876)
- Raorchestes bobingeri (Biju and Bossuyt, 2005)
- Raorchestes bombayensis (Annandale, 1919)
- Raorchestes chalazodes (Günther, 1876)
- Raorchestes charius (Rao, 1937)
- Raorchestes chlorosomma (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes chotta (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes chromasynchysi (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes coonoorensis (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes crustai Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes dubois (Biju and Bossuyt, 2006)
- Raorchestes flaviventris (Boulenger, 1882)
- Raorchestes glandulosus (Jerdon, 1854)
- Raorchestes graminirupes (Biju and Bossuyt, 2005)
- Raorchestes griet (Bossuyt, 2002)
- Raorchestes gryllus (Smith, 1924)
- Raorchestes jayarami (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes johnceei Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes kadalarensis Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes kaikatti (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes kakachi Seshadri, Gururaja, and Aravind, 2012
- Raorchestes longchuanensis (Yang and Li, 1978)
- Raorchestes luteolus (Kuramoto and Joshy, 2003)
- Raorchestes manipurensis (Mathew and Sen, 2009)
- Raorchestes manohari Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes marki (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes menglaensis (Kou, 1990)
- Raorchestes munnarensis (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes nerostagona (Biju and Bossuyt, 2005)
- Raorchestes ochlandrae (Gururaja, Dinesh, Palot, Radhakrishnan, and Ramachandra, 2007)
- Raorchestes parvulus (Boulenger, 1893)
- Raorchestes ponmudi (Biju and Bossuyt, 2005)
- Raorchestes ravii Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes resplendens Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010
- Raorchestes sahai (Sarkar and Ray, 2006)
- Raorchestes shillongensis (Pillai and Chanda, 1973)
- Raorchestes signatus (Boulenger, 1882)
- Raorchestes sushili (Biju and Bossuyt, 2009)
- Raorchestes terebrans (Das and Chanda, 1998)
- Raorchestes theuerkaufi Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes thodai Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
- Raorchestes tinniens (Jerdon, 1854)
- Raorchestes travancoricus (Boulenger, 1891)
- Raorchestes tuberohumerus (Kuramoto and Joshy, 2003)
- Raorchestes uthamani Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot, and Kalesh, 2011
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Biju, S. D.; Yogesh Shouche, Alain Dubois, S. K. Dutta, Franky Bossuyt (2010). "A ground-dwelling rhacophorid frog from the highest mountain peak of the Western Ghats of India". Current Science 98 (8): 1119–1125.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Frost, Darrel R. (2013). "Raorchestes Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010". Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ↑ IUCN (2013). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>".
- ↑ University of Delhi (February 3, 2009). "Dozen New Tree Frogs Discovered In Rapidly Vanishing Habitat In India". ScienceDaily.
- ↑ Biju, S. D.; Bossuyt, F. (2009). "Systematics and phylogeny of Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Anura, Rhacophoridae) in the Western Ghats of India, with descriptions of 12 new species". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155 (2): 374–444. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x.
- ↑ Amphibian Specialist Group (2013). "Lost frogs". Retrieved 15 July 2013.