Rhacophorus

Rhacophorus
Malabar gliding frog
(Rhacophorus malabaricus)
Note the elongated toes with prominent webbing.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Amphibia
Subclass: Lissamphibia
Order: Anura
Suborder: Neobatrachia
Family: Rhacophoridae
Subfamily: Rhacophorinae
Genus: Rhacophorus
Kuhl & Hasselt, 1822
Species

About 80, see text

Synonyms

Leptomantis Peters, 1867
Rhacoforus Palacky, 1898 (lapsus)
Racophorus Schlegel, 1826 (lapsus)

Rhacophorus is a genus of frogs in the shrub frog family (Rhacophoridae) which together with the related Hylidae makes up the true tree frogs. They live in India, Japan, Madagascar, Africa, and Southeast Asia. "Amphibian Species of the World 5.6" lists 81 species.[1]

These frogs have long toes with strong webbing between them, enabling the animals to slow their fall to a glide, a form of arboreal locomotion known as 'parachuting'.[2] They are therefore among the anurans commonly known as "flying frogs".

The present genus is closely related to Polypedates, which in former times was often included in Rhacophorus. Even today, it is not fully resolved in which of these genera "P." feae and the Chinese flying frog ("R." dennysi) properly belong, and the supposedly new species "P. pingbianensis" has turned out to be the same as R. duboisi.

Reproduction

These frogs lay their eggs in aerial foam nests; upon hatching, tadpoles drop to the water under the nest and complete their development there.[3][4]

Species

There are 82 species in the genus:[1][5]

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny of Rhacophorus is from Pyron & Wiens (2011).[6] 24 species are included. Rhacophorus is a sister group of Polypedates.[6]

Rhacophorus 

Rhacophorus annamensis

Rhacophorus orlovi

Rhacophorus malabaricus

Rhacophorus calcaneus

Rhacophorus rhodopus

Rhacophorus bipunctatus

Rhacophorus kio

Rhacophorus reinwardtii

Rhacophorus lateralis

Rhacophorus feae

Rhacophorus dennysi

Rhacophorus maximus

Rhacophorus chenfui

Rhacophorus nigropunctatus

Rhacophorus schlegelii

Rhacophorus arboreus

Rhacophorus moltrechti

Rhacophorus taronensis

Rhacophorus omeimontis

Rhacophorus hui

Rhacophorus minimus

Rhacophorus hungfuensis

Rhacophorus dugritei

Rhacophorus puerensis

References

  1. 1 2 Frost, Darrel R. (2013). "Rhacophorus". Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  2. John R. Hutchinson. "Gliding and Parachuting". www.ucmp.berkeley.edu. Regents of the University of California.
  3. Grosjean, S.; Delorme, M.; Dubois, A.; Ohler, A. (2008). "Evolution of reproduction in the Rhacophoridae (Amphibia, Anura)". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 46 (2): 169. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2007.00451.x.
  4. Li, Jiatang; Dingqi Rao; Robert W. Murphy; Yaping Zhang (2011). "The systematic status of rhacophorid frogs" (PDF). Asian Herpetological Research. 2: 1–11. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1245.2011.00001.
  5. 1 2 Rowley, J. J. L.; Tran, D. T. A.; Hoang, H. D.; Le, D. T. T. (2012). "A new species of large flying frog (Rhacophoridae: Rhacophorus) from lowland forests in southern Vietnam". Journal of Herpetology. 46 (4): 480–487. doi:10.1670/11-261.
  6. 1 2 R. Alexander Pyron; John J. Wiens (2011). "A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (2): 543–583. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012. PMID 21723399.
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