Rhacophorus

Rhacophorus
Malabar gliding frog
(Rhacophorus malabaricus)
Note the elongated toes with prominent webbing.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Subfamily: Rhacophorinae
Genus: Rhacophorus
Kuhl & Van Hasselt, 1822
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Rhacoforus Palacky, 1898 (lapsus)
  • Racophorus Schlegel, 1826 (lapsus)

Rhacophorus is a genus of frogs in the shrub-frog family Rhacophoridae, which, with the related Hylidae, is one of the two genera of true tree frogs. They are found in China, India, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia, including the island of Borneo. Over 40 species are currently recognised.[1]

These frogs have long toes with strong webbing between them, enabling the animals to jump from tree to tree, using the webbing to control a gliding descent, a form of arboreal locomotion known as parachuting.[2] This behavioral adaptation is the source of their common name, "flying frogs".

The present genus is closely related to Polypedates, which (formerly) was included in Rhacophorus. Even today, it is not fully agreed upon which of these genera "P." feae and the Chinese flying frog ("R." dennysi) properly belong to; furthermore, a supposedly new species, "P. pingbianensis", has been found to be the same as R. duboisi.

Foam nest of Rhacophorus arboreus

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] Some species like Rhacophorus kio will wrap this and cover this foam nest with leaves.[5]

Species

These species are recognised in the genus Rhacophorus:[1][6][7]

Phylogeny

The following is a partial phylogeny of Rhacophorus from Pyron & Wiens (2011).[8] Only nine species are included. Rhacophorus is a sister group of Polypedates.[8]

Rhacophorus 

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ Poo, Sinland (2016). "RHACOPHORUS KIO. OVIPOSITION AND NEST CONSTRUCTION". Herpetological Review. 47 (1): 119–120.
  6. ^ a b 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. S2CID 86411409.
  7. ^ Kropachev, Ivan I.; Orlov, Nikolai L.; Ninh, Hoa Thi; Nguyen, Tao Thien (2019-12-15). "A New Species of Rhacophorus Genus (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae: Rhacophorinae) from Van Ban District, Lao Cai Province, Northern Vietnam". Russian Journal of Herpetology. 26 (6): 325–334. doi:10.30906/1026-2296-2019-26-6-325-334. ISSN 1026-2296. S2CID 216378292.
  8. ^ a b 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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