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 group of frogs. They are in the shrub frog family (Rhacophoridae). They live in India, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. Scientists say this group has more than 40 species in it.[1]

These frogs have long toes with webbed skin. They use this skin to slow down when they fall or jump out of trees. This is called parachuting.[2] People call them "flying frogs" because of this.

These frogs are related to Polypedates. Scientists used to call them the same genus. Even today, some scientists think "P." feae and the Chinese flying frog ("R." dennysi) might be in the wrong group.

Foam nest of Rhacophorus arboreus

Reproduction

These frogs lay their eggs in foam nests in trees. They make the nests on branches hanging over water. Once the eggs hatch, the tadpoles fall into the water.[3][4]Some species like Rhacophorus kio will wrap this and cover this foam nest with leaves. [5]

Species

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

Family tree

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

Rhacophorus 





Rhacophorus annamensis



Rhacophorus orlovi





Rhacophorus malabaricus



Rhacophorus calcaneus






Rhacophorus rhodopus




Rhacophorus bipunctatus




Rhacophorus kio




Rhacophorus reinwardtii



Rhacophorus lateralis










References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  5. ↑ Poo, Sinland (2016). "RHACOPHORUS KIO. OVIPOSITION AND NEST CONSTRUCTION". Herpetological Review. 47 (1): 119–120.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 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. ↑ 8.0 8.1 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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