Wikipedia

Raorchestes

genus of amphibians

Raorchestes is a genus of frogs. This genus is in the subfamily Rhacophorinae.[2] These frogs live in the mountains in China and other parts of Asia.[3] Scientists say Raorchestes is a sister taxon of Pseudophilautus.[2][4] Scientists started using this genus in 2010. Before that, the frogs now in Raorchestes had been in Ixalus (which scientists do not use now), Philautus, and Pseudophilautus.[2]

Raorchestes
Raorchestes signatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Genus: Raorchestes
Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010[1]
Type species
Ixalus glandulosus
Jerdon, 1854
Diversity
See text
Raorchestes flaviocularis in India
Raorchestes chalazodes from the Western Ghats.

The genus is named for C. R. Narayan Rao. He worked on Indian batrachology.[3] The part of the name, orchestes, is from the name of an older genus, Orchestes Tschudi 1838.[5] Scientists have gone to the Western Ghat Mountains in India to look for these frogs, and they say there are even more species than people think.[6][7][8] Scientists believe that the fact that groups of Western Ghat mountains are far from each other caused these frogs to become so many different species.[7]

Description change

 
Male Raorchestes luteolus, with its transparent vocal sac
 
Raorchestes echinatus in India

Most frogs in Raorchestes move around at night instead of during the day. They are small frogs. The adult frog is 15–45 mm (0.6–1.8 in) from nose to rear end. They do not have vomerine teeth in their jaws. Male frogs have a large vocal sac that they use to sing for female frogs. The skin of the vocal sack is transparent—the human eye can see through it. All species in Raorchestes grow from frogs into eggs in direct development: they do not swim as tadpoles.[9][9] Raorchestes tinniens eggs hatch in 36 days, but it can be longer or shorter depending n how hot or cold it is.[10] Different frogs in the same species can look very different from each other because they can be different colors.[6] Species of the genus Raorchestes also have different variations in their iris and pupil coloration.[3] This makes it difficult for scientists to tell species apart [11] and where they live.[12]

People call the frogs in Raorchestes "bush frogs" in English. All of them live in trees[7] except for Raorchestes resplendens. It lives on the ground high in the mountains, on Anamudi.[13]

Distribution change

One group of frogs live in the mountains in southern India (in the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats). Others live in northeastern India to Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos to southern China and Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia.[3] Many species live in the Western Ghats of India. Only eight species live in southeast Asia and China.[3][12][14]

 
Eggs of Raorchestes jayarami with small frogs, not tadpoles.

Conservation change

The IUCN has looked at 38 species of Raorchestes. Many are Critically Endangered. Scientists thought Raorchestes travancoricus was extinct,[15] but they found more in 2004.[15][3][16] Of the 38 speices, eight are data deficient and 23 are in the critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable Red List groups.[15] The Amphibian Specialist Group's list of "lost frogs" (frogs not seen for decades) includes 10 Raorchestes species.[16] There are not enough data or detailed studies about these frogs.[3][6][11] Many of the frogs live in only a few places and can only live in places where the habitat is just right.[7][13]

Several species in Raorchestes live in protected areas.[17][18]

Species change

Scientists have found many more species in India since 2000.[19][20] The following species are in the genus Raorchestes:.[2]

References change

  1. ↑ 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" (PDF). Current Science. 98 (8): 1119–1125.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Raorchestes Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 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.
  4. ↑ Alexander Pyron, R.; Wiens, John J. (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.
  5. ↑ Tschudi, Johann Jakob von; Agassiz, Louis (1838). Classification der Batrachier : mit Berucksichtigung der fossilen Thiere dieser Abtheilung der Reptilien / von J. J. Tschudi. Neuch©Øtel. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.4883.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Vijayakumar, S. P.; Dinesh, K. P.; Prabhu, Mrugank V.; Shanker, Kartik (2014-12-10). "Lineage delimitation and description of nine new species of bush frogs (Anura: Raorchestes , Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats Escarpment". Zootaxa. 3893 (4): 451–488. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3893.4.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 25544534.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Vijayakumar, S. P.; Menezes, Riya C.; Jayarajan, Aditi; Shanker, Kartik (2016-08-17). "Glaciations, gradients, and geography: multiple drivers of diversification of bush frogs in the Western Ghats Escarpment". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1836): 20161011. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.1011. PMC 5013767. PMID 27534957.
  8. ↑ Priti, H.; Roshmi, Rekha Sarma; Ramya, Badrinath; Sudhira, H. S.; Ravikanth, G.; Aravind, Neelavara Anantharam; Gururaja, Kotambylu Vasudeva (2016-03-02). "Integrative Taxonomic Approach for Describing a New Cryptic Species of Bush Frog (Raorchestes: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India". PLOS ONE. 11 (3): e0149382. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1149382P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149382. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4774957. PMID 26934213.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Meegaskumbura, Madhava; Senevirathne, Gayani; Biju, S. D.; Garg, Sonali; Meegaskumbura, Suyama; Pethiyagoda, Rohan; Hanken, James; Schneider, Christopher J. (2015). "Patterns of reproductive-mode evolution in Old World tree frogs (Anura, Rhacophoridae)". Zoologica Scripta. 44 (5): 509–522. doi:10.1111/zsc.12121. S2CID 21720173.
  10. ↑ "Development of endemic Nilgiri Bush Frog, Raorchestes tinniens (Jerdon, 1853) (Anura, Rhacophoridae) in the Nilgiris, Western Ghats, India". ISSCA. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Priti, H.; Roshmi, Rekha Sarma; Ramya, Badrinath; Sudhira, H. S.; Ravikanth, G.; Aravind, Neelavara Anantharam; Gururaja, Kotambylu Vasudeva (2016-03-02). Joger, Ulrich (ed.). "Integrative Taxonomic Approach for Describing a New Cryptic Species of Bush Frog (Raorchestes: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India". PLOS ONE. 11 (3): e0149382. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1149382P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149382. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4774957. PMID 26934213.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Yu, Guohua; Liu, Shuo; Hou, Mian; Li, Song; Yang, Junxing (2019-04-05). "Extension in distribution of Raorchestes parvulus (Boulenger, 1893) (Anura: Rhacophoridae) to China". Zootaxa. 4577 (2): 381–391. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4577.2.10. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 31715729. S2CID 133261512.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Biju, S. D.; Shouche, Yogesh; Dubois, Alain; Dutta, S. K.; Bossuyt, Franky (2010). "A ground-dwelling rhacophorid frog from the highest mountain peak of the Western Ghats of India". Current Science. 98 (8): 1119–1125. ISSN 0011-3891. JSTOR 24111771.
  14. ↑ "AmphibiaWeb -- Search Results". amphibiaweb.org. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 IUCN (2014). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>". Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Amphibian Specialist Group (2013). "Lost frogs". Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  17. ↑ Handbook of climate change and biodiversity. Leal Filho, Walter,, Barbir, Jelena,, Preziosi, Richard. Cham, Switzerland. 2018-08-28. ISBN 978-3-319-98681-4. OCLC 1050437289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. ↑ Murali, R.; Raman, T. R. S. (2012-08-26). "CEPF Western Ghats Special Series : Streamside amphibian communities in plantations and a rainforest fragment in the Anamalai hills, India". Journal of Threatened Taxa: 2849–2856. doi:10.11609/JoTT.o2829.2849-56. ISSN 0974-7907.
  19. ↑ Manoj, E. M. (August 7, 2011). "New species of frogs found in Western Ghats". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  20. ↑ "26 new species of frogs and insects discovered in India". Hindustan Times. June 15, 2009. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
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