Romerus

genus of amphibians

Romerus is a small genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. They live in southern China (Hong Kong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong). Some of the species in Romerus were in Philautus.[2] Scientists think Romerus might be the most basal genus in Rhacophorinae.[3]

Romerus
Liuixalus romeri, the type species of Romerus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Subfamily: Rhacophorinae
Genus: Romerus
Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021
Type species
Philautus romeri
Smith, 1953
Synonyms

Liuixalus Li, Che, Bain, Zhao, and Zhang, 2008[1]

At first, scientists named this genus Liuixalus in 2008. They looked at the DNA and saw these frogs were different from the frogs in Chiromantis.[4] Scientists named the group Liuixalus after Liu Chengzhao [zh], a Chinese amphibian scientist.[1] In 2021, scientists looked at the DNA again and decided Romerus would be a better name. The name Romerus is for British amphibian scientist John D. Romer.[3]

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says two of these frog species are vulnerable (Romerus ocellatus and R. hainanus), one as endangered (R. romeri), and one as least-concern (R. feii). They do not know enough about Romerus shiwandashan to give it a rank.[5]

Species

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There are six species in the genus Romerus:[6]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Li, J. T.; Che, J.; Bain, R. H.; Zhao, E. M.; Zhang, Y. P. (2008). "Molecular phylogeny of Rhacophoridae (Anura): A framework of taxonomic reassignment of species within the genera Aquixalus, Chiromantis, Rhacophorus, and Philautus". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 48 (1): 302–312. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.03.023. PMID 18442928.
  2. "Romerus (Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021) | Amphibian Species of the World". amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Dubois, Alain; Ohler, Annemarie; Pyron, R. Alexander (2021-02-26). "New concepts and methods for phylogenetic taxonomy and nomenclature in zoology, exemplified by a new ranked cladonomy of recent amphibians (Lissamphibia)". Megataxa. 5 (1): 1–738–1–738. doi:10.11646/megataxa.5.1.1. ISSN 2703-3090.
  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 2013-11-23.
  5. IUCN (2021). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>". Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  6. Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Liuixalus Li, Che, Bain, Zhao, and Zhang, 2008". Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 29 July 2015.