Polypedates is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, the shrub frogs and Paleotropic tree frogs. They belong to subfamily Rhacophorinae. Members of this genus are collectively known as whipping frogs. They occur in eastern and southern Asia.[1]

Polypedates
Polypedates leucomystax
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Subfamily: Rhacophorinae
Genus: Polypedates
Tschudi, 1838
Type species
Hyla leucomystax
Gravenhorst, 1829
Diversity
26 species (see text)

The delimitation of Polypedates versus the related Rhacophorus has been difficult. In former times, the present genus was often entirely included in Rhacophorus. However, molecular phylogenetic studies support the recognition of both genera. Polypedates + Taruga are considered to be the sister taxon of Feihyla + Rhacophorus.[1][2]

Species edit

The following species are recognised in the genus Polypedates, with new species still being described on a regular basis:[1]

The recently described Polypedates bijui[4] has now been renamed as Beddomixalus bijui, the only species in its genus.

Phylogeny edit

The following phylogeny of Polypedates is from Pyron & Wiens (2011).[5] 8 species are included. Polypedates is a sister group of Feihyla. Together, Polypedates and Feihyla form a sister group to Rhacophorus.[5]

Polypedates 

Kuraishi, et al. (2013) gives the following phylogeny of Polypedates.[6] Polypedates and Rhacophorus are estimated to have split off from their most recent common ancestor 26.6 million years ago during the Oligocene. Furthermore, the genus Taruga has been separated as a separate genus endemic to Sri Lanka.

Polypedates 
Taruga

Polypedates otilophus (Borneo)

Polypedates colletti (Southeast Asian)

(South Asian clade)

Polypedates sp. (Malay clade)

Polypedates macrotis (Sunda)

Polypedates cf. mutus sp. 1 (South China clade)

Polypedates braueri (North China clade)

Polypedates impresus[7][8] (Laos clade)

Polypedates leucomystax (Sunda clade)

Polypedates megacephalus (Indochina clade)

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Polypedates Tschudi, 1838". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  2. ^ 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 2013-11-20.
  3. ^ Purkayastha, Jayaditya; Das, Madhurima; Mondal, Kingshuk; Mitra, Shibajee; Chaudhuri, Anirban; Das, Indraneil (2019). "A new species of Polypedates Tschudi, 1838 (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from West Bengal State, Eastern India". Zootaxa. 4691 (5): 525–540. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4691.5.6. PMID 31719380. S2CID 207936668.
  4. ^ Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot & Kalesh, 2011
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ KURAISHI, N., MATSUI, M., HAMIDY, A., BELABUT, D. M., AHMAD, N., PANHA, S., SUDIN, A., YONG, H. S., JIANG, J.-P., OTA, H., THONG, H. T. and NISHIKAWA, K. (2013), Phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships of the Polypedates leucomystax complex (Amphibia). Zoologica Scripta, 42: 54–70. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00562.x
  7. ^ Pan, S., N. Dang, J.S. Wang, Y. Zheng, D.Q. Rao, and J.T. Li. 2013. Molecular phylogeny supports the validity of Polypedates impresus Yang 2008. Asian Herpetological Research 4: 124–133.
  8. ^ Identified by Pan, et al. (2013) as Polypedates impresus, but given in Kuraishi, et al. (2013) as Polypedates cf. mutus.

External links edit