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Holotype (ZSIC 10036, adult female) of Amolops monticola in preservation: (a) dorsal view; (b) ventral view; (c) lateral view of head; (d) ventral view of hand; (e) ventral view of foot; (f) schematic illustration of webbing on foot.
Source publication
The phylogenetic position of Amolops monticola, a cascade frog species known for over 150 years, remains unknown. Yet over the years new taxa have been frequently described in the ambiguously recognised A. monticola species group, based on morphology and presumed phylogenetic affinities. Here we report fresh collections of A. monticola from the Ind...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... catalogue number of the described specimen was not stated in the original description, but was subsequently provided as ZSIC 10036 by Sclater (1892). We studied the type that is currently available at ZSI (Zoological Survey of India), Kolkata and found that it largely matches the specimen in the original description ( Figure 3). This species has subsequently been reported in checklists from various localities within India (mostly lacking vouchers) and neighbouring countries such as China, Nepal and Bhutan. ...
Context 2
... additional male specimen from 'Darjiling' was described by Boulenger (1920) for which the mentioned characters (male, SVL 41 mm, specimen probably at Natural History Museum [NHM], London, not studied) 'with an external vocal sac on each side of the throat' and 'a strong pad on the inner side of the first finger' also match our male specimens from south Sikkim ( Table 2). The colour characters mentioned in the original description (Anderson 1871) are also a close match to those of the newly collected population; however, since the holotype is bleached, colour in preservation cannot be reliably compared with the new collection ( Figure 3). Below we provide a detailed description of the available holotype and a newly collected female specimen having a comparable snout-vent size to the holotype, for two reasons: (1) the type specimen is currently in a poor condition due to dehydration, hence reliable measurements for several characters are not possible; and (2) the original description is based largely on meristic characters and presumably without live colouration. ...
Context 3
... medium-sized adult female (SVL 69.7), body rather robust; head longer than wide (HL 24.7; HW 21.5; MN 19.9; MFE 16.4; MBE 8.8); snout rounded in dorsal, ventral and lateral views, its length (SL 9.5) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 8.2); loreal region acute to obtuse, concave; indistinct canthus rostralis; interorbital space flat, narrower (IUE 7.2) than upper eyelid width (UEW 8.8) and wider than internarial distance (IN 6.5); nostril oval, almost as close to the tip of snout (NS 4.5) as eye (EN 4.4); tympanum rather distinct (TYD 3.4), 41.5% of eye diameter (EL 8.2), nearly 1.2 times larger than distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 2.8); pineal ocellus present between the eyes; vomerine ridge present, at an angle of 90° relative to the body axis, closer to each other than choanae, longer than distance between them; tongue large, emarginate, lingual papilla absent; supratympanic fold rather indistinct (Figure 3). Arms moderately long, forearm length (FAL 16.6) shorter than hand length (HAL 17.9); relative length of fingers I < IV < II < III (FL I 8.9, FL II 11.0, FL III 14.7, FL IV 10.3), tips of fingers with discs except on finger I, discs moderately wide compared to finger width except on finger I (FD I 1.9, FW I 1.8; FD II 2.3, FW II 1.1; FD III 3.0, FW III 1.1; FD IV 3.0, FW IV 1.1), finger discs with circummarginal grooves, except on finger I; dermal fringe present on fingers; webbing absent between fingers; subarticular tubercles rather prominent and rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 2 ( Figure 3); two metacarpal tubercles, elongate. ...
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... medium-sized adult female (SVL 69.7), body rather robust; head longer than wide (HL 24.7; HW 21.5; MN 19.9; MFE 16.4; MBE 8.8); snout rounded in dorsal, ventral and lateral views, its length (SL 9.5) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 8.2); loreal region acute to obtuse, concave; indistinct canthus rostralis; interorbital space flat, narrower (IUE 7.2) than upper eyelid width (UEW 8.8) and wider than internarial distance (IN 6.5); nostril oval, almost as close to the tip of snout (NS 4.5) as eye (EN 4.4); tympanum rather distinct (TYD 3.4), 41.5% of eye diameter (EL 8.2), nearly 1.2 times larger than distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 2.8); pineal ocellus present between the eyes; vomerine ridge present, at an angle of 90° relative to the body axis, closer to each other than choanae, longer than distance between them; tongue large, emarginate, lingual papilla absent; supratympanic fold rather indistinct (Figure 3). Arms moderately long, forearm length (FAL 16.6) shorter than hand length (HAL 17.9); relative length of fingers I < IV < II < III (FL I 8.9, FL II 11.0, FL III 14.7, FL IV 10.3), tips of fingers with discs except on finger I, discs moderately wide compared to finger width except on finger I (FD I 1.9, FW I 1.8; FD II 2.3, FW II 1.1; FD III 3.0, FW III 1.1; FD IV 3.0, FW IV 1.1), finger discs with circummarginal grooves, except on finger I; dermal fringe present on fingers; webbing absent between fingers; subarticular tubercles rather prominent and rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 2 ( Figure 3); two metacarpal tubercles, elongate. Hind limbs long, heels overlapping when legs at right angle to the body; thigh (TL 39.5) shorter than shank (SHL 42.1) and longer than foot (FOL 32.0); distance from base of tarsus to tip of toe IV (TFOL 53.5); relative length of toes I < II < V < III < IV; toe tips dilated with prominent discs (TD I 2.3, TD II 2.6, TD III 2.6, TD IV 2.4, TD V 1.9), toe discs with circummarginal grooves, slightly narrower than discs of toes I and IV; foot webbing large: I1-1II1-1III1-1 1 / 3 IV1 1 / 3 -1V, extending up to the base of discs on toes I, II, III and V, and beyond the third subarticular tubercle on either side of toe IV with narrow extension to the base of disc; subarticular tubercles prominent, all present, oval; inner metatarsal tubercle prominent (IMTL 3.5), oval; outer metatarsal tubercle absent; supernumerary tubercles absent. ...
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... of dorsum smooth to shagreened, posterior parts of thigh and cloacal region sparsely granular; lateral surfaces from the head to the groin and fore-and hind limbs (including fingers and toes) smooth; flank and groin smooth to shagreened; supratympanic fold rather indistinct; dorsolateral fold weakly developed; two rictal glands, the anterior gland continuous with the upper lip. Ventral surfaces smooth (Figure 3). ...
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... in preservation. Dorsum yellowish brown; lateral surfaces of the head lighter than dorsum; ventral surfaces light grey (Figure 3). ...
Context 7
... medium-sized adult male (SVL 44.9), body rather robust; head longer than wide (HL 16.3; HW 13.3); outline of the snout rounded in dorsal, ventral and lateral views, its length (SL 6.4) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 5.3); loreal region nearly vertical, with indistinct canthus rostralis; interorbital space flat; nostril oval, closer to tip of snout (NS 2.3) than eye (EN 3.3); tympanum rather distinct (TYD 2.9), 54.7% of eye diameter (EL 5.3), and shorter than the distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 1.6); pineal ocellus present between eyes. Arms moderately long, forearm length (FAL 9.6) shorter than hand length (HAL 14.3); relative length of fingers I < II < IV < III; tips of fingers enlarged into discs, moderately wide compared to finger width, finger discs with circummarginal grooves; dermal fringe present on fingers; webbing absent between fingers; subarticular tubercles rather prominent and rounded ( Figure 11); two metacarpal tubercles, oval. ...
Context 8
... catalogue number of the described specimen was not stated in the original description, but was subsequently provided as ZSIC 10036 by Sclater (1892). We studied the type that is currently available at ZSI (Zoological Survey of India), Kolkata and found that it largely matches the specimen in the original description ( Figure 3). This species has subsequently been reported in checklists from various localities within India (mostly lacking vouchers) and neighbouring countries such as China, Nepal and Bhutan. ...
Context 9
... additional male specimen from 'Darjiling' was described by Boulenger (1920) for which the mentioned characters (male, SVL 41 mm, specimen probably at Natural History Museum [NHM], London, not studied) 'with an external vocal sac on each side of the throat' and 'a strong pad on the inner side of the first finger' also match our male specimens from south Sikkim ( Table 2). The colour characters mentioned in the original description (Anderson 1871) are also a close match to those of the newly collected population; however, since the holotype is bleached, colour in preservation cannot be reliably compared with the new collection ( Figure 3). Below we provide a detailed description of the available holotype and a newly collected female specimen having a comparable snout-vent size to the holotype, for two reasons: (1) the type specimen is currently in a poor condition due to dehydration, hence reliable measurements for several characters are not possible; and (2) the original description is based largely on meristic characters and presumably without live colouration. ...
Context 10
... medium-sized adult female (SVL 69.7), body rather robust; head longer than wide (HL 24.7; HW 21.5; MN 19.9; MFE 16.4; MBE 8.8); snout rounded in dorsal, ventral and lateral views, its length (SL 9.5) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 8.2); loreal region acute to obtuse, concave; indistinct canthus rostralis; interorbital space flat, narrower (IUE 7.2) than upper eyelid width (UEW 8.8) and wider than internarial distance (IN 6.5); nostril oval, almost as close to the tip of snout (NS 4.5) as eye (EN 4.4); tympanum rather distinct (TYD 3.4), 41.5% of eye diameter (EL 8.2), nearly 1.2 times larger than distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 2.8); pineal ocellus present between the eyes; vomerine ridge present, at an angle of 90° relative to the body axis, closer to each other than choanae, longer than distance between them; tongue large, emarginate, lingual papilla absent; supratympanic fold rather indistinct (Figure 3). Arms moderately long, forearm length (FAL 16.6) shorter than hand length (HAL 17.9); relative length of fingers I < IV < II < III (FL I 8.9, FL II 11.0, FL III 14.7, FL IV 10.3), tips of fingers with discs except on finger I, discs moderately wide compared to finger width except on finger I (FD I 1.9, FW I 1.8; FD II 2.3, FW II 1.1; FD III 3.0, FW III 1.1; FD IV 3.0, FW IV 1.1), finger discs with circummarginal grooves, except on finger I; dermal fringe present on fingers; webbing absent between fingers; subarticular tubercles rather prominent and rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 2 ( Figure 3); two metacarpal tubercles, elongate. ...
Context 11
... medium-sized adult female (SVL 69.7), body rather robust; head longer than wide (HL 24.7; HW 21.5; MN 19.9; MFE 16.4; MBE 8.8); snout rounded in dorsal, ventral and lateral views, its length (SL 9.5) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 8.2); loreal region acute to obtuse, concave; indistinct canthus rostralis; interorbital space flat, narrower (IUE 7.2) than upper eyelid width (UEW 8.8) and wider than internarial distance (IN 6.5); nostril oval, almost as close to the tip of snout (NS 4.5) as eye (EN 4.4); tympanum rather distinct (TYD 3.4), 41.5% of eye diameter (EL 8.2), nearly 1.2 times larger than distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 2.8); pineal ocellus present between the eyes; vomerine ridge present, at an angle of 90° relative to the body axis, closer to each other than choanae, longer than distance between them; tongue large, emarginate, lingual papilla absent; supratympanic fold rather indistinct (Figure 3). Arms moderately long, forearm length (FAL 16.6) shorter than hand length (HAL 17.9); relative length of fingers I < IV < II < III (FL I 8.9, FL II 11.0, FL III 14.7, FL IV 10.3), tips of fingers with discs except on finger I, discs moderately wide compared to finger width except on finger I (FD I 1.9, FW I 1.8; FD II 2.3, FW II 1.1; FD III 3.0, FW III 1.1; FD IV 3.0, FW IV 1.1), finger discs with circummarginal grooves, except on finger I; dermal fringe present on fingers; webbing absent between fingers; subarticular tubercles rather prominent and rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 2 ( Figure 3); two metacarpal tubercles, elongate. Hind limbs long, heels overlapping when legs at right angle to the body; thigh (TL 39.5) shorter than shank (SHL 42.1) and longer than foot (FOL 32.0); distance from base of tarsus to tip of toe IV (TFOL 53.5); relative length of toes I < II < V < III < IV; toe tips dilated with prominent discs (TD I 2.3, TD II 2.6, TD III 2.6, TD IV 2.4, TD V 1.9), toe discs with circummarginal grooves, slightly narrower than discs of toes I and IV; foot webbing large: I1-1II1-1III1-1 1 / 3 IV1 1 / 3 -1V, extending up to the base of discs on toes I, II, III and V, and beyond the third subarticular tubercle on either side of toe IV with narrow extension to the base of disc; subarticular tubercles prominent, all present, oval; inner metatarsal tubercle prominent (IMTL 3.5), oval; outer metatarsal tubercle absent; supernumerary tubercles absent. ...
Context 12
... of dorsum smooth to shagreened, posterior parts of thigh and cloacal region sparsely granular; lateral surfaces from the head to the groin and fore-and hind limbs (including fingers and toes) smooth; flank and groin smooth to shagreened; supratympanic fold rather indistinct; dorsolateral fold weakly developed; two rictal glands, the anterior gland continuous with the upper lip. Ventral surfaces smooth (Figure 3). ...
Context 13
... in preservation. Dorsum yellowish brown; lateral surfaces of the head lighter than dorsum; ventral surfaces light grey (Figure 3). ...
Context 14
... medium-sized adult male (SVL 44.9), body rather robust; head longer than wide (HL 16.3; HW 13.3); outline of the snout rounded in dorsal, ventral and lateral views, its length (SL 6.4) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 5.3); loreal region nearly vertical, with indistinct canthus rostralis; interorbital space flat; nostril oval, closer to tip of snout (NS 2.3) than eye (EN 3.3); tympanum rather distinct (TYD 2.9), 54.7% of eye diameter (EL 5.3), and shorter than the distance from tympanum to eye (TYE 1.6); pineal ocellus present between eyes. Arms moderately long, forearm length (FAL 9.6) shorter than hand length (HAL 14.3); relative length of fingers I < II < IV < III; tips of fingers enlarged into discs, moderately wide compared to finger width, finger discs with circummarginal grooves; dermal fringe present on fingers; webbing absent between fingers; subarticular tubercles rather prominent and rounded ( Figure 11); two metacarpal tubercles, oval. ...
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Citations
... The genus currently contains 84 species, of which 51 species have been recorded in China (Fei et al. 2012;Amphibia China 2023;Frost 2023). Recently, according to the phylogenetic framework of the genus, the 84 Amolops species were divided into ten species groups, namely the A. monticola group, A. chayuensis group, A. hainanensis group, A. ricketti group, A. spinapectoralis group, A. marmoratus group, A. larutensis group, A. daiyunensis group, A. viridimaculatus group, and the A. mantzorum group (Lyu et al. 2019b;Wu et al. 2020;Zeng et al. 2020Zeng et al. , 2021Jiang et al. 2021;Patel et al. 2021;Mahony et al. 2022;Saikia et al. 2022aSaikia et al. , 2022bSaikia et al. , 2023Wang et al. 2022;Pham et al. 2023;Qian et al. 2023;Tang et al. 2023;Sheridan et al. 2023). Among them, the A. mantzorum group, to which Amolops dafangensis sp. ...
The Torrent frogs of the genus Amolops are widely distributed in Nepal and northern India eastwards to southern China and southwards to Malaysia. The genus currently contains 84 species. Previous studies indicated underestimated species diversity in the genus. In the context, a new species occurring from the mountains in the northwestern Guizhou Province, China is found and described based on morphological comparisons and molecular phylogenetic analyses, Amolops dafangensis sp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses based on DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI genes supported the new species as an independent lineage. The uncorrected genetic distances between the 16S rRNA and COI genes in the new species and its closest congener were 0.7% and 2.6%, respectively, which are higher than or at the same level as those among many pairs of congeners. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: body size moderate (SVL 43.2–46.8 mm in males); head length larger than head width slightly; tympanum distinct, oval; vocal sacs absent; vomerine teeth present; dorsolateral folds weak formed by series of glands; nuptial pads present on the base of finger I; heels overlapping when thighs are positioned at right angles to the body; tibiotarsal articulation reaching the level far beyond the tip of the snout when leg stretched forward.
... has made comparisons with older, morphology-based literature records more difficult. Nonetheless, there has been an upsurge of new species descriptions from the Himalayan region in recent years (Zhao et al., 2005;Qi et al., 2019;Che et al., 2020;Khatiwada et al., 2020;Patel et al., 2021;Mahony et al., 2022;Saikia et al., 2022aSaikia et al., , 2022bSaikia et al., , 2023. ...
... Currently 18 species of Amolops are recorded from India, representing three species groups (Saikia et al., 2023). Amolops adicola Patel et al., 2021, A. monticola (Anderson, 1871, A. aniqueanesis Dong et al., 2005, A. kohimaensis Biju et al., 2010 andA. chakrataensis Ray, 1992 represent the Amolops monticola species First record of Amolops beibengensis from India complex (Andersson 1871;Chanda 1987;Ray 1992;Ray1999;Biju et al., 2010;Patel et al., 2021;Saikia 2023;AmphibiaWeb 2023;Frost 2023). ...
... Amolops adicola Patel et al., 2021, A. monticola (Anderson, 1871, A. aniqueanesis Dong et al., 2005, A. kohimaensis Biju et al., 2010 andA. chakrataensis Ray, 1992 represent the Amolops monticola species First record of Amolops beibengensis from India complex (Andersson 1871;Chanda 1987;Ray 1992;Ray1999;Biju et al., 2010;Patel et al., 2021;Saikia 2023;AmphibiaWeb 2023;Frost 2023). The, A. cf. ...
... The cascade frogs of genus Amolops Cope, 1865 [1] inhabit rocky streams or waterfalls, enabled by abdominal suckers in larvae and enlarged digital discs in adults [2], and are widely distributed from Nepal and northern India eastwards to China and southwards to Malaysia [3]. The species diversity in Amolops has been poorly understood owing to morphological conservation [4,5], and efforts relying on molecular data during the last decade have greatly improved our understanding of the taxonomy and species diversity of this genus, with a high number of new species having been discovered (e.g., [3,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]). So far, as the most speciose genus within the family Ranidae, the genus Amolops contains 79 species [14], which can be allocated 10 species groups [11]. ...
A new species of the genus Amolops , Amolops ailao sp. nov., is described from central Yunnan, China. The new species belongs to the A. mantzorum species group. Phylogenetic analyses based on the combination of mitochondrial 16S rRNA, COI, and cytb genes revealed that the new species is the sister taxon to Amolops ottorum with strong support. Genetically, the new species differs from A. ottorum by 5.0% in cytb sequences. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from known congeners by the combination of the following characters: true dorsolateral folds absent, but dorsolateral folds formed by series of glands present; circummarginal groove on tip of first finger absent; body size small (males SVL 33.0–35.1 mm and female SVL 41.3 mm); HW/SVL 0.32‒0.35; UEW/SVL 0.08‒0.10; THL/SVL 0.52‒0.56; vomerine teeth absent; interorbital distance narrower than internarial distance; tympanum distinct, less than half eye diameter; supratympanic fold present, indistinct; a pair of large tubercles on sides of cloaca; tibiotarsal articulation reaching beyond anterior corner of eye; and vocal sac absent. The cladogenesis events within the A. mantzorum group rapidly occurred from Pliocene 4.23 Mya to Pleistocene 1.2 Mya, coinciding with the recent intensive uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau since the Pliocene. Combining findings in this study with the most recent taxonomic progress, we consider that there are 20 known Amolops species in Yunnan, China, accounting for the highest proportion of amphibian diversity of Yunnan, and five of them belong to the A. mantzorum group. Among different subfauna and water systems in Yunnan, the species diversity of Amolops in northwestern Yunnan and Nu River Basin is highest.
... The resultant sequence was checked for corrections in MEGA X software (Kumar et al., 2018). Additionally, 203 sequences of Amolops were downloaded from GenBank Patel et al., 2021; and aligned manually in MEGA X. The sequences name followed as per Jiang et al., (2021) and Patel et al., (2021) (Appendix 1). ...
... Additionally, 203 sequences of Amolops were downloaded from GenBank Patel et al., 2021; and aligned manually in MEGA X. The sequences name followed as per Jiang et al., (2021) and Patel et al., (2021) (Appendix 1). A 1000 thorough bootstrap replicates under GTR+GAMMA+I model was performed for Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic reconstruction in RaxML (Silvestro and Michalak, 2012). ...
... Field photo of holotype of Amolops terraorchis sp. nov.A new species of Amolops (Anura: Ranidae) representing the morphological… row of tubercles placed dorsolaterally can be mistaken as folds.Patel et al., (2021) have provisionally placed A. gerbillus in the Monticola species group; however, Jiang et al., (2021) have rightly assigned this species under Marmoratus species group. Annandale (1912) described another species of Amolops as Ixalus argus in the same publication, which Wang et al. (2020) suspected to belong to A. gerbillus. Jiang et al. ...
The cascade-dwelling frog genus Amolops is known for its range of distribution concentrated in China, India, Myanmar and Nepal. The first Amolops species described from India was in 1871, and since then, 11 species have been described from the country. Being morphologically cryptic and with a preference for cascade habitats, identification of Amolops species based on morphology alone is difficult. Although 11 species of Amolops have been described from the country, their genetic data is very poorly represented in the Amolops phylogenetic studies. In one of our efforts of explorations and documenting the Amolops diversity, multiple populations were sampled in Arunachal Pradesh, which was subjected to genetic analysis. Our study has led to the generation of a novel genetic datum for the species Amolops gerbillus, and a report of a new species. Due to shallow genetic divergence between A. yarlungzangbo and A. gerbillus and the close geographic proximity of the type localities, Amolops yarlungzangbo is proposed to be a junior synonym of Amolops gerbillus as per ICZN codes warranting the examination of the type specimens. Additionally, single gene-based phylogeny is presented including the genetic data available for the Indian species of Amolops.
... Amolops Cope, 1865 is the most species-rich genus in the family Ranidae, containing 73 recognised species with a wide distribution from Nepal and northern India eastwards to China and southwards to Peninsular Malaysia (Frost, 2022). Based on molecular data, Patel et al. (2021) divided A. ricketti group, A. ricketti and A. cremnobatus (Nguyen et al., 2009;Pham et al., 2022), one from the A. martzorum group, A. ottorum (Pham et al., 2019b), and two from the A. monticola group, A. cf. compotrix and A. vitreus (Le et al., 2015b;Pham, 2016). ...
... In total, 37 sequences of 21 taxa from the Amolops monticola group were incorporated in the phylogenetic analysis. Outgroup polarity was provided (Patel et al., 2021) (Table 1). ...
... A fragment of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) was amplified using the primer pair Met-LND2 (5′-CAATGTTGGTTAAAATCCTTCC-3′) and Trp-HND2 (5′-AGGCTTTGAAGGCCTTTGGTC-3′) . We opted for this marker because it has been commonly used in recent studies (e.g., Yuan et al., 2018;Wu et al., 2020;Patel et al., 2021). The fragment is also longer than the universally employed 16S ribosomal sequence and rarely contains gaps, making the alignment more straightforward. ...
A new species of Amolops is described from northwestern Vietnam based on morphological and molecular differences. Morphologically, the new species is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: Snout-vent length 37.5-41.3 mm in males, 61.5-62.5 mm in females; head longer than wide; vomerine teeth present; snout long (ratio of distance from tip of snout to anterior corner of eye/ snout-vent length 0.16 in males, 0.15 in females); tympanum distinct, round (ratio of eye diameter/tympanum diameter 0.37-0.39 in males, 0.36-0.37 in females); skin smooth; supratympanic fold indistinct; dorsolateral fold present; webbing formula I0-1/2II0-1III0-1IV1-0V; in life, dorsum grey with indistinct greenish dots; head and body with irregular dorsolateral brown stripe; dorsal surface of forelimbs and hindlimbs bright grey with dark brown crossbars; throat, chest and belly white; vocal sac yellowish; external vocal sac present and finger I with nuptial pad in males. In phylogenetic analyses, the new species is recovered as a sister taxon to A. compotrix, but the two species are separated by 3.3-3.4% pairwise genetic divergence based on a fragment of the mitochondrial ND2 gene.
... Our morphological and mitochondrial DNA data strongly support referring the newly collected specimens at Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China as the new national record of Amolops putaoensis. Our study extends the geographic range of the species northeast into China and demonstrates that A. putaoensis is closely related to A. kohimaensis from northeastern India (Biju et al. 2010), A. aniqiaoensis from Medog, Tibet, China (Che et al. 2020), and A. monticola and A. adicola from northeastern India (Patel et al. 2021). Unfortunately, both the original description (Gan et al. 2020) and our study did not find females or larvae of A. putaoensis, or document advertisement calls of males. ...
Amolops putaoensis is a recently described torrent frog species from A. monticola group that is known only from its type locality, northern Myanmar. We compared morphology and mitochondrial DNA sequence data from ten recently collected adult male specimens from the upper Dulong River System in Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China, to the original description of A. putaoensis . Both datasets strongly supported referring the Chinese specimens to A. putaoensis , extending the known range of this species by approximately 133.7 km distance into China. Molecular phylogenetic analyses recovered A. putaoensis to be closely related to A. aniqiaoensis , A. kohimaensis , A. monticola , and A. adicola . We use the newly collected Chinese specimens to expand the morphological description of the species.
... T he large radiation of Asian torrent or waterfall frogs, genus Amolops Cope, 1865 currently contains 72 valid species Wu et al., 2020;Jiang et al., 2021;Patel et al., 2021;Zeng et al., 2021;Zhang et al., 2021; Table 1) distributed throughout the hilly regions of mainland south-east Asia, much of southern and eastern China and along the southern Himalayas as far west as northern India (Dubois, 1974;Ray, 1999;Anders, 2002;Orlov et al., 2002;Wogan et al., 2008;Biju et al., 2010;Fei et al., 2012;IUCN Bangladesh, 2015;Chan et al., 2018;. Recent molecular phylogenetic analysis has identified eight distinct evolutionary radiations now treated as species groups, of which the marmoratus, monticola and viridimaculatus groups are represented in the southern Himalayas where they are broadly sympatric (Wu et al., 2020). ...
... Nonetheless, there has been a flood of new species descriptions in recent years from the region (e.g. Zhao et al., 2005;Qi et al., 2019;Che et al., 2020;Khatiwada et al., 2020;Patel et al., 2021). ...
... The southern Himalayan marmoratus and monticola groups require a more comprehensive taxonomic review which is beyond the scope of this current paper (see Patel et al., 2021 for progress on the monticola group), thus we refrain from further discussions on the identifications of the two Bhutan species sampled herein from these groups. The holotype of A. gerbillus is a juvenile, and no additional specimens representing the marmoratus group were available for us to study from the vicinity of the type locality, preventing us from morphologically comparing the Bhutan population with A. gerbillus s.s. ...
Seven species of the Asian torrent frogs (genus Amolops) have previously been reported from the eastern Himalayan country of
Bhutan. Species identifications from the region have been largely based on photographed animals with few voucher specimens
available and no molecular sampling. Understanding the taxonomic status of Bhutan’s torrent frogs has also been hampered by
the poorly understood distributional limits of species from surrounding regions. Herein we utilised molecular phylogenetic and
morphological data for vouchered specimens from Bhutan and provide a complete literature review of all Amolops populations
reported from the country. Phylogenetic relationships were estimated by combining available sequence data (from GenBank)
with newly generated sequences from recently collected Bhutanese Amolops populations. We also obtained archival DNA
sequences from the type specimens of Amolops formosus, A. himalayanus, and A. kaulbacki, collected between 82 and 151
years ago. Our comparative analyses revealed a large, new (to science) species of the Amolops viridimaculatus group from
eastern Bhutan. Morphological examinations of related taxa revealed that A. senchalensis from India is not a synonym of A.
marmoratus. Molecular phylogenetic results supplemented by morphological data unambiguously demonstrate i) that A.
himalayanus is present in eastern Nepal, ii) the presence of a previously undocumented population of A. nepalicus in eastern
Nepal, iii) a 200 km range extention for A. kaulbacki into Yunnan, China, iv) that A. gyirongensis should be considered a junior
subjective synonym of A. formosus, and v) that A. splendissimus from Vietnam should be considered a junior subjective
synonym of A. viridimaculatus. Based on our results, we expand the Amolops viridimaculatus group to include nine species,
including A. formosus, A. himalayanus, A. kaulbacki, and the new species described herein. We provisionally include a further
three species in the viridimaculatus group based on morphology, A. longimanus, A. nidorbellus, and A. senchalensis. Combining
our data with the literature review allowed us to identify several unidentified Amolops species from recent phylogenetic studies
and remove nine frog species (including Hyla, Sylvirana, and seven Amolops species) from Bhutan’s amphibian checklist. We
recognise four species of Amolops in Bhutan, three of which cannot be confidently identified to the species level based on
currently available data.
... T he large radiation of Asian torrent or waterfall frogs, genus Amolops Cope, 1865 currently contains 72 valid species Wu et al., 2020;Jiang et al., 2021;Patel et al., 2021;Zeng et al., 2021;Zhang et al., 2021; Table 1) distributed throughout the hilly regions of mainland south-east Asia, much of southern and eastern China and along the southern Himalayas as far west as northern India (Dubois, 1974;Ray, 1999;Anders, 2002;Orlov et al., 2002;Wogan et al., 2008;Biju et al., 2010;Fei et al., 2012;IUCN Bangladesh, 2015;Chan et al., 2018;. Recent molecular phylogenetic analysis has identified eight distinct evolutionary radiations now treated as species groups, of which the marmoratus, monticola and viridimaculatus groups are represented in the southern Himalayas where they are broadly sympatric (Wu et al., 2020). ...
... Nonetheless, there has been a flood of new species descriptions in recent years from the region (e.g. Zhao et al., 2005;Qi et al., 2019;Che et al., 2020;Khatiwada et al., 2020;Patel et al., 2021). ...
... The southern Himalayan marmoratus and monticola groups require a more comprehensive taxonomic review which is beyond the scope of this current paper (see Patel et al., 2021 for progress on the monticola group), thus we refrain from further discussions on the identifications of the two Bhutan species sampled herein from these groups. The holotype of A. gerbillus is a juvenile, and no additional specimens representing the marmoratus group were available for us to study from the vicinity of the type locality, preventing us from morphologically comparing the Bhutan population with A. gerbillus s.s. ...
This article talks about the Amolops species in Bhutan and also describes new to science species from Bhutan.
... The benefits of molecular data, particularly in aiding rapid resolution of long-standing taxonomic confusions, are shown by many recent amphibian studies (e.g., Zimkus and Schick 2010; Bellati et al. 2018;Brown et al. 2017;Garg et al. 2018;Mahony et al. 2020;Scherz et al. 2020;Bisht et al. 2021;Patel et al. 2021). The integration of such approaches in taxonomy can have significant implications on the known diversity, distribution patterns, as well as conservation requirements. ...
Since the description of Charles Darwin’s frog as Rana charlesdarwini in 1998, its generic placement has been a taxonomic enigma. Subsequent studies first transferred this species to the dicroglossid genus Limnonectes , and then considered it as a ceratobatrachid of the genus Ingerana , which has since been moved to the family Dicroglossidae. However, recent works have doubted this generic placement and also suggested the possibility of its sister relationship with the genus Liurana , within Ceratobatrachidae. Nonetheless, there have been no detailed investigations to ascertain the generic placement of this taxon by confirming its phylogenetic position or using integrative taxonomic approaches. Here, we provide the first molecular assessment of Ingerana charlesdarwini based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA and reveal that it is nested in the dicroglossid genus Minervarya . A member of the Minervarya andamanensis species group, Minervarya charlesdarwini comb. nov. is sister taxon to M. andamanensis and shows relatively shallow genetic distances (2.8–3.6%) in the 16S gene. Both species are widely distributed, occur sympatrically, and exhibit high morphological variations, leading to long-standing confusions with other dicroglossid frogs reported from the region. Our combined morphological and molecular studies on dicroglossid frogs sampled across the known ranges of these species suggest that reports of Limnonectes doriae (Boulenger, 1887) and L. hascheanus (Stoliczka, 1870) from the Andamans are misidentifications of the former two, pointing to the absence of genus Limnonectes from the Andaman Islands. Our study also reveals the novel record of Minervarya agricola from the Andamans, a species that appears to have been confused with Fejervarya limnocharis and Minervarya keralensis in the literature and misidentified museum specimens, and is found to be widely distributed across these islands. We further find another congener from the Nicobar group of Islands, M. nicobariensis , to be closely related to M. charlesdarwini . Similar to the case of Andaman dicroglossids, our work emphasises on the need for further studies to ascertain the taxonomic identities and generic placement of Minervarya and Limnonectes species reported from the Nicobars.
... available in GenBank and aligned them manually in MEGA XI using the MUSCLE algorithm (Edgar 2004). Sequence names (Appendix 1) follow Jiang et al. (2021) and Patel et al. (2021). We performed maximum-likelihood phylogenetic estimation in RAxML 2.0.0 (Stamatakis et al. 2007;Silvestro and Michalak 2012) under GTR+GAMMA+I model with 1,000 thorough bootstrap replicates. ...
... Also, our A. aniqiaoensis samples (MT636754 and MT636755) from Siyum, Arunachal Pradesh, India, were clustered with A. aniqiaoensis from earlier studies. Finally, our A. adicola sample (OK138593) from Siyum was genetically identical with the A. adicola sample reported by Patel et al. (2021). ...
... Amolops adicola Patel, Garg, Das, Stuart, and Biju 2021 ( Bodies robust; heads almost as long as wide; snouts rounded and longer than diameter of the eyes; nostrils slightly closer to the snouts than to the eyes; interorbital distance almost equal to the length of the upper eyelids, but less than internarial distance; tongues large and cordate shaped; vomerine teeth present; tympana distinct and round, separated from the eyes by a distance equal to the diameter of the tympana; fingers free, tips ending in discs bearing circummarginal grooves; subarticular tubercles prominent; relative finger lengths I<II<IV<III; tibiae longer than femura and more than half of SVL; toes fully webbed and ending in discs with circummarginal grooves; inner metatarsal tubercles elongated, outers absent; tibiotarsal articulations reaching beyond the snout; dorsolateral folds present; skin smooth. The preserved specimens are grayish-brown dorsally, creamy white ventrally; sides of heads are darker but additional markings are not evident in the preserved specimens. ...
The torrent-dwelling frog genus Amolops is represented by 13 species in India, including type localities for 11 species. Based on recent field surveys and subsequent phylogenetic studies of specimens collected, we confirm the presence of A. aniqiaoensis Dong, Rao, and Lü 2005, which was described from Aniqiao, Xizang, China, in India. We also report a range extension of a recently described species, A. adicola Patel, Garg, Das, Stuart, and Biju 2021, with a further note on A. indoburmanensis Dever, Fuiten, Konu, and Wilkinson 2012.
