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Megophrys Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Megophryidae > Genus: Megophrys

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Megophrys — Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822, Isis von Oken, 10: 475. Incorrect subsequent spelling but protected as prevailing usage by Art. 33.3.1 of ICZN, 1999, Internatl. Code Zool. Nomencl., Ed. 4.

Mogophrys Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822, Algemeene Konst-en Letter-Bode, 7: 104. Type species: Mogophrys montana Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822, by monotypy. See comment.

Megalophrys — Wagler, 1830, Nat. Syst. Amph.: 204. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Megophrys Kuhl and van Hasselt, 1822.

Ceratophryne Schlegel, 1858, Handl. Dierkd., 2: 56. Type species: Ceratophryne nasuta Schlegel, 1858, by subsequent designation of Gorham, 1966, Das Tierreich, 85: 15. See discussion by Dubois, 1980, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 49: 472. Synonymy by Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 223.

Pelobatrachus Beddard, 1908 "1907", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1907: 909. Type species: Ceratophryne nasuta Schlegel, 1858, by monotypy.

English Names

Asian Spadefoot Toads (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 86).

Distribution

Peninsular Thailand to islands of the Sunda Shelf and Philippines.

Comment

See comment under Megophryinae. See comment under Megophrys montana. Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 23, and Dubois and Ohler, 1998, Dumerilia, 4: 13-14, recognized four subgenera: Megophrys, Xenophrys, Brachytarsophrys and Atympanophrys. At least Brachytarsophrys and Atympanophrys are routinely treated as genera by Chinese authors, although this renders "Megophrys" (sensu lato) paraphyletic. Further, Rao and Yang, 1997, Asiat. Herpetol. Res., 7: 98-99, treated Panophrys as a genus; the oldest name for this taxon is Xenophrys, not Panophrys. In this catalogue generic versus subgeneric controversies that are not based on phylonetic controversies are arbitrarily resolved as genera. See comment under Ophryophryne. Malkmus, Manthey, Vogel, Hoffmann, and Kosuch, 2002, Amph. Rept. Mount Kinabalu: 106, provided a key to Megophrys (including Xenophrys) of Borneo. The original spelling of the generic name is clearly Mogophrys, not Megophrys. Nevertheless, the current Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999), Art. 33.3.1, preserves the "prevailing usage", which is certainly "Megophrys". Li and Wang, 2008, Acta Zootaxon. Sinica, 33: 104-106, reviewed the species of China and concurred with the generic separation of Megophrys and Xenophrys. But, see comment under Megophryidae. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583, in their study of Genbank sequences, noted the paraphyly of Xenophrys with respect to this taxon, with such species as Xenophrys baluensis and being more closely related to Megophrys than to other species of Xenophrys.

Contained taxa

  • Megophrys kobayashii Malkmus and Matsui, 1997
  • Megophrys ligayae Taylor, 1920
  • Megophrys montana Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822
  • Megophrys nasuta (Schlegel, 1858)
  • Megophrys stejnegeri Taylor, 1920

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