Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference

Rana shqiperica Hotz, Uzzell, Günther, Tunner, and Heppich, 1987, Not. Nat., Philadelphia, 468: 2. Holotype: ANSP 30211, by original designation. Type locality: "Virpazar, Skadarsko Jezero, Crna Gora, Yugoslavia [now Montenegro] (42°14′N, 19°05′E)".

Rana (Pelophylax) shqiperica — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 332.

Hylarana shqiperica — Chen, Murphy, Lathrop, Ngo, Orlov, Ho, and Somorjai, 2005, Herpetol. J., 15: 237. by implication.

Pelophylax shqipericus — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 369. Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 1-13; by implication.

English Names

Virpazar Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 109).

Balkan Frog (Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 59; Günther, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 156.

Albanian Pool Frog (Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 95).

Distribution

Region of the type locality in southern Montenegro south along the Adriatic coastal region to southwestern Albania, below 500 m elevation.

Comment

Formerly often confused with "Pelophylax esculentus". See Pelophylax bergeri. Considered distinct (as Rana) from Pelophylax lessonae on the basis of morphometry, immunology, and allozymes, but considered conspecific by Schneider and Haxhiu, 1994, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 121: 248-262, and Sinsch and Schneider, 1996, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 34: 63-73, because of the lack of significant differences between mating calls. This synonymy rejected by Beerli, unpublished dissertation, and Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 178, and Plötner, 1998, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 36: 191-201, and Plötner and Ohst, 2001, Mitt. Mus. Naturkd. Berlin, Zool., 77: 5-21 (who suggested that this species was most closely related to Pelophylax lessonae and Pelophylax bergeri). Günther, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 156-157, discussed relevant literature, distribution, and taxonomic controversy. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 361-363, provided an account and polygon map. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 95, provided a brief account, figure, and map. Casola, Marracci, Bucci, Ragghianti, Mancino, Hotz, Uzzell, and Guex, 2004, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 42: 234-244, provided a molecular tree of western Palearctic water frogs (as Rana) in the topology Pelophylax saharicus (Pelophylax cretensis (Pelophylax perezi (Pelophylax shqipericus (Pelophylax epeiroticus (Pelophylax lessonae + Pelophylax ridibundus))))). See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status (as Rana shqiperica) in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 511.

External Links

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.

• For additional sources of information from other sites search Google
• For images search Arkive, CalPhoto Images and Google Images
• To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
• For information aggregation from other sites and some original accounts see AmphibiaWeb report
• For further information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observation see iNaturalist;
• for a quick link to their maps see iNaturalist KML