Polypedates megacephalus Hallowell, 1861
Polypedates megacephalus Hallowell, 1861 "1860", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 12: 507. Holotype: Presumably ANSP or USNM but likely now lost. Type locality: "Hong-Kong, China".
Polypedates maculatus var. unicolor Müller, 1878, Verh. Naturforsch. Ges. Basel, 6: 585. Types: NHMB. Type locality: "China". Nomen nudum. Synonymy by Stejneger, 1925, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 66: 30; Zhao and Adler, 1993, Herpetol. China: 156.
Rhacophorus leucomystax megacephalus — Stejneger, 1925, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 66: 30. Pope, 1931, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 61: 574; Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 308.
Polypedates megacephalus — Matsui, Seto, and Utsunomiya, 1986, J. Herpetol., 20: 483-489.
Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) leucomystax megacephalus — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 81.
English Names
Hong Kong Whipping Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 113; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 66).
Spot-legged Treefrog (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 272; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 66).
Hour-glass-marked Treefrog (Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 106).
Distribution
Subtropical and tropical China (excluding Taiwan), Hainan, and as far west as eastern (Medog), Xizang, China and Nagaland and Meghalaya, northeastern India; northern Vietnam; Thailand; presumably also in adjacent Myanmar and Laos; introduced on Okinawa I., Japan, and Guam (see comments under Polypedates baueri and below).
Comment
Resurrected from the synonymy of Rhacophorus leucomystax by Matsui, Seto, and Utsunomiya, 1986, J. Herpetol., 20: 483-489. Discussed (as Rhacophorus leucomystax megacephalus) by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 81. This resurrection apparently not noted by Brown and Alcala, 1994, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 48: 203. See comments by Inger, Orlov, and Darevsky, 1999, Fieldiana, Zool., N.S.,, 92: 25-26, who discussed the problem of diagnosis and identification of sympatric nominal Rhacophorus leucomystax and Rhacophorus megacephalus in Vietnam. Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 272-274, provided a brief account, figure, and map for the Chinese range. See Orlov, Lathrop, Murphy, and Ho, 2001, Russ. J. Herpetol., 8: 36, for brief account of Vietnam population. Fei and Ye, 2001, Color Handbook Amph. Sichuan: 211, provided a brief account and illustration (as Rhacophorus megacephalus). Orlov, Murphy, Ananjeva, Ryabov, and Ho, 2002, Russ. J. Herpetol., 9: 96, commented on the distribution. See also brief account by Zhao and Yang, 1997, Amph. Rept. Hengduan Mountains Region: 123-124. Song, Jang, Zou, and Shi, 2002, Herpetol. Sinica, 9: 71, reported this species from Hainan, China. Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 36, provided specific localities for Vietnam. Zhao, Rao, Lü, and Dong, 2005, Sichuan J. Zool., 24: 252, provided a brief note on specimens from Medog County, eastern Xizang, China. Ao, Bordoloi, and Ohler, 2003, Zoos' Print J., 18: 1117-1125, provided a specific locality for Nagaland, northeastern India. Li, Che, Bain, Zhao, and Zhang, 2008, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 48: 302-312,and suggested on the basis of molecular evidence that at least two species in mainland China exist under this one name. Yu, Rao, Yang, and Zhang, 2008, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 153: 733-749, refined this to show that nominal Rhacophorus leucomystax is more than one species and nominal Rhacophorus megacephalus is more than one species. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 2: 753-760, provided an account and a spot map for China. Sen and Mathew, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 285: 128, provided a record for Nagaland, northeastern India. Christy, Clark, Gee, Vice, Vice, Warner, Tyrrell, Rodda, and Savidge, 2007, Pacific Sci., 61: 469-483, reported reproducing populations on Guam (see comment under Polypedates braueri). Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 106, provided a brief characterization and a photograph. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 446-447, provided a brief account for China including photographs of specimens and habitat. Lu, Pang, Yang, and Zhang, 2010, Asian Herpetol. Res., Ser. 2, 1: 86-89, suggested on the basis of mtDNA evidence that color pattern was insufficient to separate Polypedates megacephalus and Polypedates leucomystax and that populations in southern Yunnan share mtDNA characteristics with Polypedates leucomystax rather than Polypedates megacephalus. Shi, 2011, Amph. Rept. Fauna Hainan: 69-72, provided an account for Hainan. Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 66-68, provided an account for Xizang, China.
External Links
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- 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
