Fejervarya limnocharis (Gravenhorst, 1829)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Dicroglossidae > Subfamily: Dicroglossinae > Genus: Fejervarya > Species: Fejervarya limnocharis

Rana limnocharis Gravenhorst, 1829, Delic. Mus. Zool. Vratislav., 1: 42. Type(s): Not stated, but formerly in the Breslau Museum (= MNHHWU?), now lost according to Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 27, who redescribed and nominated RMNH 4287 as neotype, this specimen being part of the original collection as the former types; this neotype designation confirmed by Veith, Kosuch, Ohler, and Dubois, 2001, Alytes, 19: 7. Type locality: not stated explicitly, but from context clearly Java, Indonesia. See Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 15–50, for nomenclatural discussion surrounding the authorship of this name.

Rana limnocharis Wiegmann, 1834, Nova Acta Phys. Med. Acad. Caesar Leopold Carol., Halle, 17: 225. Syntypes: ZMB (2 specimens), now lost, according to Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 28, and who designated RMNH 4287 neotype. Type locality: Not stated, but from context clearly Java, Indonesia. See Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 15–50, for nomenclatural discussion surround the authorship of this name and nomination of the neotype which is apparently part of the same collection as the original lost syntypes.

Rana lymnocharisStoliczka, 1872, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1872: 102. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Rana (Fejervarya) limnocharisBolkay, 1915, Anat. Anz., 48: 178; Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 148.

Rana wasl Annandale, 1917, Mem. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 6: 131. Holotype: ZSIC 17282 according to Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 33. Type locality: "Kuching, Sarawak", (Borneo) Indonesia. Synonymy by Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 167; Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 1–402; and Chanda, Das, and Dubois, 2001 "2000", Hamadryad, 25: 111, although Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 156, noted that because several species were covered under the binominal Rana limnocharis, that this name probably applied to one of the species in Borneo. Considered a synonym of Rana limnocharis Gravenhorst by Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 35.

Rana (Rana) limnocharisBoulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 6; Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 167.

Rana gracilisBourret, 1927, Fauna Indochine, Vert., 3: 264.

Rana limnocharis limnocharisMertens, 1930, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 42: 214.

Dicroglossus limnocharisDeckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 138.

Rana (Rana) limnocharisNakamura and Ueno, 1963, Japan. Rept. Amph. Color: 49. Presumably not based on true Fejervarya limnocharis (DRF).

Rana (Dicroglossus) limnocharis limnocharisDubois, 1974, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 213: 341–411.

Rana (Euphlyctis) limnocharisDubois, 1980 "1978", C. R. Séances Soc. Biogeogr., 55: 178.

Rana (Euphlyctis) limnocharisDubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 239, by implication.

Rana (Fejervarya) limnocharisDubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 148.

Euphlyctis limnocharisPoynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 124, by implication; Fei, Ye, and Huang, 1990, Key to Chinese Amph.: 143–144.

Limnonectes (Fejervarya) limnocharisDubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 61.

Fejervarya limnocharisIskandar, 1998, Amph. Java Bali: 71, by implication; Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 182; Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 35.

Fejervarya waslFei, Ye, Jiang, and Xie, 2002, Herpetol. Sinica, 9: 92.

English Names

Indian Cricket Frog (Minton, 1966, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 134: 55).

Boie's Wart Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 100).

Grass Frog (Lim and Lim, 1992, Guide Amph. Rept. Singapore: 33; Iskandar, 1998, Amph. Java Bali: 72).

Field Frog (Lim and Lim, 1992, Guide Amph. Rept. Singapore: 33).

Rice Frog (Liu, 1931, Peking Nat. Hist. Bull., 5: 53; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 47).

Paddy Frog (McKay, 2006, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Bali: 39).

Cricket Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 207; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 47).

Terrestrial Frog (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 182).

White-lined Frog (Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 112).

Rice Field Frog (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 110; Lue, Tu, and Hsiang, 1999, Atlas Taiwan Amph. Rept.: 72, neither citation likely referring to true Fejervarya limnocharis [DRF]).

Paddyfield Frog (Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 207).

Asian Rice Frog (Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 22). 

Common Asian Grassfrog (Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 17).

Field Frog (Figueroa, Low, and Lim, 2023, Zootaxa, 5287: 30). 

Indonesian Rice Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 3). 

Distribution

Highly provisional, generously construed to range from northern and central groups of Nicobar Islands (India), Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand south of the Isthmus of Kra, Cambodia, and Vietnam north to (presumably artificially) to the Chinese border (but not recorded within that country). Reports from areas outside of this region almost assuredly apply to other species.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Malaysia, East (Sarawak and/or Sabah), Malaysia, West (Peninsular), Myanmar, Thailand

Likely/Controversially Present: Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Singapore, Vietnam

Introduced: Guam

Comment

At one time or another almost all populations of Fejervarya (excluding Fejervarya cancrivora and relatives) were construed to be of this species. Nowadays, except for the type population on Java, the name represents populations that have not been assigned to more well-delimited species and there is no evidence that the name covers any wide-ranging species, just a lot of populations of uncertain relationship to each other or to other named populations, although the synonymy of this nominal taxon does not currently reflect this. Nevertheless, the bulk of the literature for the inclusive grouping is mentioned here for want of an available species taxonomy (DRF).

Southeastern Asia distribution discussed by Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 249–255, although the assignment to Rana limnocharis is, of course, not helpful. Taylor, 1962, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 43: 380–383, provided an account for populations (identification not genetically confirmed) then assigned to this name from Thailand. Borneo population reviewed by Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 205–206 although identification is now suspect. Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 143–159, recognized populations of former Rana limnocharis from the Andaman Islands as Rana andamanensis, from the Philippines as Rana vittigera, and the Nilgiris region of southern India as Rana nilagirica; all of these are now recognized in the genus Fejervarya; see Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 61. S.C. Anderson in Dutta, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 500, regarded Afghanistan records as in error. See account (identification not genetically confirmed) by Berry, 1975, Amph. Fauna Peninsular Malaysia: 73–74. See brief account and photo by Manthey and Grossmann, 1997, Amph. Rept. Südostasiens: 97–98, although the concept of the species at the time is strongly at variance with what it is currently. Toda, Matsui, Nishida, and Ota, 1998, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 15: 607–613, reported on sympatric cryptic species under this name from Java and noted the strong possibility of additional cryptic species in Southeast Asia. Iskandar, 1998, Amph. Java Bali: 72–73, provided a brief account (identifications not genetically confirmed) for the population of Java and Bali. Mohanty and Dutta, 1999, Russ. J. Herpetol., 6: 33–44 (identification not genetically confirmed), and Sarkar and Ray, 2006, In Alfred (ed.), Fauna of Arunachal Pradesh, Part 1: 299–300, discussed  (identification not genetically confirmed) Indian populations but these are, for the most part, assignable to other species. Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 15–50, discussed the status of authorship. types, and nomenclature. Veith, Kosuch, Ohler, and Dubois, 2001, Alytes, 19: 5–28, reported on morphological variation in the Greater Sunda Islands (see Fejervarya iskandari), although the identifications were not genetically confirmed. Kuramoto and Joshy, 2001, Curr. Herpetol., Kyoto, 20: 85–95, reported (identification not genetically confirmed) on the advertisement call for southwestern India. Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 112, provided a brief characterization (as Rana limnocharis, although these identifications require genetic verification) and photograph. Chakravorty, Borah, and Bordoloi, 2002, Bull. Life Sci., India, 10: 47–54, described larval morphology (identification not genetically confirmed) at Gosner stage 38 from a population in Assam, India. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 122–125, provided a brief account (as nominal Rana limnocharis, but not genetically confirmed) for the Indian population. Malkmus, Manthey, Vogel, Hoffmann, and Kosuch, 2002, Amph. Rept. Mount Kinabalu: 135–136, provided an account (identification not genetically confirmed) for Borneo. Reported (identification not genetically confirmed) for southwestern Cambodia by Ohler, Swan, and Daltry, 2002, Raffles Bull. Zool., 50: 465–481. Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 110–111, provided a very brief account (identification not genetically confirmed), map for Thailand, and photograph. Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 207–210, provided an account for southern India (as Limnonectes limnocharis), although these identifications are not genetically confirmed. Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 148, provided a photograph for Vietnam (identification not genetically confirmed). McKay, 2006, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Bali: 39, provided a brief account (identification not genetically confirmed) and photograph. Khan, 2006, Amph. Rept. Pakistan: 58–59, provided an account for Pakistan populations that are no longer associated with Fejervarya limnocharisDas, 2007, Amph. Rept. Brunei: 47, provided a photograph and brief account (identification not genetically confirmed) for Brunei. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted several larval descriptions of varying levels of completeness and of varying taxonomic confidence in the literature. Christy, Clark, Gee, Vice, Vice, Warner, Tyrrell, Rodda, and Savidge, 2007, Pacific Sci., 61: 469–483, reported specimens of Fejervarya cf. limnocharis from Guam but could not determine whether the species was established. Sumida, Kotaki, Islam, Tjong, Igawa, Kondo, Matsui, de Silva, Khonsue, and Nishioka, 2007, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 24: 547–562, provided evidence that the nominal "Fejervarya limnocharis" is composed of several species, including unnamed species from Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan, the Ryukyus, mainland Japan, and Thailand. Islam, Khan, Tjong, Alam, and Sumida, 2008, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 25: 261–272, suggested on the basis of allozyme data that at least three species previously referred to Fejervarya "limnocharis" live in Bangladesh. Neang and Holden, 2008, Field Guide Amph. Cambodia: 86, provided a photograph, brief account of identification (identification not genetically confirmed), ecology, and range in Cambodia. Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood, and Ahmad, 2010, Russ. J. Herpetol., 17: 147–160, reported localities from the Banjaran Bintang Mountains, northwestern peninsular Malaysia. Hasan, Islam, Khan, Alam, Kurabayashi, Igawa, Kuramoto, and Sumida, 2012, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 29: 162–172, discussed the possibility of cryptic species in Bangladesh (their Fejervarya sp. medium type) and Myanmar, recognized on the basis of molecular evidence. Hecht, Pham, Nguyen, Nguyen, Bonkowski, and Ziegler, 2013, Biodiversity J., 4: 507–552, reported a record (not genetically confirmed) from Tay Yen Tu Nature Reserve, Bac Giang Province, northeastern Vietnam and discussed the range. Zug, 2013, Rept. Amph. Pacific Is.: 63–65, provided a brief account and photograph for the Guam population, noted as Fejervarya "limnocharis". Sumarli, Grismer, Anuar, Muin, and Quah, 2015, Check List, 11(4, Art. 1679): 8, reported specimens (identification not genetically confirmed) from Lata Belatan, West Malaysia, and and commented on its morphology. See account (identifications not genetically confirmed), photograph, and map for Vietnam in Vassilieva, Galoyan, Poyarkov, and Geissler, 2016, Photograph. Field Guide Amph. Rept. Lowland S. Vietnam: 88–89. Pham, An, Herbst, Bonkowski, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2017, Bonn Zool. Bull., 66: 37–53, provided records (not genetically confirmed) for Cao Bang Province, Vietnam, along with observations on morphology and natural history. Haas, Kueh, Joseph, bin Asri, Das, Hagmann, Schwander, and Hertwig, 2018, Evol. Syst., 2: 89–114, provided a brief account (identifications not genetically confirmed) of morphology and natural history for the Sabah population. Köhler, Mogk, Khaing, and Than, 2019, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 69: 183–226, provided an account for specimens assigned this name from Myanmar (not genetically compared with the type locality population on Java). Makchai, Chuaynkern, Safoowong, Chuachat, and Cota, 2020, Amph. N. Thailand: 54, provided photographs (identifications not genetically confirmed), a brief account for Thailand, and a range map. Hui, Ngadi, Md-Zain, Md-Zairi, and Abdul-Latiff, 2020, Biodiversitas, 21: 2425–2429, reported the species from Pulau Tinggi, off the southeastern coast of peninsular Malaysia. Chandramouli, Ankaiah, Prasad, and Arul, 2020, Taprobanica, 9: 194–204, identified Fejervarya limnocharis (not genetically confirmed) from Nicobar Is., India, and reported on their call, adult and larval morphology, and molecular profile. They also questioned the distinctiveness of Fejervarya limnocharis from Fejervarya multistriata, noting that dense sampling has yet to occur. See brief account (under this name) for East Java by Amin, 2020, Frogs of East Java: 77–79. Yodthong, Stuart, and Aowphol, 2019, ZooKeys, 883: 119–153, included Fejervarya limnocharis in a molecular study suggesting the possibility of paraphyly with respect to Fejervarya multistriataNiyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 242–243, provided a brief account (photographs, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Pham, Do, Ngo, Tran, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2020, Check List, 16: 1025–1041, provided a record from Hai Ha District, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, on the Guangxi, China, border. Hong, Anuar, Grismer, and Quah, 2021, Check List, 17: 794, reported the species from Batu Hampar Recreational Forest, Kedah, West Malaysia. Kennedi, Kusrini, Mardiastuti, and Ariefiandy, 2021, Media Konservasi , 26: 217–230, reported the species (not genetically confirmed) on Flores and Sumbawa islands, Indonesia. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 17–18, discussed identification (not genetically confirmed), habitat, and  range in Myanmar. Haas, Das, Hertwig, Bublies, and Schulz-Schaeffer, 2022, Guide to the Tadpoles of Borneo: 258–260, summarized the knowledge of habitat, reproduction, larval morphology and coloration of nominal Fejervarya limnocharis from Borneo, although these records were not genetically confirmed. Badriah, Wahyuni, Usman, Mahrawi, Ratnasari, and Rifqiawati, 2022, Berkala Ilmiah Biologi, 13 (3): 1–8, reported specimens from Ujong Kulon National Park, extreme western Java, Indonesia. Herlambang, Riyanto, Munir, Hamidy, Kimura, Eto, and Mumpuni, 2022, Treubia, 49: 78, reported (not genetically confirmed) the species from Bunguran I., Natuna Is., Indonesia. Figueroa, Low, and Lim, 2023, Zootaxa, 5287: 1–378, provided records, literature, and conservation status for Singapore.             

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