Odorrana arunachalensis Saikia, Sinha, and Kharkongor, 2017

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Odorrana > Species: Odorrana arunachalensis

Odorrana arunachalensis Saikia, Sinha, and Kharkongor, 2017, J. Bioresources, India, 4: 32. Holotype: Holotype: V/A/NERC/ZSI-Shillong/1296, by original designation. Type locality: "outskirts of Ziro, ca 10 km on the way to Tamen in Lower Subansiri district, Arunachal Pradesh, India". 

Nanorana arunachalensis Qi, Zhou, Lu, Li, Qin, Hou, Zhang, Ma, and Li, 2019, Russ. J. Herpetol., 26: 172.  

English Names

Arunachal Cascade Frog (original publication). 

Arnold's Hill Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 4 (as Nanorana arunachalensis). 

Distribution

Currently known only from mixed wet tropical forest along torrential streams in Lower Subansiri District (Tamen Road and Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary), in Arunachal Pradesh, India (in region disputed with China); controversially reported from northeastern Bhutan (see comment). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Likely/Controversially Present: Bhutan, China, People's Republic of

Endemic: India

Comment

 Qi, Zhou, Lu, Li, Qin, Hou, Zhang, Ma, and Li, 2019, Russ. J. Herpetol., 26: 159–174, discussed the morphology of this taxon, resulting in its reassignment to Nanorana. Hofmann, Schmidt, Masroor, Borkin, Litvinchuk, Rödder, Vershinin, and Jablonski, 2023, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 198: 319, on the basis of mtDNA markers, rejected placement in Nanorana and replaced the species in Odorrana. Wangyal, Norbu, Ghalley, and Shacha, 2023, Herpetol. Notes, 16: 569–572, provided a record (as Nanorana arunachalensis; photo only) from western Trashiyangtse District, east-northeastern Bhutan. This Bhutan record is suspect, however, given that the extension is based solely on a photograph, which S. Hofmann (personal commun. 4 Sept 2023) suggests might be that of Nanorana liebigii. So, minimally, the fact of a Bhutan registry for Odorrana arunachalensis remains questionable until vouchers and DNA samples are in hand and analyzed (DRF).

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.