Sphaerotheca rolandae (Dubois, 1983)

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Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
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Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
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Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Dicroglossidae > Subfamily: Dicroglossinae > Genus: Sphaerotheca > Species: Sphaerotheca rolandae

Rana (Tomopterna) breviceps rolandae Dubois, 1983, Alytes, 2: 166. Holotype: BMNH 1973.3024, by original designation. Type locality: "Kurunegala, Sri Lanka, altitude 60 m, latitude 7° 29′ N, longitude 80° 22′ E".

Tomopterna (Sphaerotheca) rolandae — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 57.

Sphaerotheca rolandae — Dubois, 1999, J. South Asian Nat. Hist., 4: 8. : 232; Vences, Glaw, Kosuch, Das, and Veith, 2000, Lourenço and Goodman (eds.), Diversité et Endéémisme à Madagascar: 232.

English Names

Sri Lanka Bullfrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 110).

Roland's Burrowing Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 66; Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 246).

Rolanda's Burrowing Frog (Schleich, Anders, and Kästle, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 80).

Southern Burrowing Frog (Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 246).

Marble Sand Frog (de Silva, 2009, Amph. Rep. Sri Lanka Photograph. Guide: 76).

Distribution

Sri Lanka; status of populations in India and southeastern Nepal (Jhapa District) is controversial (see comment).

Comment

Elevated from a subspecies of Tomopterna breviceps by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 57. See account by Dutta and Manamendra-Arachchi, 1996, Amph. Fauna Sri Lanka: 133-139, who noted that the original description was based on a mixed sample of Tomopterna breviceps and Tomopterna rolandae. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 200, provided a brief account (as Tomopterna rolandae) for animals referred to this taxon from southern and eastern India as well as Sri Lanka. Anders, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 310-313, provided an account, figure, and map for the population in Nepal they regarded as of this taxon. Dubois, 2004, Alytes, 21: 176, questioned that status of this species in Nepal. Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 170-171, provided a range, systematic comments, and partial taxonomic bibliography. Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 246-248, provided an account. Srinivasulu and Das, 2008, Asiat. Herpetol. Res., 11: 110-131, reported the species in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 36, accepted the Indian records. de Silva, 2009, Amph. Rep. Sri Lanka Photograph. Guide: 76, provided a brief account and color photograph for Sri Lanka. See Shah and Tiwari, 2004, Herpetofauna Nepal: 75, for brief account.

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