Raorchestes tinniens (Jerdon, 1853)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Rhacophoridae > Subfamily: Rhacophorinae > Genus: Raorchestes > Species: Raorchestes tinniens

Phyllomedusa ? tinniens Jerdon, 1853, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 22: 533. Holotype: Not stated, presumably originally ZSIC; reported as lost by Jerdon, 1870, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1870: 67, and considered lost by Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 15, who designated as neotype MNHNP 1985.0527 and described it on page 64–66. BMNH specimens of "Phyllomedusa tinniens" purchased from Jerdon should be evaluated as to possible primary type status—DRF. Type locality: South India; by implication. Neotype from "South-East of the Ooty Lake, Udhagamangalam ('Ootacamund', 'Ooty') (11° 24′ N, 76° 42′ E), Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India".

Ixalus tinniensJerdon, 1870, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1870: 85.

Ixalus punctatus Anderson, 1871, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 40: 27. Holotype: In ZSIC according to the original publication; ZSIC 2709 is holotype according to Sclater, 1892, List Batr. Indian Mus.: 21; lost according to Chanda, Das, and Dubois, 2001 "2000", Hamadryad, 25: 111, and Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 23, who designated MNHNP 1985.527 as neotype. Type locality: "Nilgiris", India. Neotype from "South-East of the Ooty Lake, Udhagamangalam ('Ootacamund', 'Ooty') (11° 24′ N, 76° 42′ E), Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu India". Synonymy by Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 23.

Ixalus montanus Günther, 1876 "1875", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875: 574. Syntypes: BMNH, including BMNH 1947.2.6.13–15 (formerly 1872.4.14.303–305) according to Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 26, who designated (p. 25) and described (pp. 70–72) BMNH 1947.2.6.14 as lectotype. Type locality: "Kudra Mukh at an elevation of 6000 feet", India. Synonymy with Ixalus glandulosus by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 103. Synonymy with Phyllomedusa tinniens by Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 26.

Philautus punctatusBoulenger, 1890, Fauna Brit. India, Rept. Batr.: 104.

Philautus melanensis Rao, 1937, Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., Ser. B, 6: 411. Holotype: CCB; now lost according to Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 157. Type locality: "Kempholey, Hassan", Karnataka, India. Synonymy by Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 50.

Philautus (Philautus) tinniens — Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 15.

Pseudophilautus tinniensLi, Che, Murphy, Zhao, Zhao, Rao, and Zhang, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 53: 519. Provisional arrangement and by implication.

Raorchestes tinniensBiju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010, Curr. Sci., Bangalore, 98: 1120, by implication.

English Names

Rao's Bubble-nest Frog (Philautus melanensis [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 112).

Black Bush Frog (Philautus melanensis [no longer recognized]: Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 66).

Spotted Bush Frog (Philautus punctatus [no longer recognized]: Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 164).

Spotted Bush Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 110).

Tinkling Nilgiri Bush Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 14).

Distribution

Nilgiri Hills (Avalanche, Coonoor, Kothagiri, Naduvattam, Parsons Valley, and Udhagamandalam), Tamil Nadu, South India, 1700-2000 m elevation, extending into adjacent Kerala (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

Removed from the synonymy of Ixalus glandulosus by Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 15, where it had been placed tentatively by Günther, 1876 "1875", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875: 573, and more formally by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 103. Brief accounts provided by Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 162 (as Philautus melanensis), page 164–167, 217–220 (as Philautus punctatus). See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 535. Biju and Bossuyt, 2009, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 155: 434–436, provided an account, distribution map, and discussed relationships. A brief characterization, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 158. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 54–55, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India, including an imprecise record for the state. Leona Princy and Kannan, 2018, Alytes, 35: 68–74, reported on the direct development of eggs to froglets. 

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.