Xenophrys zunhebotoensis Mathew and Sen, 2007

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Megophryidae > Subfamily: Megophryinae > Genus: Xenophrys > Species: Xenophrys zunhebotoensis

Xenophrys zunhebotoensis Mathew and Sen, 2007, Cobra, Chennai, 1 (2): 20. Holotype: ZSI-E 771, by original designation. Type locality: "INDIA, Nagaland, Zunheboto district, Nguti (Sukhalu), (collected from a mountain stream with rocks and boulders) (N. 25° 58′ 45.1″, E 94° 30′ 24″), Alt. 1715 msl", northeastern India.

Megophrys zunhebotoensisMahony, Sengupta, Kamei, and Biju, 2011, Zootaxa, 3059: 43.

Xenophrys zunhebotoensis — Chen, Zhou, Poyarkov, Stuart, Brown, Lathrop, Wang, Yuan, Jiang, Hou, Chen, Suwannapoom, Nguyen, Duong, Papenfuss, Murphy, Zhang, and Che, 2017, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 106: 41; Lyu, Zeng, Wang, Liu, Huang, Li, and Wang, 2021, Zootaxa, 4927: 40.

Megophrys (Xenophrys) zunhebotoensis — Mahony, Foley, Biju, and Teeling, 2017, Mol. Biol. Evol., 34: 756. 

English Names

Zunheboto Horned Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 45; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 6).

Zunheboto's Horned Toad (Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 61).

Distribution

Northeastern India in Nagaland (Zunheboto District in the north, numerous localities in Kohima district in the south) and western Manipur (Churachandpur District), and two localities in Mizoram (Sailam Village and Hmuifang Village), 810 to 1820 m elevation. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

Most similar to Megophrys serchhipii and Megophrys wuliangshanensis according to the original publication. Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 61, provided a brief characterization and photographs. Mahony, Sengupta, Kamei, and Biju, 2011, Zootaxa, 3059: 43, commented on the insufficiencies of the original publication and diagnosis. Kharkongor, Saikia, and Deb, 2018, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, 118: 46, provided a record from Meghalaya, India. Mahony, Kamei, Teeling, and Biju, 2020, J. Nat. Hist., London, 54: 119–194, provided a detailed account, rejected the Meghalaya records as likely referable to some member of the Megophrys major species group, discussed misidentifications, greatly expanded the known range, and placed this in their Megophrys (Xenophrys) megacephala species group. Lalronunga, Malsawmdawngliana, Sailo, Vanlalvuana, and Lalhmingliani, 2021, Reptiles & Amphibians, 28: 280–284, discussed previous misidentifications from Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh and provided a genetically-confirmed locality from Hmuifang Community Forest Reserve (Hmuifang Village) and from the Sailam Community Forest Reserve at Sailam Village, Mizoram, India. In the Xenophrys megacephala group of Lyu, Qi, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, Zeng, Wan, Yang, Mo, and Wang, 2023, Zool. Res., Kunming, 44: 380–450 

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