Amolops himalayanus (Boulenger, 1888)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Amolops > Species: Amolops himalayanus

Rana himalayana Boulenger, 1888, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 2: 507. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.3.83–84 and 1947.2.27.95–96, according to Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 69. Type locality: "Darjeeling", India.

Rana (Hylorana) himalayanaBoulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 219.

Staurois himalayanusBourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 381.

Amolops himalayanusInger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 256, by implication.

Amolops formosus himalayanusDubois, 1974, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 213: 357.

Amolops himalayanusYang, 1991, Fieldiana, Zool., N.S., 63: 12.

English Names

Himalaya Sucker Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 97; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 69).

Himalaya Cascade Frog (Schleich, Anders, and Kästle, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 79).

Himalayan Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 114).

Himalayan Cascade Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 10).

Distribution

Northeastern India (Sikkim and Darjeeling region of West Bengal), eastern Nepal (Province 1: Ilam District).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India, Nepal

Comment

Removed from subspecies status under Amolops formosus, where it had been placed by Dubois, 1974, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 213: 357, by Yang, 1991, Fieldiana, Zool., N.S., 63: 12. Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 340, maintained this synonymy without addressing the diagnostic differences noted by Yang. See account (as Rana himalayanus) by Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 219. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 114–115, 215–216, provided a brief account (as Rana himalayanus). Schleich, Anders, and Kästle, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 79, doubted the Nepal record as based on a single tadpole, likely assignable to Amolops formosus. Dubois, 2004, Alytes, 21: 175, regarded Amolops himalayanus as likely synonymous with Amolops formosus. Mehta, 2005, in Alfred (ed.), Fauna W. Himalaya, Part 2: 270, reported the species in Himanchal Pradesh, India, without noting specific localities so this should be verified. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted a few larval descriptions in the literature ov varying completeness. Nidup, Gyeltshen, Penjor, Dorji, and Pearch, 2016, Herpetol. Bull., London, 136: 13–16, reported the species from Jere Chhu, Khaling, Trashigang District, Bhutan, 2073 m elevation, noting uncollected animals likely of this species at Bodidrang stream, also in Trashigang District. (This population is now referred to Amolops wangyali, according to  Mahony, Nidup, Streicher, Teeling, and Kamei, 2022, Herpetol. J., 32: 142–175.) The authors also discussed identification of Amolops formosus, with which Amolops himalayanus has been confused. Limbu, Biswa, Sonam, Norbu, Gyeltshen, Basnet, Gyeltshen, and Nidup, 2020, Asian J. Biol., 10: 56–64, provided a dot range map for India and Bhutan and information on natural history. In the Amolops viridimaculatus group of Jiang, Ren, Lyu, Wang, Wang, Lv, Wu, and Li, 2021, Zool. Res., Kunming, 42: 574–591. Mahony, Nidup, Streicher, Teeling, and Kamei, 2022, Herpetol. J., 32: 146, provided DNA-confirmed records from Ilam District, Province, 1, eastern Nepal, and placed this species in the Amolops viridimaculatus group. 

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