Polypedates macrotis (Boulenger, 1891)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Rhacophoridae > Subfamily: Rhacophorinae > Genus: Polypedates > Species: Polypedates macrotis

Rhacophorus macrotis Boulenger, 1891, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 7: 282. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.8.18 (formerly 91.1.27.8), according to museum records. Type locality: "Baram [district, Sarawak, Malaysia,] Borneo".

Polypedates macrotisGünther, 1895, Novit. Zool., 2: 501; Taylor, 1920, Philipp. J. Sci., 16: 285; Liem, 1970, Fieldiana, Zool., 57: 98; Dring, 1982, in Anderson et al. (eds.), Gunung Mulu National Park: 293.

Philautus montanus Taylor, 1920, Philipp. J. Sci., 16: 305. Holotype: Philippine Bureau of Science 29, by original designation; destroyed in WWII. Type locality: "Mount Bongao, Bongao [Island], near south end of Tawitawi, at an elevation of about 700 meters", Sulu Archipelago, Philippines. Preoccupied by Ixalus montanus Günther, 1875. Synonymy by Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 42.

Polypedates linki Taylor, 1922, Philipp. J. Sci., 21: 276. Holotype: EHT 1703, by original designation; now CAS 60684 according to Slevin and Leviton, 1956, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 28: 537. Type locality: "Jolo, Jolo Island", Philippines. Synonymy by Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 312.

Rhacophorus (Philautus) alticola Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 95. Replacement name for Philautus montanus Taylor, 1920.

Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) macrotisAhl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 141; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 77.

Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) linckiAhl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 142. Misspelling.

Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) leucomystax linkiWolf, 1936, Bull. Raffles Mus., 12: 181.

Rhacophorus leucomystax linkiInger, 1956, Fieldiana, Zool., 34: 409.

Rhacophorus (Polypedates) macrotisBossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 42.

English Names

Baram Whipping Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 113).

Forest Bush Frog (Kiew, 1987, Malayan Nat. J., 41: 421).

Dark-eared Treefrog (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 152; Das, Jankowski, Makmor, and Haas, 2007, Mitt. Hamburg. Zool. Mus. Inst., 104: 162).

Dark-eared Tree Frog (Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 426).

Bongao Bubble-nest Frog (Philautis montanus [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 111).

Big-eared Whipping Frog (Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 59). 

Distribution

Central peninsular Thailand (Nakhon Si Thammarat, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces) into peninsular Malaysia; Sumatra, Borneo, western Java, and Natuna Is. (Bunguran, Serasan, and Pulau Tiga Is.); Sulu Archipelago; Palawan, Busuanga, Calauit, Jolo, and Dumaran islands, Philippines.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Malaysia, East (Sarawak and/or Sabah), Malaysia, West (Peninsular), Philippines, Thailand

Comment

In the Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) leucomystax group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 77; see comment under Polypedates. See Berry, 1975, Amph. Fauna Peninsular Malaysia: 102–103, for account (as Rhacophorus macrotis). Placed in the synonymy of Rhacophorus leucomyxtax by Wolf, 1936, Bull. Raffles Mus., 12: 178; subsequently removed by Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 313, who also provided an account. See account by Brown and Alcala, 1994, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 48: 185–220, who discussed the unique destroyed holotype of Philautus montanus Taylor and suggested that this name might be a synonym of Polypedates macrotis, but hesitated to synonymize this name until the presence of Polypedates macrotis was documented from the Bongao I., Philippines. Recorded  for Thailand by Khonsue and Thirakhupt, 2001, Nat. Hist. J. Chulalongkorn Univ., 1: 77; this requires confirmation. See identification table by Manthey and Grossmann, 1997, Amph. Rept. Südostasiens: 122–123, to compare this species to other rhacophorids of the Sunda Shelf region. Malkmus, Manthey, Vogel, Hoffmann, and Kosuch, 2002, Amph. Rept. Mount Kinabalu: 196–197, provided an account. Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 152–153, provided a very brief account, map for Thailand, and photograph. Das, Jankowski, Makmor, and Haas, 2007, Mitt. Hamburg. Zool. Mus. Inst., 104: 162, provided a brief description. Das, 2007, Amph. Rept. Brunei: 73, provided a photograph and brief account. Brown, Linkem, Siler, Sukumaran, Esselstyn, Diesmos, Iskandar, Bickford, Evans, McGuire, Grismer, Supriatna, and Andayani, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 57: 598–619, in discussion suggested on the basis of mtDNA data that the delimitation of this taxon may change in the future. Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Amph. E. Region Thailand: 139, detailed the range in Thailand. Thong-aree, Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Thailand Nat. Hist. Mus. J., 5: 99–106, reported the species from Bala Forest, Narathiwat, extreme southern Thailand. Sumarli, Grismer, Anuar, Muin, and Quah, 2015, Check List, 11(4, Art. 1679): 15, reported specimens from Lata Tembaka, and below 600 m on Mount Tebu, Terregganu, West Malaysia, and briefly reported on their morphology and habitat. Haas, Kueh, Joseph, bin Asri, Das, Hagmann, Schwander, and Hertwig, 2018, Evol. Syst., 2: 89–114, provided a brief account of morphology and natural history for the Sabah population. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 426–427, provided a brief account (description, photographs, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Rujirawan, Stuart, and Aowphol, 2013, Zootaxa, 3702: 559, compared this species with other members of the Polypedates leucomystax complex. Munir, Hamidy, Kusrini, Kennedi, Ridha, Qayyim, Rafsanzani, and Nishikawa, 2021, Raffles Bull. Zool., 69: 229, provided a record from Leuweung Sancang Nature Reserve, Garut Regency, Jawa Barat, Java, Indonesia, and citizen scientists (see iNaturalist link below) have found the species elsewhere in western Java, Indonesia. Haas, Das, Hertwig, Bublies, and Schulz-Schaeffer, 2022, Guide to the Tadpoles of Borneo: 376–378, summarized the knowledge of habitat, reproduction, larval morphology and coloration. Herlambang, Riyanto, Munir, Hamidy, Kimura, Eto, and Mumpuni, 2022, Treubia, 49: 78, reported the species from Bunguran I., Pulau Tiga Is. and Serasan I., Natuna Is., Indonesia.

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