Limnonectes khasianus (Anderson, 1871)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Dicroglossidae > Subfamily: Dicroglossinae > Genus: Limnonectes > Species: Limnonectes khasianus

Pyxicephalus Khasianus Anderson, 1871, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 40: 23. Type(s): Not designated, presumably including ZSIC 9639–41 according to Ohler and Deuti, 2013, Zoosystema, 35: 419; ZSI 9640 designated lectotype by  Ohler and Deuti, 2013, Zoosystema, 35: 419. Type locality: "Khasi Hills", Meghalaya, India.

Rana khasiana — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 34; Boulenger, 1890, Fauna Brit. India, Rept. Batr.: 444.

Rana laticeps Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 20. Syntypes: BMNH ("many spec.") and including animal figured on pl. 1, fig. 1 of original publication; BMNH 1872.4.17.295-9A to F regarding as syntypes by Ohler and Deuti, 2013, Zoosystema, 35: 419; BMNH 1872.4.17.295-9A designated lectotype by  Ohler and Deuti, 2013, Zoosystema, 35: 419. Type locality: "Khassya" (= Khasi Hills, Assam) and "Bengal", India. Synonymy by Ohler and Deuti, 2013, Zoosystema, 35: 415. 

Polypedates affinis Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 21. Name attributed to Beddome, noted as a jar label name of the donor. Name suggested inadvertently as a substitute name.

Rana (Rana) laticeps — Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 7.

Rana (Limnonectes) laticeps — Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 239, by implication.

Limnonectes (Limnonectes) laticeps — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 63.

Limnonectes (Limnonectes) khasianus — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 63.

Limnonectes khasiensis — Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 131. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Common Names

Khasia's Fanged Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 3). 

Khasi Wart Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 100).

Khasi Hills Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 27; Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 36).

Anderson's Khasi Hills Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 116).

Corrugated Frog (Limnonectes laticeps [no longer recognized]: Kiew, 1987, Malayan Nat. J., 41: 422).

Flat-headed Frog (Limnonectes laticeps [no longer recognized]: Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 38).

Broad-headed Frog (Limnonectes laticeps [no longer recognized]: Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 119).

Southern Big-headed Frog Limnonectes laticeps [no longer recognized]: Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 131).

Rivulet Frog Limnonectes laticeps [no longer recognized]: Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 116; Das, Jankowski, Makmor, and Haas, 2007, Mitt. Hamburg. Zool. Mus. Inst., 104: 151; Das, 2007, Amph. Rept. Brunei: 51).

Khasi Broad-headed Frog (Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 21).

Distribution

Isolated populations from southeastern Bangladesh (Kaptai National Park), Meghalaya (Khasi and Garo Hills) and Assam (Kaziranga National Park) and Mizoram (Damp Tiger Reserve), northeastern India; populations identified as such from Myanmar (Kachin, Rakhine), Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, and Borneo are dubiously allocated to this species. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar

Likely/Controversially Present: Indonesia, Malaysia, Malaysia, West (Peninsular), Thailand

Comment

Literature prior to 2014 for Limnonectes laticeps and Limnonectes khasianus from peninsular Malaysia and adjacent Thailand presumably refer to Limnonectes deinodon according to Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 23.  [e.g., Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 67; Taylor, 1962, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 43: 405–407 (presumably now assigned to Limnonectes deinodon); Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 202–205 (presumably now assigned to other species of Limnonectes); Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 282–284 (now reassigned to other species), and Berry, 1975, Amph. Fauna Peninsular Malaysia: 72–73 (now reassigned to other species); Manthey and Grossmann, 1997, Amph. Rept. Südostasiens: 96–97]. In the Limnonectes (Limnonectes) kuhlii group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 63. Removed from the synonymy of Limnonectes kuhlii by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 63, where it had been placed provisionally by Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 66. Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 131–133, provided (as Limnonectes laticeps) range and partial taxonomic bibliography. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 116, provided a brief account (as Rana khasiana). Choudhury, Hussain, Buruah, Saikia, and Sengupta, 2002, Hamadryad, 26: 278, commented on the range in Assam, India (as Limnonectes laticeps). Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 119, provided a brief account (as Rana laticeps). Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 36, provided a brief characterization, as Limnonectes laticeps. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted a couple of larval descriptions of weak identification confidence in the literature (as Limnonectes laticeps). Grismer, Chan, Grismer, Wood, and Ahmad, 2010, Russ. J. Herpetol., 17: 147–160, reported localities from the Banjaran Bintang Mountains, northwestern peninsular Malaysia. Thong-aree, Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Thailand Nat. Hist. Mus. J., 5: 99–106, reported (as Limnonectes laticeps) the species from Bala Forest, Narathiwat, extreme southern Thailand, now presumably reassigned to Limnonectes deinodon. Populations from Borneo (as Limnonectes laticeps) have recently been assigned by Matsui and Nishikawa, 2014, Curr. Herpetol., Kyoto, 33: 135–147, to Limnonectes hikidai, which turns out on the basis of molecular data to not be particularly closely related to Limnonectes khasianus. Records from peninsular Malaysia and peninsular Thailand most likely are referable to Limnonectes deinodon, which was named by Dehling, 2014, Sauria, Berlin, 36: 17–30. Limnonectes deinodon isolates records for Limnonectes khasianus from the mainland and suggests that the Sumatra population deserves another look at its taxonomic status (DRF), which I presume are either Limnonectes deinodon or a close relative. Reza and Perry, 2015, Asian J. Conserv. Biol., 4: 100–108, reported the species (as Limnonectes laticeps) from Kaptai National Park, southeastern Bangladesh. Sumarli, Grismer, Anuar, Muin, and Quah, 2015, Check List, 11(4, Art. 1679): 8, reported specimens (as Limnonectes laticeps) from Mount Tebu, Lata Tembaka, base of Mount Lawit, and Lata Belatan, Terregganu, West Malaysia, and and reported on their morphology and habitat. Mulcahy, Lee, Miller, Chand, Thura, and Zug, 2018, ZooKeys, 757: 95, provided a record (as Limnonectes laticeps) for Tanintharyi, southern Myanmar, although with the current identity of these frogs is currently questionable. Decemson, Gouda, Lalbiakzuala, Lalmuansanga, Hmar, Mathipi, and Lalremsanga, 2021, J. Threatened Taxa, 13: 17918–17929, provided the record for Mizoram, India. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 21, briefly discussed identification, habitat, and range in Myanmar. 

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