Dryophytes japonicus (Günther, 1859)

Common Names

Far Eastern Treefrog (Borkin and Kuzmin, 1988, in Vorobyeva and Darevsky (eds.), Amph. Rept. Mongolian P. Rep.: 248; Kuzmin, Dunayev, Munkhbayar, Munkhbaatar, and Terbish, 2017, in Kuzmin (ed.), Amph. Mongolia: 144).

Japanese Tree Toad (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 58).

Japanese Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 56; Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 291).

Japanese Treefrog (Goris and Maeda, 2004, Guide Amph. Rept. Japan: 58).

Northeast China Tree Toad (Hyla ussuriensis [no longer recognized]: Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 142).

Distribution

Japan and nearby islands, Korean peninsula, northern and northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China (Heilongjing, Jiling, Liaoning, and Nei Mongol), and Far Eastern Russia from Lake Baikal through the Amur and Ussuri river basins southeast to the coast, southern Sakhalin I. and Kunashir I.; introduced into the vicinity of Jerusalem, Israel. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: China, People's Republic of, Japan, Korea, Democratic People's Republic (North), Korea, Republic of (South), Mongolia, Russia

Introduced: Israel

Comment

In the Hyla eximia group of Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 294: 102. Li, Wang, Nian, Litvinchuk, Wang, Li, Rao, and Klaus, 2015, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 87: 80–90, found this species to be in their Hyla japonica group. Kuramoto, 1980, Copeia, 1980: 106, distinguished this species from Hyla suweonensis, and transferred this species into the Hyla eximia group. See Kuramoto, 1984, Copeia, 1984: 609–616, and Nishioka, Sumida, and Borkin, 1990, Sci. Rep. Lab. Amph. Biol. Hiroshima Univ., 10: 93–124, for additional evidence of distinctiveness from other Eurasian Hyla. Maeda and Matsui, 1990, Frogs Toads Japan, Ed. 2: 36–39, provided an acount for Japan. Matsui, 2000, Comp. Biochem. Physiol. B—Comp. Biochem., 126: 247–256, suggested that Hyla japonica is a species complex. Goris and Maeda, 2004, Guide Amph. Rept. Japan: 58–60, provided an account, map, and photograph. See account by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 291–296, who considered Hyla stepheni and Hyla ussuriensis to be synonyms of Hyla japonica. Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 180–184, provided an account, as Hyla japonica, for Russia. Zhang, 2002, Sichuan J. Zool., 21: 198–199, provided a key to differentiate this species from others in China. Yang, Kim, Min, and Suh, 2001, Monogr. Korean Amph.: 54–55, provided a brief account, map and figure for South Korea. Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 142–143, removed Hyla ussuriensis from the synonymy of Hyla japonica where it had been placed by Pope and Boring, 1940, Peking Nat. Hist. Bull., 15: 35, and where it was replaced by Kuzmin and Maslova, 2003, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 8: 179–181, who discussed the controversy of how many species existed of treefrogs in China, Russia, and Japan, who noted that further research might support the view that one species occurs in Japan (Hyla japonica), another in northern China and Far Eastern Russia (Hyla stepheni), and another in central and eastern China (Hyla immaculata)—the position of Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 99. Although it is likely that more than one species exists under this name, the systematics are obfuscated by national treatments without reference to the entire range. A complete revision needs to be completed, taking into account all populations and type localities, employing both molecular and morphologica evidence (DRF). Hyla suweonensis may be a synonym of Hyla stepheni (= Hyla ussuriensis) by implication of statements by Kuramoto, 1980, Copeia, 1980: 104–105. In the Hyla immaculata group of Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 99, who distinguished Hyla ussuriensis from Hyla immaculata, Hyla japonica, and Hyla sanchiangensis. Hyla ussuriensis was removed from the synonymy of Hyla japonica by Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 142–143, where it had been placed by Pope and Boring, 1940, Peking Nat. Hist. Bull., 15: 35, and Kuzmin and Maslova, 2003, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 8: 177. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 258, provided a brief account including photographs. Jang, Hahm, Lee, Park, Won, and Choe, 2011, PLoS One, 6 (8: e23297): 1–12, reported on geographic variation in advertisement call in Rep. Korea. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 292, provided an account (as Hyla ussuriensis), illustrations, and a range map for China. Terbish, Munkhbayar, and Munkhbaatar, 2013, Guide Amph. Rept. Mongolia: 18–19, provided a brief account, photograph, and spot map for Mongolia. Litvinchuk, Schepina, Munkhbaatar, Munkhbayar, Borkin, Kazakov, and Skorinov, 2014, Russ. J. Herpetol., 21: 303–314, discussed the range and conservation status in Mongolia and Transbaikalia (Russia).  The introduced population in Israel is sympatric with Hyla savignyi according to the original publication. Stöck, Dubey, Klütsch, Litvinchuk, Scheidt, and Perrin, 2008, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 49: 1019–1024, suggested on the basis of mtDNA that Hyla heinsteinitzi might be based on introduced populations of Hyla japonica and suggested additional work is warranted. Werner, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 57: 955–956, disputed this suggestion but this was rejected by Stöck, Dubey, Klütsch, Litvinchuk, Scheidt, and Perrin, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 57: 957–958. Adnagulov, 2016, Curr. Stud. Herpetol., Saratov, 16: 87–106, provided a dot map and discussion for Evreiskaya Autonomous Oblast, Far East Russia. Dufresnes, Litvinchuk, Borzée, Jang, Li, Miura, Perrin, and Stöck, 2016, BMC Evol. Biol., 16(253): 1–14, provided a molecular phylogeography study that suggested strongly that at least two and possibly more species are involved, with ranges of: 1) Honshu and Hokkaid, Japan, and the Russian Far East islands of Kunashir and Sakhalin; and 2) southwestern Japan, Korean peninsula, Transiberian China, Russia, and Mongolia. Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 859–861, provided an account (as Hyla ussuriensis, without comment on the earlier synonymy of this name), photograph, and spot map for China. See detailed account for Mongolia by Kuzmin, Dunayev, Munkhbayar, Munkhbaatar, and Terbish, 2017, in Kuzmin (ed.), Amph. Mongolia: 133–152, who also addressed the status of Hyla ussuriensis and doubted the distinction from Hyla immaculata.  Li, Lian, and Lu, 2010, Res. Tadpoles Liaoning: 29–31, described and pictured the larva, as Hyla ussuriensis. Maslova, Jang, Zhestkov, and Borzée, 2018, Herpetol. Notes, 11: 1007–1008, reported on color variants in Russia and South Korea. Dot map and discussion of status for North Korea, as Hyla arborea, provided by Song, 2016, J. Natl. Park Res., Rep. Korea, 7: 211–217. Borzée, Litvinchuk, Ri, Andersen, Nam, Jon, Man, Choe, Kwon, Othman, Messenger, Bae, Shin, Kim, Maslova, Luedtke, Hobin, Moores, Seliger, Glenk, and Jang, 2021, Animals, 11 (2057): 1–37, provided for P.D.R. Korea locality records, a distribution map as well as modeled distribution, life history comments, and conservation status. Andersen, Chuang, Choe, Kim, Kwon, Jang, and Borzée, 2022, Zool. Stud., Taipei, 61(25): 1–10, reported on the elevational range (0–1143 m) in Rep. Korea. Yoo, Yoon, Yoo, Kim, Heo, and Kim, 2024, PeerJ, 12(e16728): 1–16, discussed molecular methods for identifying hybrids between this species and Dryophytes suweonensis. Borzée, 2024, Continental NE Asian Amph.: 34–37, provided a detailed account (distribution including a polygon map, habitat, ecology, conservation, photos of larvae and adults, identification tools) for northeastern Asia. Kidov, Ivolga, and Kondratova, 2024, Trudy Zool. Inst. Ross. Akad. Nauk, 328: 658–670, reported on skeletochronology on Sakhalin and Kunashir Islands, Russia. 

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• For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
• For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
• For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
• For additional information specific to China see Amphibia China
• For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.