Scutiger nyingchiensis Fei, 1977

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Megophryidae > Subfamily: Leptobrachiinae > Genus: Scutiger > Species: Scutiger nyingchiensis

Scutiger nyingchiensis Fei in Sichuan Institute of Biology Herpetology Department, 1977, Acta Zool. Sinica, 23: 54, 61. Holotype: CIB 73I0400, by original designation. Type locality: "Nyingchi, Xizang [= Tibet], alt. 3040 m", China.

Scutiger (Scutiger) nyingchiensis — Dubois, 1980, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 49: 478; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 15; Fei, Ye, and Li, 1989, Acta Zool. Sinica, 35: 387; Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 82.

Common Names

Nyingchi Alpine Toad (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 78; Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 178).

Nyingchi High Altitude Toad (Schleich, Anders, and Kästle, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 78; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 40).

Nyingchi Lazy Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 87; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 19).

林芝齿突蟾 (Chinese: Wang, Ren, Chen, Lyu, Guo, Jiang, Chen, Li, Guo, Wang, and Che, 2020, Biodiversity Sci., 28: App. 1: 4).

Distribution

Southeastern Xizang (Bomi, Lhozhag, Mainling, Medog, Nangxian, Nyingchi, and Yadong counties), China, 2730–3200 m elevation; Bhutan, Pakistan, and doubtfully to Nepal (see comments). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Bhutan, China, People's Republic of

Likely/Controversially Present: Nepal, Pakistan

Comment

In the Scutiger sikimmensis group according to Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 16, 19. See accounts by Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China 136, and Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 82-83. Anders, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 178-179, provided an account for Nepalese population although not providing any precise location; considered doubtful by S. Hofmann, personal commun., 4 June 2025). In the Scutiger (Scutiger) sikimmensis group of Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 64. Li, Lu, Li, Zhao, Hou, and Zhang, 2005, Sichuan J. Zool., 24: 247, provided additional localities in Xizang. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted several larval descriptions in the literature. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 2: 202-207, provided an account, spot map for China, and illustration of the holotype. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 150, provided a brief account including photographs. Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 19-21, provided an account for Xizang, China (see comment under Scutiger spinosus). Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 178, provided an account, photographs, and a range map. The record from Arunachal Pradesh, India, by Sarania, Devi, Kumar, Wang, and Rakshit, 2015, Curr. Sci., Bangalore, 109: 413–414, was subsequently referred to the new species, Scutiger spinosus. Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 586–588, provided an account, photograph, and dot map. Scutiger nyingchiensis is known from regions in the south-east of Tibet (Nyingchi, Yadong), on the northern side of the Himalaya. Records from the High Himalaya (e.g. in Arunachal Pradesh, North India, by Sarania, Devi, Kumar, Wang, and Rakshit, 2015, Curr. Sci., Bangalore, 109: 413–414 should be verified by molecular tools, as there are often difficulties in the identification of Scutiger species due to substantial intraspecific variation and low interspecific differences in morphological traits. In contrast, S. occidentalis occurs in northwestern India (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir), and adjacent regions of Pakistan; so far, no verified records of S. occidentalis from Nepal are published and it is questionable that the species exists there. About 2000 km of Himalayan terrain separate S. occidentalis and S. nyingchiensis. (S. Hofmann, personal communication, 10 Feb 2018). Ali, Javid, Hussain, and Bukhari, 2018, J. Asia-Pacific Biodiversity, 11: 173–187, briefly summarized preferred habitat in Pakistan although no specimens/localities were noted and the range is questionable. See Khatiwada, Shu, Subedi, Wang, Ohler, Cannatella, Xie, and Jiang, 2019, Asian Herpetol. Res., 10: 139–157, for comments on morphology and who suggested that this species enters Jammu Kashmir, India. See account by Che, Jiang, Yan, and Zhang, 2020, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 81–83. Wangyal, Bower, Sherub, Tshewang, Wangdi, Rinchen, Puntsho, Tashi, Koirala, Bhandari, Phuntsho, Koirala, Ghalley, Chaida, Tenzin, Powrel, Tshewang, Raika, Jamtsho, Kinley, Gyeltshen, Tashi, Nidup, Wangdi, Phuentsho, Norbu, Wangdi, Wangchuk, Tobgay, Dorji, and Das, 2020, Herpetol. Rev., 51: 793, tentatively identified a photograph as of this species from Bhutan. See account for Tibet by Che, Jiang, Yan, and Zhang, 2020, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 81–61, and comment under Scutiger occidentalis, recently removed from the synonymy of this species. Hofmann, Podsiadlowski, Andermann, Matschiner, Baniya, Litvinchuk, Martin, Masroor, Yang, Zheng, Jablonski, and Schmidt, 2024, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 201(108166): 1_12, placed the species in a phylogenetic tree and provided a locality for Bhutan. Lin, Yan, Wang, Huang, Yu, Shih, Jiang, and Xie, 2025, Mol. Ecol., 34(e17611): 1–19, discussed morphologic and mt- and nu-DNA discordance and landscape genetics of Scutiger glandulatus, Scutiger boulengeri, Scutiger mammatus, and Scutiger nyingchiensis.  

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