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

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).

Distribution

Southeastern Tibet (Bomi, Lhozhag, Mainling, Medog, Nangxian, Nyingchi, and Yadong counties), China, 2730–3200 m elevation, as well as Bhutan (tentative; see comment); possibly in northern Pakistan but these records require confirmation. See comments regarding Kashmir, Nepal, and Arunachal Pradesh, India, records. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Bhutan, China, People's Republic of, India, 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. 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). 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.  

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