Microhyla pulchra (Hallowell, 1861)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Microhylidae > Subfamily: Microhylinae > Genus: Microhyla > Species: Microhyla pulchra

Engystoma pulchrum Hallowell, 1861 "1860", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 12: 506. Holotype: Deposition not stated, presumably USNM or ANSP. Type locality: "Hong-Kong, China. Common in the brackish water marshes between Hong-Kong and Whampoa [=Huang-Pu]", Guangdong, China.

Scaptophryne labyrinthica Fitzinger, 1861 "1860", Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Phys. Math. Naturwiss. Kl., 42: 416. Types: Not stated, though likely NHMW. Type locality: "Hong Kong", China. Nomen nudum. Synonymy by Steindachner, 1867, Reise Österreichischen Fregatte Novara, Zool., Amph.: 36; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 166; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 522.

Diplopelma pulchrumGünther, 1864, Rept. Brit. India: 417.

Ranina symetrica David, 1872 "1871", Nouv. Arch. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 7: 76. Types: Not stated, presumably MNHNP but not reported in type lists. Type locality: "les collines voisines du Yantzékiang, et devient abondante vers le Setchuan", (= Hills near the Yangtzékiang [= Chang Jiang], and toward Sichuan Province, China. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 166; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 522.

Microhyla pulchraBoulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 165.

Microhyla hainanensis Barbour, 1908, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 51: 322. Syntypes: MCZ 2435 (4 specimens), by original designation. Type locality: "Mt. Wuchi [= Wuzhi], Central Hainan [Island]"., Hainan Province, China. Synonymy by Smith, 1923, J. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 6: 211; Parker, 1928, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 10, 2: 484.

Microhyla melli Vogt, 1914, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1914: 101. Holotype: ZMB 24097 according to Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 138, and Bauer, Günther, and Robeck, 1996, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 72: 266. Type locality: "Umbegung der Stadt Canton" (= Environs of the city of Canton [= Guangzhou Shi]), Guangdong Province, China. Synonymy by Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 137; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 522.

Microhyla (Diplopelma) pulchrumBourret, 1927, Fauna Indochine, Vert., 3: 263.

Microhyla major Ahl, 1930, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1930: 317. Holotype: ZMB, unnumbered according to the original publication and Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 138. Type locality: Not stated; presumably Yaoshan [= Dayao Shan, Kwangsi [=Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China]. Synonymy by Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 137; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 522.

Microhyla (Diplopelma) pulchraDubois, 1987, Alytes, 6: 4.

English Names

Guangdong Rice Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 91).

Marbled Pigmy Frog (Karsen, Lau, and Bogadek, 1986, Hong Kong Amph. Rept.: 36; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 55).

Yellow-legged Pigmy Frog (Karsen, Lau, and Bogadek, 1986, Hong Kong Amph. Rept.: 36).

Beautiful Pygmy Frog (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 296).

Painted Frog (Dey and Gupta, 2001 "2000", Hamadryad, 25: 214).

Yellow-legged Narrow-mouthed Frog (Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 159).

Painted Chorus Frog (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 104).

Beautiful Narrow-mouthed Frog (Neang and Holden, 2008, Field Guide Amph. Cambodia: 67).

Beautiful Pigmy Frog  (Vassilieva, Galoyan, Poyarkov, and Geissler, 2016, Photograph. Field Guide Amph. Rept. Lowland S. Vietnam: 83). 

Marbled Narrow-mouthed Frog (Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 32).

Distribution

Southern China from Gansu to southern Yunnan and Hainan and Hong Kong Is. to Hubei and Zhejiang; to central Myanmar (Sagaing, Magway, Mandalay), Thailand (Chiang Mai and Kalasin provinces south to Nakhon Si Thammarat on the peninsula) and Taninthary Division, peninsular Myanmar; Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; introduced into Guam. Records for peninsular Malaysia and Singapore require confirmation. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Cambodia, China, People's Republic of, Hong Kong, Laos, Macao, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam

Introduced: Guam

Comment

See Chang, 1947, Trans. Chinese Assoc. Adv. Sci., 9: 98, and Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 522–524. See accounts by Taylor, 1962, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 43: 548–554; and Yang, 1991, Amph. Fauna of Yunnan: 245–247; Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China: 345; and Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 296–297. Heyer, 1971, Fieldiana, Zool., 58: 61–82, reported on the call from Thailand. Recorded for Malaysia and Singapore by Khonsue and Thirakhupt, 2001, Nat. Hist. J. Chulalongkorn Univ., 1: 77; this requires confirmation. Karsen, Lau, and Bogadek, 1986, Hong Kong Amph. Rept.: 36, provided a brief account. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 147, provided an account for Guangxi. Orlov, Murphy, Ananjeva, Ryabov, and Ho, 2002, Russ. J. Herpetol., 9: 100, reported the species for Indochina, presumably meaning Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Reported for southwestern Cambodia by Ohler, Swan, and Daltry, 2002, Raffles Bull. Zool., 50: 465–481. Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 159, provided a brief characterization and photograph. Stuart, 1999, in Duckworth et al. (eds.), Wildlife in Lao PDR: 50, commented on the range in Laos. Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 104–105, provided a very brief account, map for Thailand, and photograph. Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 46, provided specific localities for Vietnam and (p. 150) a photograph. Stuart, 2005, Herpetol. Rev., 36: 476, provided specific localities for Laos. Yang, 2008, in Yang and Rao (ed.), Amph. Rept. Yunnan: 127, provided a brief account for Yunnan, China. Neang and Holden, 2008, Field Guide Amph. Cambodia: 67, provided a photograph, brief account of identification, ecology, and range in Cambodia. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 2: 910–916, provided an account, spot map for China, and assigned this species to their Microhyla ornata group. Christy, Clark, Gee, Vice, Vice, Warner, Tyrrell, Rodda, and Savidge, 2007, Pacific Sci., 61: 469–483, reported specimens from Guam but could not determine whether the species was established. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 488, provided a brief account for China including photographs of specimens. Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Amph. E. Region Thailand: 52–53, provided a photograph and brief account for eastern Thailand, and (p. 132) detailed the distribution in Thailand. Shi, 2011, Amph. Rept. Fauna Hainan: 50–53, provided an account for Hainan. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 574–575, provided an account, photographs, and a range map. Hecht, Pham, Nguyen, Nguyen, Bonkowski, and Ziegler, 2013, Biodiversity J., 4: 507–552, reported a record from Tay Yen Tu Nature Reserve, Bac Giang Province, northeastern Vietnam and discussed the range. Zug, 2013, Rept. Amph. Pacific Is.: 72–73, provided a brief discussion of the introduced Guam population. See account, photograph, and map for Vietnam in Vassilieva, Galoyan, Poyarkov, and Geissler, 2016, Photograph. Field Guide Amph. Rept. Lowland S. Vietnam: 83–84. Pham, An, Herbst, Bonkowski, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2017, Bonn Zool. Bull., 66: 37–53, provided records for Cao Bang Province, Vietnam, along with observatons on morphology and natural history. Yao and Gong, 2012, Amph. Rept. Gansu: 46–47, provided a brief account and photographs. Shen, 2014, Fauna Hunan, Amph.: 342–344, provided an account for Hunan, China. Li, 2011, Amph. Rept. Guangdong: 75, provided a brief account for Guangdong, China, and photograph. Mulcahy, Lee, Miller, Chand, Thura, and Zug, 2018, ZooKeys, 757: 95, provided a record from Taninthary Division, southern Myanmar. Garg, Suyesh, Das, Jiang, Wijayathilaka, Amarasinghe, Alhadi, Vineeth, Aravind, Senevirathne, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018 "2019", Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 69: 1–71, suggested that earlier records from northeastern India (Dey and Gupta, 2001 "2000", Hamadryad, 25: 214–215) to be doubtful. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 232–233, provided a brief account (photographs, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Gorin, Solovyeva, Hasan, Okamiya, Karunarathna, Pawangkhanant, de Silva, Juthong, Milto, Nguyen, Suwannapoom, Haas, Bickford, Das, and Poyarkov, 2020, PeerJ, 8 (e9411): 1–47, placed this species in their Microhyla berdmorei group. Pham, Do, Ngo, Tran, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2020, Check List, 16: 1025–1041, provided a record from Hai Ha District, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, on the Guangxi, China, border. Makchai, Chuaynkern, Safoowong, Chuachat, and Cota, 2020, Amph. N. Thailand: 120, provided a brief account, photographs, and a range map for Thailand. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 32, briefly discussed identification, habitat, and range in Myanmar.       

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