Hylarana nicobariensis Stoliczka, 1870

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Hylarana > Species: Hylarana nicobariensis

Hyla bilineata Van-Ernest in Daudin, 1800, Hist. Nat. Quad. Ovip., Livr. 2: 22, pl. 5. Type(s): Not stated, although clearly including animal figured in the original. Type locality: "île de Java", Indonesia. Presumably identical to Hyla bilineata Daudin, 1801.

Hyla bilineata Daudin in Sonnini de Manoncourt and Latreille, 1801 "An. X", Hist. Nat. Rept., 2: 179. Types: animal figured by Daudin, 1802 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Rain. Gren. Crap., Quarto: pl. 11, fig. 2, according to Daudin, 1803 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Gen. Part. Rept., 8: 32. Type locality: "île de Java", Indonesia. Considered a possible senior synonym by Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 224. Potential senior secondary homonym of Rana bilineata Pillai and Chanda, 1981.

Calamita bilineatus — Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 171.

Auletris bilineatus — Wagler, 1830, Nat. Syst. Amph.: 201.

Hylorana Nicobariensis Stoliczka, 1870, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1870: 104. Syntypes: ZSIC 2783, 2785–86, according to Annandale, 1917, Mem. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 6: 143. Sclater, 1892, List Batr. Indian Mus.: 9, reported 14 syntypes of which 3 of these were reported as lost by Chanda, Das, and Dubois, 2001 "2000", Hamadryad, 25: 105, and who listed ZSIC 2783, 2785–86, 3562–63, 3565–70 as the remaining syntypes. BMNH 1893.2.14.11–12 may be the 'missing' syntypes according to museum records. Type locality: "Nicobar" Is., India.

Rana macularia var. javanica Horst, 1883, Notes Leyden Mus., 5: 243. Syntypes: RMNH ("several"), by original designation; these being RMNH 14022 (15 specimens) according to Gassó Miracle, van den Hoek Ostende, and Arntzen, 2007, Zootaxa, 1482: 55. Type locality: "Java", Indonesia. Synonymy with Rana nicobariensis by Boulenger, 1891, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 8: 291; Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 162; Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 224; Mertens, 1927, Senckenb. Biol., 9: 242; Mertens, 1930, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 42: 224. In the synonymy of Sylvirana celebensis, according to A. Ohler (pers. comm. 2005).

Rana javanica — Boulenger, 1884, Zool. Rec., 20: 20, by implication.

Rana nicobariensis — Boulenger, 1885, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 5, 16: 389; Boulenger, 1891, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 8: 291.

Rana erythraea var. elongata Werner, 1892, Jahresber. Abhandl. Naturwiss. Ver. Magdeburg, 1892: 253. Syntypes: 3 specimens formerly the Tring Museum, UK, now lost. Type locality: "Nias", Malaysia. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1894, Zool. Rec., 30: 35; Boulenger, 1912, in Robinson (ed.), Vert. Fauna of the Malay Peninsula: 240; Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 162; Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 224; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 343.

Rana lemniscata Boettger, 1893, Zool. Anz., 16: 337. Syntypes: SMF; SMF 4926 designated lectotype by Mertens, 1967, Senckenb. Biol., 48(A): 45. Type locality: "Vulkan Tjisurupan, West-Java", Indonesia. Primary junior homonym of Rana lemniscata Lacépède, 1788 (although this work is suppressed as nonbinomial). Synonymy by Boulenger, 1912, in Robinson (ed.), Vert. Fauna of the Malay Peninsula: 240; Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 162; Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 224; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 343.

Rana javanica — Van Kampen, 1907, Zool. Ergebn. Reis. Niederland. Ost-Indien, 4: 392.

Rana (Hylorana) nicobariensis — Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 125.

Rana sanchezi Taylor, 1920, Philipp. J. Sci., 16: 256. Holotype: Philippine Bureau of Science F38, destroyed in WWII. Type locality: "extreme northern part of Palawan", Philippines. Synonymy by Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 331.

Rana suluensis Taylor, 1920, Philipp. J. Sci., 16: 264. Holotype: Philippine Bureau of Science 1638, destroyed in WWII. Type locality: "southern end of Tawitawi Island", Sulu Archipelago, Philippines. Synonymy by Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 331.

Rana (Hylarana) nicobariensis — Van Kampen, 1923, Amph. Indo-Austral. Arch.: 224. Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 343; Iskandar, 1998, Amph. Java Bali: 69.

Rana nicobariensis javanica — Mertens, 1927, Senckenb. Biol., 9: 242. Mertens, 1930, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 42: 224.

Hylorana nicobariensis — Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 144.

Hylarana nicobariensis — Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 98; Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 3, by implication; Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 423.

Rana nicobariensis nicobariensis — Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 331.

Rana (Sylvirana) nicobariensis — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 326.

Sylvirana nicobariensis — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 370, by implication; inadvertently not explicitly included in listing, DRF); Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Herpetol. Sinica, 12: 34. See comment under Ranidae record.

Amnirana nicobariensis — Oliver, Prendini, Kraus, and Raxworthy, 2015, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 90: 187 (provisional placement). 

Indosylvirana nicobariensis — Chan, Hutter, Wood, Grismer, and Brown, 2020, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 151 (106899): 1; Chan, Abraham, Sanguila, and Brown, 2020, Zootaxa, 4877: 598.  

Bijurana nicobariensis — Chandramouli, Hamidy, and Amarasinghe, 2020, Taprobanica, 9: 126. See comment under the Indosylvirana generic record. 

Hylarana (Indosylvirana) nicobariensis — Wu, Xu, Suwannapoom, Nguyen, Murphy, Papenfuss, Lathrop, Kilunda, Gao, Yuan, Chen, Zhang, Zhao, Wang, Rahman, Nneji, Zhao, Wang, Jin, Zhang, and Che, 2024 "2025", Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 108223: 1–11, by implication.

Common Names

Nicobar Island Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 108; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 78).

Cricket Frog (Iskandar, 1998, Amph. Java Bali: 69).

Nicobarese Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 66; Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 83).

Nicobar Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 131).

Nicobar Cricket Frog (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 132).

Nicobarese Frog (Harikrishnan and Vasudevan, 2018, Alytes, 36: 255). 

Nicobar Golden-backed Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 10).

Distribution

Palawan Island and Sulu Archipelago (Philippines); Bali to peninsular Thailand including Sumatra (including Enggano and the Mentawai Islands) and Borneo (Malaysia, Indonesia, and likely to be found in Brunei); Nicobar Islands (Car Nicobar, Tillangchong, Tarasa, Katchal, Camorta, Nancowry, Pilo Milo, Little Nicobar, and Great Nicobar). See comment below. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Malaysia, East (Sarawak and/or Sabah), Malaysia, West (Peninsular), Philippines, Thailand

Likely/Controversially Present: Brunei

Comment

Prior to the revision of Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297, placed in Section Hylarana, subsection Hydrophylax, subgenus Sylvirana of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 326. Synonymy and discussion in Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 162; Taylor, 1962, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 43: 430–433; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 343–346; Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 331–333; Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 223–228; and Berry, 1975, Amph. Fauna Peninsular Malaysia: 80–81. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 131, provided a brief account (as Rana nicobarensis [sic]). See identification table by Manthey and Grossmann, 1997, Amph. Rept. Südostasiens: 84–86, to compare this species to other ranids of the Sunda Shelf region. Malkmus, Manthey, Vogel, Hoffmann, and Kosuch, 2002, Amph. Rept. Mount Kinabalu: 165–166, provided an account (as Rana nicobariensis). Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 132–133, provided a very brief account (as Rana nicobariensis), map for Thailand, and photograph. McKay, 2006, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Bali: 39–40, provided a brief account and photograph. Chan-ard, Thong-aree, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Thailand Nat. Hist. Mus. J., 5: 147–149, reported the species from Selangor, Pahang, and Narathiwat provinces, and discussed the latter, new record in detail. Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Amph. E. Region Thailand: 146, detailed the range in Thailand. Shahriza and Ibrahim, 2014, Check List, 10: 253–259, provided a photograph and brief natural history observations for a population in Kedah, West Malaysia. Hasan, Islam, Khan, Igawa, Alam, Tjong, Kurniawan, Joshy, Yong, Belabut, Kurabayashi, Kuramoto, and Sumida, 2014, Turkish J. Zool., 38: 389, suggested on the basis of 16S divergence that the population on Muaru Siberu (near Sumatra) may be an unnamed species. Harikrishnan and Vasudevan, 2018, Alytes, 36: 254–255, commented on the distribution and natural history in the Nicobar Islands, India (although confirmation of identification is required). Haas, Kueh, Joseph, bin Asri, Das, Hagmann, Schwander, and Hertwig, 2018, Evol. Syst., 2: 89–114, provided a brief account of morphology and natural history for the Sabah population. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 316–317, provided a brief account (description, photographs, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Chan, Hutter, Wood, Grismer, and Brown, 2020, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 151 (106899): 1–16, transferred the species to Indosylvirana and provided evidence that it is a species complex. Chandramouli, Hamidy, and Amarasinghe, 2020, Taprobanica, 9: 126, transferred this species to Bijurana; see comment under the generic record. Gillespie, Ahmad, and Shia, 2021, Field Guide Frog Lower Kinabatangan Region Sabah: 34, provided a brief account, summarizing identification and life history in the Lower Kinabatangan Region, Sabah, Malaysia. Lalronunga, Vanramliana, Sailo, Zosangliana, Lalmuanpuia, Lalhmangaiha, Sailo, Lalrinchhana, and Lalhmingliani, 2021, Zootaxa, 4952: 596–600, suggested that all record of Indosylvirana nicobariensis from mainland India and Bangladesh are referable to Sylvirana lacrima.  Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 83, provided a brief characterization and photograph and confusingly suggested the species to occur in Assam, Mizoram, and Tripura, India. The status of the reports by Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 161–162, who provided a range, systematic comments, and partial taxonomic bibliography and of Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 131, who provided a brief account (as Rana nicobarensis [sic]) is questionable now that mainland Indian records have been transferred to Sylvirana lacrima. Haas, Das, Hertwig, Bublies, and Schulz-Schaeffer, 2022, Guide to the Tadpoles of Borneo: 336–338, summarized the knowledge of habitat, reproduction, larval morphology and coloration. Badriah, Wahyuni, Usman, Mahrawi, Ratnasari, and Rifqiawati, 2022, Berkala Ilmiah Biologi, 13 (3): 1–8, reported specimens from Ujong Kulon National Park, extreme western Java, Indonesia. Atmaja, Putra, Lestari, and Silaban, 2024, J. Pembelajaran Dan Biol. Nukl., 10: 831–844, reported the species on Enggano I., Bengkulu, Indonesia. 

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