Indosylvirana nicobariensis (Stoliczka, 1870)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Indosylvirana > Species: Indosylvirana 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. 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. 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.

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; inadvertantly not explicitly included in listing, DRF); Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Herpetol. Sinica, 12: 34. See comment under Ranidae record.

Hylarana nicobariensis — Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 3, by implication.

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 generic record. 

English 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). 

Distribution

Palawan Island and Sulu Archipelago (Philippines); Bali to Peninsular Thailand including Sumatra 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. 

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. Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 161-162, provided a range, systematic comments, and partial taxonomic bibliography. McKay, 2006, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Bali: 39-40, provided a brief account and photograph. 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. Shahriza and Ibrahim, 2014, Check List, 10: 253–259, provided a photograph and brief natural history observations for a population in Kedah, West Malaysia. Harikrishnan and Vasudevan, 2018, Alytes, 36: 254–255, commented on the distribution and natural history in the Nicobar Islands, India. 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. 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.  

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