Pelophylax perezi (López-Seoane, 1885)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Pelophylax > Species: Pelophylax perezi

Rana hispanica Fitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 64. Nomen nudum. See Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 155, who noted that the association, in error (e.g., by Schreiber, 1875, Herpetol. Eur.: 118), of this name with the fictitious citation of "Michahelles, 1830, Isis von Oken, 1830: 160". Synonymy (with former Rana "esculenta") by Steindachner, 1867, Reise Österreichischen Fregatte Novara, Zool., Amph.: 16, and (with Rana perezi) by Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 155.

Rana calcarata Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 40, pl. 1, fig. 1. Holotype: Specimen figured in pl. 1, fig. 1 in the original publication. Type locality: "Spanien". Preoccupied by Rana calcarata Micahelles, 1830 (= Pelobates fuscus). Synonymy by Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 157. (However, on page 40 and 83, as well as on the legend for the figure Tschudi makes it clear that he considered his frog to be the same as that named by Micahelles, rendering this a misidentification rather than the coining of a new name—DRF.) Synonymy with Rana hispanica Fitzinger, 1826, by Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 83.

Rana perezi López-Seoane, 1885, Zoologist, 3rd Ser., 1885: 171. Syntypes: Not stated; including MNHNP 1889.596 and MCZ 6832 (from Lataste collection), according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 327; BMNH 1884.11.20.100–103 (according to BMNH records). MCZ 6832 designated lectotype by Crochet, Dubois, Ohler, and Tunner, 1995, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Sect. A, Zool., 17: 22; and Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 170. Type locality: "North-western Spain and Portugal . . . . up to an elevation of 1424 feet"; restricted to "Coruña, Spanien" by Mertens and Müller, 1928, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 41: 20; restricted to near Coruña, Spain, by lectotype designation.

Rana esculenta perezi — Boulenger, 1886, Zool. Rec., 22: 23; Boettger, 1892, Kat. Batr. Samml. Mus. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges.: 6; Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 327.

Rana ridibunda perezi — Mertens, 1925, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 39: 54; Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 327; Mertens and Wermuth, 1960, Amph. Rept. Europas: 57.

Rana perezi — Hotz, 1974, Natur Mus., 104: 268; Graf, Karch, and Moreillon, 1977, Experientia, 33: 1582-1584; Hemmer and Kadel, 1980, Boll. Soc. Hist. Nat. Balears, 24: 55.

Rana (Rana) perezi — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 41, by implication.

Rana (Pelophylax) perezi — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 332.

Rana (Pelophylax) kl. grafi Crochet, Dubois, Ohler, and Tunner, 1995, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Sect. A, Zool., 17: 17. Holotype: MNHNP 1993.3374, by original designation. Type locality: "Gorges de l'Aiguillon, between Lussan (44° 09′ N, 4° 22′ E) and La Bastide, Gard, France". A Pelophylax perezi X Pelophylax ridibundus hybridogen.

Hylarana perezi — Chen, Murphy, Lathrop, Ngo, Orlov, Ho, and Somorjai, 2005, Herpetol. J., 15: 237, by implication.

Pelophylax perezi — 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: 369. Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 1–13, by implication.

Common Names

Perez's Frog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 149; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 59).

Iberian Waterfrog (Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 58).

Iberian Water Frog (Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 93).

Coruna Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 109).

Iberian Green Frog (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 127; García-París, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 153).

Graf's Frog ("Rana grafi" [hybridogenetic hemiclone]: original publication).

Graf's Hybrid Frog ("Rana grafi" [hybridogenetic hemiclone]: Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 93).

Distribution

Iberian Peninsula northeast into western southern France, with an isolated record from Lac de l’Ecureuil, in the Esterel Massif, Saint-Raphaël, Var department, southeastern France; introduced on the Azores, Madiera, Canary, and Balearic Islands.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: France, Portugal, Spain

Comment

Formerly often treated as a subspecies of Pelophylax ridibundus. The relationships with other western Palearctic green frogs were discussed by Uzzell, 1982, Amphibia-Reptilia, 3: 135–142, Uzzell and Tunner, 1984 "1983", J. Herpetol., 17: 320–326, and Plötner, 1998, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 36: 191–201 (who suggested a sister-taxon relationship with Pelophylax saharicus). An unnamed Pelophylax perezi x Pelophylax ridibundus origin hybridogenetic swarm was noted in southern France by Graf, Karch, and Moreillon, 1977, Experientia, 33: 1582–1584. See Pelophylax saharicus. See also Dubois, 1982, Alytes, 1: 42–49, for a literature review. Hotz, Uzzell, and Berger, 1994, Zool. Polon., 39: 243–266, reported hybridogenetic hybrids between this species and Pelophylax ridibundus. García-París, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 152–153. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 353–355, provided an account and polygon map, and on page 355–356 provided an account for its hybridogenetic associate, Rana kl. grafi. Barbadillo-Escrivá, 1987, Guia INCAFO Anf. Rept. Peninsula Iberica: 171–174, provided an account for the Iberian populations. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 93, provided a brief account, figure, and map as did Günther in Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther, and Obst, 1993, Lurche Kriechtiere Eur.: 178–179. Llorente and Arano, 1997, in Pleguezuelos (ed.), Dist. Biogeogr. Anf. Rep. Esp. Portugal: 164–166, provided a brief account, photograph, and detailed map for Iberia. Llorente, Montori, Santos, and Carretero, 1995, Atlas Amf. Rept. Catalunya Andorra: 78–80, provided an account and detailed range map for Catalunya. Mateo, Ayres, and López-Jurado, 2011, Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp., 22: 6–7, discussed introduced populations in the Balearics, Azores, Canary Is. and Madeira. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 222, reported the species as introduced in the Balearics and Canary Islands, as well as Morocco. Casola, Marracci, Bucci, Ragghianti, Mancino, Hotz, Uzzell, and Guex, 2004, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 42: 234–244, provided a molecular tree of western Palearctic water frogs (as Rana) in the topology Pelophylax saharicus (Pelophylax cretensis (Pelophylax perezi (Pelophylax shqipericus (Pelophylax epeiroticus (Pelophylax lessonae + Pelophylax ridibundus))))). Pelophylax kl. grafi is a hybridogenetic hemilineage associated with Pelophylax perezi and Pelophylax ridibundus is "Pelophylax grafi". Because each individual frog is a hybrid, "Pelophylax grafi" cannot be considered a lineage of frogs, but a kind of frog. Discovered by Graf, Karch, and Moreillon, 1977, Experientia, 33: 1582–1584, and Graf and Polls-Pelaz, 1989, in Dawley and Bogart (eds.), Evol. Ecol. Unisexual Vert.: 289–302, "Rana grafi" was formerly referred to in the literature as Graf's Frog and briefly the name Rana maritima was used for this taxon (Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 155). Subsequently, Dubois and Ohler, 1996 "1994", Zool. Polon., 39: 206, on the basis of additional evidence suggested that application of the name Rana maritima remained unsettled, and the name Rana grafi was coined for Graf's frog. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 93–94, provided a brief account, figure, and map as did Günther in Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther, and Obst, 1993, Lurche Kriechtiere Eur.: 179–181 (as "Grafscher Hybridfrosch"). See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status of nominal Rana grafi by Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 632. Rivera, Escoriza, Maluquer-Margalef, Arribas, and Carranza, 2011, Amf. Rept. Catalunya: 90–92, provided a brief account for northeastern Spain, the Balearics, and adjacent France. Pinya and Carretero, 2011, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 6: 59–80, regarded the populations on all of the Balearic Islands except for Menorca as introductions. Egea-Serrano, 2015, Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp., 26: 23–26, discussed the introduced populations in the Canary and Balearic islands. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 185–187, provided a brief account for this species and its hybridogenetic associate, Pelophylax kl. grafi, and range map. See detailed account by Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2019, Amph. N. Afr.: 212–218. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 103, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. Doniol-Valcroze, Arnaboldi, Baudran, Beaume, Ricordel, and Crochet, 2022, Herpetol. Notes, 15: 539–543, discussed the range of this species and its klepton associate Pelophylax kl. grafi and provided an isolated record of Pelophylax perezi from Lac de l’Ecureuil, in the Esterel Massif, Saint-Raphaël, Var department, southeastern France. Dudzik, Dedukh, Crochet, Rozenblut‐Kościsty, Rybka, Doniol-Valcroze, Choleva, Ogielska, and Chmielewska, 2023, Genome Biol. Evol., 15(12): 1–15, reported on the cytogenetics of Pelophylax perezi and its hybridogenetic associate, nominal Pelophylax grafi. 

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