Staurois natator (Günther, 1858)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Staurois > Species: Staurois natator

Ixalus natator Günther, 1858, Arch. Naturgesch., 24: 324. Syntypes: BMNH (3 specimens) according to Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 75, these being BM 1933.9.10.9–11 according to museum records, these now renumbered 1947.2.2.93–94 and 1947.2.4.42. Type locality: "Philippinen"; restricted to "Mindanao" or "Leyte", Philippines, by Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 338.

Staurois natatorCope, 1865, Nat. Hist. Rev., N.S., 5: 117.

Rana natatrixBoulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 71.

Ixalus granulatus Boettger, 1888, Ber. Offenbach. Ver. Naturkd., 1888: 57. Holotype: SMF 7002 according to Mertens, 1967, Senckenb. Biol., 48(A): 44. Type locality: "Siam"; corrected to Philippines by Boettger, 1892, Kat. Batr. Samml. Mus. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges.: 16. Synonymy by Ohler, 1996, Copeia, 1996: 1010-1012, who noted that this name is a secondary homonym of Rana granulatus (Boettger, 1883).

Rhacophorus granulosus Ahl, 1927, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1927: 38. Replacement name for Ixalus granulatus Boettger, 1888 "(Präocc. durch Rana granulatus Boettger, 1884)" in Rhacophorus.

Common Names

Mindanao Rock Frog (Diesmos, del Prado, Kim, Caguimbal, Venturina, Lorenzo, and Diesmos, 2026, ZooKeys, 1269: 309).

Mindanao Splash Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 110).

Distribution

Mindanao, Leyte, and Samar Islands Philippines (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Philippines

Endemic: Philippines

Comment

Discussed by Inger, 1954, Fieldiana, Zool., 33: 335–344. See Ohler, 1996, Copeia, 1996: 1010–1012, for nomenclatural discussion of several of the names in synonymy. See identification table (as including Staurois nubilus) 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: 171–172, provided an account. Arifin, Iskandar, Bickford, Brown, Meier, and Kutty, 2011, Zootaxa, 2744: 39–52, implied that the populations of Leyte and Samar islands, when sampled genetically, may be found to be distinct species. See brief notes for Mindanao, Philippines, by Sanguila, Cobb, Siler, Diesmos, Alcala, and Brown, 2016, ZooKeys, 624: 42–44. Rosales, Yu, and Nanual, 2023, Davao Res. J., 14: 50–65, reported on distribution and habitat with special reference to the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and surrounding areas of Mindanao. Flores, Mondejar, Caballero, Maceda, Olowa, and Nuñeza, 2025, Biodiversitas, 26: 3769–3780, discussed the habitat in Mount Gutom Protected Landscape on Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines. Diesmos, del Prado, Kim, Caguimbal, Venturina, Lorenzo, and Diesmos, 2026, ZooKeys, 1269: 303–328, discussed the range on Samar I., Philippines. Sanguila, Labaja, Bernstein, and Brown, 2026, ZooKeys, 1272: 203–251, reported the species from the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, eastern Mindanao I., Philippines. Baguio and Nuñeza, 2026, Internatl. J. Multidiscipl. Res., 8: 1–19, discussed habitat preference in the Mt. Sumagaya Range, Misamis Oriental, Mindanao, Philippines.   

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