Sylvirana cubitalis (Smith, 1917)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranidae > Genus: Sylvirana > Species: Sylvirana cubitalis

Rana cubitalis Smith, 1917, J. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 2: 277. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.2.35 (originally 1919.3.285), according to Ohler, 2007, Alytes, 25: 67, and museum records. Type locality: "Doi Nga Chang, N. Siam [Thailand]. . . . Collected on the banks of a small stream,. . . at about 500 metres elevation".

Rana (Hylorana) cubitalis — Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 124.

Hylarana cubitalis — Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 98; Chen, Murphy, Lathrop, Ngo, Orlov, Ho, and Somorjai, 2005, Herpetol. J., 15: 237, by implication; Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 3, by implication; Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 423. 

Rana (Hylarana) cubitalis — Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 316–317; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 42, by implication.

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

Rana (Sylvirana) nigrotympanica Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 341. Holotype: Designated as specimen figured in fig. 4-1 in Liu and Hu, 1960 "1959", Acta Zool. Sinica, 11: 508–538; given as CIB 571162 by Ohler, 2007, Alytes, 25: 67. Type locality: Not designated beyond "Chine"; given as "Mengyan (21° 37′ N, 101° 22′ E), Xishuanbann Daizu Zizhizhou, Yunnan Sheng, China" by Ohler, 2007, Alytes, 25: 67, who made the synonymy.

Rana (Hylarana) nigrotympanica — Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 172.

Hylarana nigrotympanica — Chen, Murphy, Lathrop, Ngo, Orlov, Ho, and Somorjai, 2005, Herpetol. J., 15: 237, by implication; Che, Pang, Zhao, Wu, Zhao, and Zhang, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 3, by implication.

Sylvirana cubitalis — 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; Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Herpetol. Sinica, 12: 34; Oliver, Prendini, Kraus, and Raxworthy, 2015, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 90: 191. 

Sylvirana nigrotympanica — 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; Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Herpetol. Sinica, 12: 34. Undiscussed recognition. See comment under Ranidae record.

Hylarana (Sylvirana) nigrotympanica — Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 3: 1124.

English Names

Siam Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 107).

Yellow Stream Frog (Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 115).

Dark-eared Frog (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 130).

Black-eared Frog (Hylarana nigrotympanica [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 108; Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 172).

Siamese Frog (Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 354). 

Siam Stream Frog (Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 52). 

Dark-eared Woodfrog (Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 39).

Distribution

Karen Hills of Myanmar (Kachin, Mandalay, Shan, and Yangon) through western and central Thailand south to Nakhon Si Thammarat province on the peninsula; isolated populations in southern China from eastern Fujian northern Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, southeastern Guangxi, and central southern Yunnan, China, to along the Myanmar and Laos border; northern Laos (Phongsali, Louangnamtha, and Xaignabouli provinces) and into adjacent Vietnam (Dien Bien, Son La, and Nghe An provinces).

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 the Section Hylarana, subsection Hydrophylax, subgenus Sylvirana of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 326. See Taylor, 1962, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 43: 424–427, and Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 316–317, for discussion. 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. Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 116, provided a brief characterization and photograph (which Ohler, 2003, Alytes, 21: 101, did not think identifiable beyond Limnonectes sp.). Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 130–131, provided a very brief account, map for Thailand, and photograph. Zhao and Adler, 1993, Herpetol. China: 132, regard the status of Rana nigrotympanica questionable, pending examination of specimens. Yang, 1991, Amph. Fauna of Yunnan: 159–161, provided an account as Rana varians. Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 172–173, provided a brief account, map, and figure as Hylarana nigrotympanica. Stuart, Heatwole, and Tan, 2006, Hamadryad, 30: 108–113, provided a record, as Rana nigrotympanica, for northern Laos and discussed the nomenclatural confusions with Rana varians. See discussion by Ohler, 2007, Alytes, 25: 55–74, who placed Rana nigrotympanica into synonymy on the basis of morphological characteristics. Yang, 2008, in Yang and Rao (ed.), Amph. Rept. Yunnan: 67–68, provided a brief account (as Rana cubitalis) for Yunnan, China. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 3: 1124–1128, provided an account, figures, and map for China and placed it in their Hylarana (Sylvirana) nigrotympanica group. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 311 (as Hylarana cubitalis), 318 (as Hylarana nigrotympanica) provided brief accounts. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 88, provided an account (as Rana varians) for Guangxi. Yang, 2008, in Yang and Rao (ed.), Amph. Rept. Yunnan: 74–75, provided a brief account (as Rana varians) for Yunnan, China. Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Amph. E. Region Thailand: 96–97, provided a photograph and brief account for the Eastern Region of Thailand, and (p. 144), detailed the range in Thailand. Shi, 2011, Amph. Rept. Fauna Hainan: 105–106, provided an account for Hainan as Rana nigrotympanica. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 354, provided an account (as Sylvirana cubitalis: 354; and Sylvirana nigrotympanica: 358), photographs, and a revised range map for China. The synonymy of Rana nigrotympanica with Hylarana cubitalis rather than Sanguirana varians, with which it was previous confused is curious and warrants additional work (DRF).  Pham, Le, Nguyen, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2014, Russ. J. Herpetol., 21: 195–200, reported records from Son La Province in northwestern Vietnam. Li, 2011, Amph. Rept. Guangdong: 43, provided a brief account (as Hylarana nigrotympanica) for Guangdong, China, and photograph. Manthey and Manthey, 2017, Sauria, Berlin, 39: 12–13, provided comments, photographs of adults and larvae, and a record for Luang Namtha Province, Laos. Luong, Nguyen, Le, Nguyen, and Nguyen, 2019, Herpetol. Notes, 12: 375–387, provided records from Dien Bien Province, Vietnam, and discussed the range and natural history. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 372–373, provided a brief account (description, photographs, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Nguyen, Brakels, Maury, Sudavanh, Pawangkhanant, Idiiatullina, Lorphengsy, Inkhavilay, Suwannapoom, and Poyarkov, 2020, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 14 (2: e248): 218–249, who discussed the range and provided a record (as Rana cf. cubitalis) from Xaignabouli Province, Laos. Makchai, Chuaynkern, Safoowong, Chuachat, and Cota, 2020, Amph. N. Thailand: 147, provided a brief account, photographs, and a range map for Thailand. Sung and Pham, 2020, J. Sci., Vietnam, 20: 76–81, and Nguyen, Duong, Do, and Mai, 2021, Herpetol. Rev., 52: 78–79, provided records from Nghe An Province, Vietnam. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 39–40, briefly discussed identification, habitat, and range in Myanmar.     

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