Philautus dubius (Boulenger, 1882)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Rhacophoridae > Subfamily: Rhacophorinae > Genus: Philautus > Species: Philautus dubius

Ixalus jerdonii Günther, 1876 "1875", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875: 575. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.7.86 (formerly 1872.4.17.172) according to Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 26. Type locality: "Darjeeling", West Bengal, India, although noted as "possible that this is the same specimen mentioned by Jerdon as having been found by him 'in the Khasis,' Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, p. 85". Given as "Darjeeling", West Bengal, India, by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 81, and pl. 8, fig. 2. Secondary homonym of Polypedates jerdonii Günther, 1876 "1875", when both in Polypedates, according to Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 81 (by implication), Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 92; Wolf, 1936, Bull. Raffles Mus., 12: 137–217. Inasmuch as the substitute name was proposed prior to 1961 Ixalus jerdonii Günther, 1876 "1875", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875 cannot be resurrected (Art. 59.3, International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 1999). 

Rhacophorus dubius Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 81. Replacement name for Ixalus jerdonii Günther, 1875.

Rhacophorus (Philautus) dubius — Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 55, 93.

Philautus (Kirtixalus) dubius — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 73.

Philautus jerdonii — Sarkar, Biswas, and Ray, 1992, State Fauna Ser., 3: 90.

Rhacophorus dubius — Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 66. Undiscussed taxonomic change.

Philautus (Philautus) dubius — Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 26.

Rhacophorus jerdonii — Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 175. See comment. 

Raorchestes dubius — Subba, Aravind, and Ravikanth, 2016, Check List, 13(1: 2033): 12. In error. 

Common Names

Darjeeling Bubble-nest Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 112).

Boulenger's Tree Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 66; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 98).

Günther's Micro Tree Frog (Rhacophorus jerdonii: Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 175).

Darjeeling Shrub Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 12).

Distribution

Apparently only from the arguable type locality in northeastern India (Darjeeling, West Bengal or Khasi Hills, Meghalaya). See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

Resurrected from the synonymy of Philautus jerdonii (now Nasutixalus jerdonii) by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 73, where it had been placed by Wolf, 1936, Bull. Raffles Mus., 12: 172. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 172, provided a brief account (as Rhacophorus dubius) and on page 157–158, 216–217 (as Rhacophorus jerdonii). Sarkar, Biswas, and Ray, 1992, State Fauna Ser., 3: 90–91, provided a brief account (as Philautus jerdonii) for West Bengal, India. Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 90. Subba, Aravind, and Ravikanth, 2016, Check List, 13(1: 2033): 12, considered the presence of this species (as Raorchestes dubius) in Sikkim, India, to be doubtful. Garg, Suyesh, Das, Bee, and Biju, 2021, PeerJ, 9 (e10791): 2, doubted that this species is actually a member of Philautus or possibly a synonym of some non-Philautus species; it is unclear which from their statement. Boruah, Deepak, and Das, 2025, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 75: 543, discussed this enigmatic taxon and noted that without molecular data or a topotype its generic assignment is arguable.  

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