Polypedates mutus (Smith, 1940)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Rhacophoridae > Subfamily: Rhacophorinae > Genus: Polypedates > Species: Polypedates mutus

Rhacophorus mutus Smith, 1940, Rec. Indian Mus., 42: 473. Syntypes: BMNH 1940.6.1.3–4, by original designation, now renumbered 1947.2.8.21–22 according to museum records. Type locality: "N'Chang Yang", northern Myanmar.

Polypedates mutus — Inger, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 541; Fei, Ye, and Huang, 1990, Key to Chinese Amph.: 184; Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China: 326.

Rhacophorus mutus — Tian, Jiang, Wu, Hu, Zhao, and Huang, 1986, Handb. Chinese Amph. Rept.: 64.

Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) mutus — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 77.

Polypedates (Polypedates) mutus — Mahony, Kamei, Brown, and Chan, 2024, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 74: 256, by implication.

Common Names

Smith's Striped Treefrog (Zug and Mulcahy, 2020 "2019", Amph. Rept. S. Tanintharyi: 63).

Upland Treefrog (Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 44).

Vocal Sacless Treefrog (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 274).

无声囊泛树蛙 (Chinese: Wang, Ren, Chen, Lyu, Guo, Jiang, Chen, Li, Guo, Wang, and Che, 2020, Biodiversity Sci., 28: App. 1: 13). 

Northern Treefrog (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 152).

Burmese Whipping Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 113).

Distribution

Northeastern India (Khawzawl District, Mizoram) in northern (and presumably western on the Mizoran, India, border) Myanmar (Bago, Kachin, and Shan); isolated populations in southern Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Hainan I., China; throughout Vietnam from the border of China to the northern reaches of the Annam mountains in Nghe An Province; northern Laos; uplands of northern and northeastern Thailand (see comment); reported from southern Tanintharyi, peninsular Myanmar (see comment). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: China, People's Republic of, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam

Comment

In the Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) leucomystax group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 77; see comment under Polypedates. Removed from the synonymy of Polypedates leucomystax by Liu and Hu, 1961, Tailless Amph. China: 248–250. Yang, 1991, Amph. Fauna of Yunnan: 208–210; and Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 274–275, provided accounts. Orlov, Lathrop, Murphy, and Ho, 2001, Russ. J. Herpetol., 8: 36–38, provided an account for the Vietnam population. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 129, provided an account for Guangxi. Orlov, Murphy, Ananjeva, Ryabov, and Ho, 2002, Russ. J. Herpetol., 9: 96, reported the species to be in Laos. Li and Hu, 1996, Zool. Res., Kunming, 17: 483–488, reported  on karyology. See also brief account by Zhao and Yang, 1997, Amph. Rept. Hengduan Mountains Region: 125–126. Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 152–153, provided a very brief account, map for Thailand, and photograph. Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 36, provided specific localities for Vietnam and (p. 150) a photograph. Yang, 2008, in Yang and Rao (ed.), Amph. Rept. Yunnan: 111, provided a brief account for Yunnan, China. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 2: 760–764, provided an account and a spot map for China. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 448, provided a brief account for China including photographs of specimens. Shi, 2011, Amph. Rept. Fauna Hainan: 66–69, provided an account for Hainan. Kuraishi, Matsui, Hamidy, Belabut, Ahmad, Panha, Sudin, Yong, Jiang, Ota, Thong, and Nishikawa, 2013, Zool. Scripta, 42: 54–70, reported on the phylogenetics of the Polypedates leucomystax group and referred to two species as Polypedates cf mutus 1 and Polypedates cf mutus 2 pending investigation of the population at the type locality. The current stated range is, of course, highly provisional as a result of this finding. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 530, provided an account, photographs, and a range map for China. Hecht, Pham, Nguyen, Nguyen, Bonkowski, and Ziegler, 2013, Biodiversity J., 4: 507–552, reported a record from Tay Yen Tu Nature Reserve, Bac Giang Province, northeastern Vietnam and discussed the range. Pan, Dang, Wang, Zheng, Rao, and Li, 2013, Asian Herpetol. Res., 4: 124–133, provided a phylogeny reconstruction of the Polypedates leucomystax complex that suggests that this nominal species extends to northern Myanmar. Ziegler, Rauhaus, Tran, Pham, van Schingen-Khan, Dang, Le, and Nguyen, 2015, Sauria, Berlin, 37: 11–44, provided a locality in Vin Phuc Province, Vietnam. Pham, An, Herbst, Bonkowski, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2017, Bonn Zool. Bull., 66: 37–53, provided records for Cao Bang Province, Vietnam, along with observations on morphology and natural history. Li, 2011, Amph. Rept. Guangdong: 70, provided a brief account for Guangdong, China, and photograph. Zhang, 2017, Amph. Rept. Fanjing Mts.: 165–167, provided taxonomic and natural history information for the Fanjing Mountains population in northeastern Guizhou, China. Poyarkov, Nguyen, Duong, Gorin, and Yang, 2018, PeerJ, 6 (e5771): 17, provided a record for Cat Ba National Park, Hai Phong Province, Vietnam. Mulcahy, Lee, Miller, Chand, Thura, and Zug, 2018, ZooKeys, 757: 95, provided a genetically confirmed record from Taninthary Division, southern Myanmar. Liu, Wang, Zhai, and Wang, 2019 "2018", Asian Herpetol. Res., 9: 240–249, reported on call characteristics. Reported from Lai Chau Province, Vietnam, by Pham, Hoang, Pham, and Nguyen, 2019, VNU J. Sci. Nat. Sci. Tech., 35: 73–79. Zug and Mulcahy, 2020 "2019", Amph. Rept. S. Tanintharyi: 63–64, provided a brief account for South Tanintharyi, peninsular Myanmar, but noted that it is unlikely that this population is conspecific with the northern Myanmar populations. See also Sutthiwisesa, Taksintum, Arunyawat, Sangthong, and Jantrarotai, 2020, Agr. Nat. Res., Thailand, 54: 1–8, reported at least two species lineages under this name in Thailand. Pham, Do, Ngo, Tran, Ziegler, and Nguyen, 2020, Check List, 16: 1025–1041, provided a record from Hai Ha District, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, on the Guangxi, China, border. Makchai, Chuaynkern, Safoowong, Chuachat, and Cota, 2020, Amph. N. Thailand: 165, provided photographs, a brief account for Thailand, and a range map. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 44, briefly discussed habitat, range, and identification in Myanmar. Duong and Ngo, 2022, Herpetol. Notes, 15: 751–762, discussed range in Vietnam and provided records for Binh Dinh Province. Siammawii, Malsawmdawngliana, Muansanga, Mathipi, and Lalremsanga, 2023, Reptiles & Amphibians, 30 (e17036): 1–5, provided a genetically-confirmed record from Khawzawl District, Mizoram, northeastern India. Stuart, Seateun, Sivongxay, and Phimmachak, 2025 "2024", in Wildlife Lao PDR: 44, summarized literature, taxonomy, habitat, and detailed range for Laos.             

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