Zhangixalus smaragdinus (Blyth, 1852)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Rhacophoridae > Subfamily: Rhacophorinae > Genus: Zhangixalus > Species: Zhangixalus smaragdinus

Polypedates smaragdinus Blyth, 1852, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 21: 355. Syntypes: Not stated, but ZSI 10282–285, according to Ohler and Deuti, 2018, Zootaxa, 4375: 278, who designated ZSI 10282 lectotype. Type locality: "Naga hills, Asám", India. Considered a possible senior synonym of Rana livida by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 69; Boulenger, 1890, Fauna Brit. India, Rept. Batr.: 462; Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 214; Bourret, 1942, Batr. Indochine: 371. Considered a nomen dubium, likely within the Rana livida group, by Bain, Lathrop, Murphy, Orlov, and Ho, 2003, Am. Mus. Novit., 3417: 3, who discussed the history of this name. Identified by Ohler and Deuti, 2018, Zootaxa, 4375: 273–280.  

Rhacophorus maximus Günther, 1858, Arch. Naturgesch., 24: 325. Syntypes: BMNH (4 specimens) according to Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 83, three of these being, by museum records BMNH 1947.2.8.31–33 (formerly 1858.8.21.2–4) from Nepal, and  BMNH 1843.7.21.59 ("Afghanistan") according to museum records and Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 104. Type locality: "Nepal" and "Afghanistan" (the latter outside of know range; presumed to be in error). Type locality restricted to Khasia by Anderson, 1871, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871: 210, this in error as this is not one of the original type localities unless Anderson's intention was to correct the data associated with one or more of the types. Synonymy by Ohler and Deuti, 2018, Zootaxa, 4375: 278. 

Rhacophorus gigas Jerdon, 1870, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1870: 84. Types: including ZSIC 10300 according to Ohler and Deuti, 2018, Zootaxa, 4375: 279. Type localities: "Sikkim and Khasi Hills", India. Synonymy with Rhacophorus maximus by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 88; Boulenger, 1890, Fauna Brit. India, Rept. Batr.: 472; Wolf, 1936, Bull. Raffles Mus., 12: 203. Synonymy with Rhacophorus smaragdinus by Ohler and Deuti, 2018, Zootaxa, 4375: 279. 

Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) maximus — Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 169; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 77.

Rhacophorus nigropalmatus maximus — Wolf, 1936, Bull. Raffles Mus., 12: 203.

Rhacophorus maximus — Inger, 1966, Fieldiana, Zool., 52: 321.

Rhacophorus smaragdinus — Ohler and Deuti, 2018, Zootaxa, 4375: 273. 

Zhangixalus smaragdinus — Jiang, Jiang, Ren, Wu, and Li, 2019, Asian Herpetol. Res., 10: 7. 

Rhacophorus (Zhangixalus) smaragdinus — Mahony, Kamei, Brown, and Chan, 2024, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 74: 253, by implication. 

Common Names

Nepal Flying Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 113; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 63).

Large Tree Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 67; Ahmed, Das, and Dutta, 2009, Amph. Rept. NE India: 51; Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 111).

Günther's Tree Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 175; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 63).

Giant Treefrog (Schleich, Anders, and Kästle, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 80; Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 158; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 119; Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 63).

Giant Tree Frog (Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 466).

Yellow-spotted Tree Frog (Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 144).

White-lipped Treefrog (Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 464).

Emerald Gliding Treefrog (Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 47).

Emerald Flying Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 15).

Distribution

Northeastern India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizorum, Manipur, Meghalaya, West Bengal, and Meghalaya), Nepal; Bhutan; southeastern Tibet, China; provisionally northern Bangladesh (see comment); northern Myanmar (Kachin and Sagaing). See comment regarding Laos and Thailand records which are presumed to belong to other species. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, People's Republic of, India, Myanmar, Nepal

Comment

In the Rhacophorus (Rhacophorus) reinwardtii group of Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 77; see comment under Rhacophorus for dissenting opinion regarding the recognition of this group. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 176, and Sarkar and Ray, 2006, In Alfred (ed.), Fauna of Arunachal Pradesh, Part 1: 311, provided brief accounts(as Rhacophorus maximus). Anders, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 337–340, provided an account (as Rhacophorus maximus), figure, and map for the Nepal population and who noted that records for this species from Sri Lanka are erroneous. See brief account (as Rhacophorus maximus) by Shrestha, 2001, Herpetol. Nepal: 94–95. Sarkar, Biswas, and Ray, 1992, State Fauna Ser., 3: 93–94, provided a brief account (as Rhacophorus maximus) for West Bengal, India. Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 104, provided bibliography and range (as Rhacophorus maximus). Ao, Bordoloi, and Ohler, 2003, Zoos' Print J., 18: 1117–1125, provided a specific locality (as Rhacophorus maximus) for Nagaland, northeastern India. Devi and Shamungou, 2006, J. Exp. Zool. India, 9: 317–324, provided a record (as Rhacophorus maximus) for Manipur, northeastern India. Sen and Mathew, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 285: 128, provided records (as Rhacophorus maximus) for Nagaland, northeastern India. Ahmed, Das, and Dutta, 2009, Amph. Rept. NE India: 51, provided a brief account (as Rhacophorus maximus) for northeastern India. Mathew and Sen, 2010, Pict. Guide Amph. NE India: 111–112, provided a brief characterization and photographs (as Rhacophorus maximus). Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted a number of larval descriptions in the literature. Wildenhues, Gawor, Nguyen, Nguyen, Schmitz, and Ziegler, 2010, Rev. Suisse Zool., 117: 679–696, reported on larval morphology (as Rhacophorus maximus). Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 63, provided an account (as Rhacophorus maximus) for Xizang, China. Records from Thailand, China (except for Tibet and possibly western borderlands of Yunnan), Vietnam, and Laos presumably all apply to Zhangixalus pachyproctus. Tshewang and Letro, 2018, J. Threatened Taxa, 10: , reported the species from Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park in central Bhutan. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 466–467, provided a brief account (description, photographs, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Che, Jiang, Yan, and Zhang, 2020, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 373–377, provided a detailed account (as Rhacophorus smaragdinus) for Tibet, China. Makchai, Chuaynkern, Safoowong, Chuachat, and Cota, 2020, Amph. N. Thailand: 183, provided photographs, a brief account for Thailand (Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, and Phetchaburi provinces), and a range map. Khatiwada, Wang, Zhao, Xie, and Jiang, 2021, Asian Herpetol. Res., 12: 1–35, discussed the genetics of the Nepal population. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 47, briefly discussed identification, habitat, and range in Myanmar. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 47, briefly discussed identification, habitat, and range in Myanmar. Rahman, Nneji, and Hossain, 2022, J. Asia-Pacific Biodiversity, 15: 152, reported the species as part of the Bangladesh fauna but did not reference any specimens. Raj, Vasudevan, Aggarwal, Dutta, Sahoo, Mahapatra, Sharma, Janani, Kar, and Dubois, 2023, Alytes, 39–40: 123–128, reported on larval morphology of genetically-confirmed specimens from Meghalaya, India. 

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