''Fejervarya'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s in the family Dicroglossidae found in Asia. First proposed in 1915 by István József Bolkay, a Hungarian naturalist, the genus did not see widespread adoption at first. As late as the 1990s it was generally included in ''

Rana Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star Films * Rana (2012 film), an Indian Kannada-language action drama * Rana, a 1998 Telugu-language action film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy * R ...

'', but more recent studies have confirmed its distinctness. These frogs are remarkable for being extremely

euryhaline Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the short-finned molly, '' Poecilia sphenops'', which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab ('' Carcinus m ...

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

standards. Species such as the

crab-eating frog The crab-eating frog (''Fejervarya cancrivora'') is a frog native to south-eastern Asia including Taiwan, China, Sumatra in Indonesia, the Philippines and more rarely as far west as Orissa in India. It has also been introduced to Guam, most lik ...

(''F. cancrivora'') can thrive in

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

water, and its

tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

s can even survive in pure

seawater Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approximat ...

Systematics and taxonomy

The name of ''Fejervarya'' honors Hungarian zoologist . It was first introduced as subgenus of ''

'' and later placed as subgenus of '' Limnonectes'', and was treated as an independent genus first in 1998. However, ''Fejervarya''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

was found to be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

with respect to '' Sphaerotheca''. This issue was eventually resolved in 2011 by splitting some species to the genus '' Zakerana'' (renamed in 2021 as '' Minervarya''). ''Fejervarya'', as now defined, is distributed from eastern India (

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

) eastwards through Myanmar to southern China and Indochina to the islands of the Sunda Shelf as well as Japan. In contrast, ''Minervarya'' contains species from southern Asia (

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

including

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

). The widespread Cricket Frog (''F. limnocharis'') and some others have also been suspected to be

cryptic species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

es since at least the 1970s, and indeed a few populations have been identified that almost certainly constitute undescribed species.

Species

The following 14 species are recognised in the genus ''Fejerverya'': * '' Fejervarya cancrivora'' (Gravenhorst, 1829) * ''

Fejervarya iskandari ''Fejervarya iskandari'' is a species of frog that is endemic to Java, Indonesia. It is named in honor of Djoko Iskandar, an Indonesian herpetologist. It has been recorded in Bandung and Sukabumi, West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Pr ...

'' Veith, Kosuch, Ohler, and Dubois, 2001 * '' Fejervarya jhilmilensis'' Bahuguna, 2018 * '' Fejervarya kawamurai'' Djong, Matsui, Kuramoto, Nishioka, and Sumida, 2011 * '' Fejervarya kupitzi'' Köhler et al., 2019 * ''

Fejervarya limnocharis ''Fejervarya limnocharis'' is a species of frog found in South East Asia and parts of Indochina. It is known under many common names, including Boie's wart frog, rice field frog, and Asian grass frog. Molecular studies of the species complex (af ...

'' (Gravenhorst, 1829) * '' Fejervarya moodiei'' (Taylor, 1920) * '' Fejervarya multistriata'' (Hallowell, 1861) * '' Fejervarya orissaensis'' (Dutta, 1997) * '' Fejervarya pulla'' (Stoliczka, 1870) * '' Fejervarya sakishimensis'' Matsui, Toda, and Ota, 2008 * '' Fejervarya triora'' Stuart, Chuaynkern, Chan-ard, and Inger, 2006 * '' Fejervarya verruculosa'' (Roux, 1911) * '' Fejervarya vittigera'' (Wiegmann, 1834)

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny of ''Fejervarya'' is from Pyron & Wiens (2011). 7 species are included. ''Fejervarya'' is a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of '' Minervarya'', which had until recently been included in ''Fejervarya''.

Vocalisation behaviour

File:Fejervarya vocalisation stomach distended - front view.jpg, 1. Preparing to vocalise - front view File:Fejervarya vocalisation -front view.jpg, 2. Vocalising front view File:Fejervarya vocalisation stomach distended - side view.jpg, 3. Preparing to vocalise - side view File:Fejervarya vocalisation - side view.jpg, 4. Vocalising side view

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q518234 Dicroglossidae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera