''Liuixalus'' is a small genus of rhacophorid frogs that are distributed in southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

). Some species now in ''Liuixalus'' were originally placed in ''

Philautus ''Philautus'' is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae from Asia. Some species in this genus are now considered extinct by IUCN, while others are widespread and abundant (such as the recently described ''P. abundus'', which was spe ...

''. It is thought to be the most basal genus in the

Rhacophorinae The Rhacophorinae are a subfamily of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. They range from tropical Africa and Asia to temperate China and Japan. Genera The following genera are recognised in the subfamily Rhacophorinae, representing 422 species: * ...

. The genus was first erected as ''Liuixalus'' in 2008 based on molecular genetic evidence showing distinctness of '' Liuixalus romeri'' (then known as ''Chiromantis romeri'') from the rest of ''

Chiromantis ''Chiromantis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, commonly known as foam-nest frogs or foam-nest tree frogs. It contains species from the Sub-Saharan African tropics. Following the molecular genetic study by Chen and colleagues (2 ...

.'' The genus name ''Liuixalus'' commemorates , a Chinese

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

. In 2021, another phylogenetic study deemed the name ''Liuixalus'' as invalidly proposed due to a lack of a diagnosis for the genus in the original study, and thus redescribed the genus as ''Romerus'', alongside morphological characteristics distinguishing it. The name ''Romerus'' commemorates British herpetologist John D. Romer. However, in 2023, the name was changed back to ''Liuixalus'' on the basis of Ren, Jiang & Li, who refuted the requirement for a genus name to have morphological characteristics associated with it. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) has assessed two species of the genus as vulnerable ('' Liuixalus ocellatus'' and '' L. hainanus''), one as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

('' L. romeri''), and one as

least-concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild ...

('' L. feii''), while '' Liuixalus shiwandashan'' is considered

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

Species

There are six recognized species in the genus ''Liuixalus'': * '' Liuixalus calcarius'' (Milto, Poyarkov, Orlov, and Nguyen, 2013) * '' Liuixalus feii'' Yang, Rao, and Wang, 2015 * '' Liuixalus hainanus'' (Liu and Wu, 2004) * '' Liuixalus ocellatus'' (Liu and Hu, 1973) * '' Liuixalus romeri'' (Smith, 1953) * '' Liuixalus shiwandashan'' (Li, Mo, Jiang, Xie, and Jiang, 2015)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3256871 Rhacophoridae Amphibians of Asia Endemic fauna of China Amphibian genera