''Microhyla'', commonly known as the rice frogs or narrow-mouthed frogs, 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 ...

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

in the family

Microhylidae The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family (biology), family of frogs. The 683 species are in 57 genera and 11 subfamilies. Evolution A molecular phylogenetic study by van der Meijden, et al. ...

. It consists of 42 species of diminutive frogs. Members of this genus are widespread from

Ryukyu The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

Is. in Japan, and throughout South-east Asia, (China,

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

, India and Sri Lanka).Frost, Darrel R. 2016. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 (Date of access). Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.

Taxonomy

In 2021, nine species of ''Microhyla'' were moved to ''

Nanohyla ''Nanohyla'' is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. Members of the genus are known as pygmy narrow-mouthed frogs. The members of the genus are found throughout Southeast Asia in the countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malays ...

'' on the basis of morphological and phylogenetic differences. ''Microhyla pulverata'' was found to be a junior synonym of '' Nanohyla marmorata'' based on phylogenetic evidence.

Diagnosis

According to Seshadri et al. (2016), this genus can be diagnosed using the following set of criteria: Adult frogs are of small size; pupil circular; skin on dorsum smooth; lateral side of body with markings from back of eye to vent; supratympanic fold present in adults; paratoid glands are absent, fingers without webbing, finger tips may or may not be dilated; oval tongue, its margin is entire and free at the base; the diameter of eye is smaller than snout; a thin layer of skin hides the tympanum; tubercles on hand distinct; distinct oval shaped inner metatarsal tubercle and rounded outer metatarsal tubercle; webbing in feet, rudimentary.

Evolutionary relationships

The genus ''Microhyla'' is closely related to '' Glyphoglossus'' within the family

. Members of the genus ''Microhyla'' began diversifying from the most common ancestor around 45 million years ago and this resulted in forming ''

Metaphrynella ''Metaphrynella'' is a small genus of Microhylidae, microhylid frogs from the southern Malay Peninsula and Borneo. They are sometimes known as the Borneo treefrogs or tree hole frogs. The common name refers to the microhabitat of these frogs: mal ...

'' and ''Microhyla''. However, ascertaining the

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

relationship of frogs within ''Microhyla'' has been difficult as many species are not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. A 2021 study on the relationship between ''Microhyla'' and ''Glyphoglossus'' found that nine species within ''Microhyla'' actually belong to a separate lineage. They have been subsequently moved to the new genus, ''

''.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Microhyla'': In

central Vietnam Central Vietnam ( or ), also known as Middle Vietnam or The Middle, formerly known as by the State of Vietnam, by the Republic of Vietnam, or '' Annam'' under French colonial rule, is one of the three geographical regions within Vietnam. Th ...

, several new species of ''Microhyla'' have been described in the 2000s: *'' Microhyla darevskii'': Mount Ngọc Linh, Kon Tum Province *'' Microhyla minuta'': Đồng Nai Province *'' Microhyla pineticola'':

Lâm Đồng Province Lâm is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Lin in Mandarin and Im in Korean. Lam is the anglicized variation of the surname Lâm. Lam is also a commonly held surname of Cantonese speakers of Chinese descent. Large populations ...

and Đắk Lắk Province Several new species of ''Microhyla'' have been described since 2018.

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny of the genus ''Microhyla'' is from Khatiwada, et al. (2017). 27 species are listed, including various newly described species from South Asia. (Note: the chart below includes some species that have since been moved to ''

'' including ''N. annectens'' and ''N. perparva''.)

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2108367 Microhylidae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi