''Polypedates'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are com ...

, the shrub frogs and Paleotropic

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not closely rela ...

s. They belong to subfamily

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: * ...

. Members of this genus are collectively known as whipping frogs. They occur in eastern and southern Asia. The delimitation of ''Polypedates'' versus the related ''

Rhacophorus ''Rhacophorus'' is a genus of frogs in the shrub frog family (Rhacophoridae) and the related Hylidae make up the true tree frogs. They are found in India, Japan, Madagascar, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Over 40 species are currently recognised. ...

'' has been difficult. In former times, the present genus was often entirely included in ''Rhacophorus''. However,

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies support the recognition of both genera. ''Polypedates'' + ''

Taruga Taruga is an archeological site in Nigeria famous for the artifacts of the Nok culture that have been discovered there, some dating to 600 BC, and for evidence of very early iron working. The site is 60 km southeast of Abuja, in the Mid ...

'' are considered to be the

sister taxon 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 '' Feihyla'' + ''

''.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Polypedates'', with new species still being described on a regular basis: * ''

Polypedates assamensis ''Polypedates assamensis'' is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is Endemism, endemic to Dhemaji District, Assam, India. References

* Mathew & Sen, 2009 : ''Studies on little known amphibian species of north east India''. Re ...

'' Mathew & Sen, 2009 * '' Polypedates bengalensis'' Purkayastha et al., 2019 * '' Polypedates braueri'' (Vogt, 1911) – White-lipped treefrog or Java treefrog * '' Polypedates colletti'' (Boulenger, 1890) – Collett's whipping frog, black-spotted tree frog, or Collett's tree frog * ''

Polypedates cruciger ''Polypedates cruciger'' (commonly known as the Sri Lanka whipping frog or common hour-glass tree-frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropi ...

'' Blyth, 1852 – Sri Lanka whipping frog or common hour-glass tree-frog * '' Polypedates discantus'' Rujirawan, Stuart, and Aowphol, 2013 – Malayan slender treefrog * ''

Polypedates hecticus ''Polypedates hecticus'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Samar, Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rivers, freshwater marsh A marsh is a wetland that is ...

'' Peters, 1863 – Samara flying frog * '' Polypedates himalayensis'' (Annandale, 1912) – Himalayan tree frog * '' Polypedates impresus'' Yang, 2008 * ''

Polypedates insularis ''Polypedates insularis'' (Nicobarese tree frog) is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Great Nicobar Island, India. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests and intermittent freshwater marshes. It is ...

'' Das, 2005 – Nicobarese tree frog * '' Polypedates iskandari'' Riyanto, Mumpuni & McGuire, 2011 * ''

Polypedates leucomystax ''Polypedates'' is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, the shrub frogs and Paleotropic tree frogs. They belong to subfamily Rhacophorinae. Members of this genus are collectively known as whipping frogs. They occur in eastern and south ...

'' (Gravenhorst, 1829) – common tree frog, four-lined tree frog, striped tree frog, "

white-lipped tree frog The white-lipped tree frog (''Nyctimystes infrafrenatus'') is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is the world's largest tree frog (the Cuban tree frog reaches a similar maximum size) and is found in Australia. Other common ...

" (formerly often in ''P. maculatus'') * '' Polypedates macrotis'' (Boulenger, 1891) – Bongao tree frog * ''

Polypedates maculatus ''Polypedates maculatus'', the Indian tree frog, or Chunam tree frog, is a common species of tree frog found in South Asia. It was described by John Edward Gray in 1830. Although now considered as a separate species again, for a time, the Him ...

'' (Gray, 1830) – common Indian tree frog, Chunam tree frog * ''

Polypedates megacephalus ''Polypedates megacephalus'', the Hong Kong whipping frog or spot-legged tree frog, is a species in the shrub frog family (Rhacophoridae). In its native range, it is also called "brown tree frog", but this name is otherwise applied to a species o ...

'' Hallowell, 1861 – spot-legged tree frog, Hong Kong whipping frog, "

brown tree frog The southern brown tree frog (''Litoria ewingii''), also known as the brown tree frog, whistling tree frog, or Ewing's tree frog, is a species of tree frog native to Australia: most of southern Victoria, eastern South Australia, southern New ...

" * '' Polypedates mutus'' (Smith, 1940) – northern treefrog * ''

Polypedates occidentalis The western tree frog, Charpa tree frog, or Nagercoil whipping frog (''Polypedates occidentalis'') is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae Endemism, endemic to India.Das, I., & Dutta, S.K. (2006). New Species of ''Polypedates'' (Anura: ...

'' Das and Dutta, 2006 – western tree frog * ''

Polypedates otilophus ''Polypedates otilophus'' (also known as the file-eared tree frog, Borneo eared frog, or bony-headed flying frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Borneo where it is widespread and found in Brunei, Indonesi ...

'' (Boulenger, 1893) – file-eared tree frog, Borneo eared frog * ''

Polypedates pseudocruciger ''Polypedates pseudocruciger'' (common names: false hour-glass tree frog or yellow tree frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to the southern Western Ghats, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hind ...

'' Das and Ravichandran, 1998 – false hour-glass tree frog or yellow tree frog * ''

Polypedates pseudotilophus ''Polypedates pseudotilophus'' is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as ...

'' Matsui, Hamidy, and Kuraishi, 2014 * ''

Polypedates ranwellai ''Polypedates ranwellai'', also known as the Ranwella's spined tree frog, Ranwella's horned tree frog, or Ranwella's tree frog, is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and only known from its type localit ...

'' Wickramasingha, Munindradasa, and Fernando, 2012 – Ranwella's spined tree frog * ''

Polypedates subansiriensis ''Polypedates subansiriensis'' is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Northeast India and only known from its type locality, Soro village in the eponymous Lower Subansiri District, Arunachal Pradesh state. It is ...

'' Mathew & Sen, 2009 – Subansiri's tree frog * ''

Polypedates taeniatus ''Polypedates taeniatus'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in the Bengal region of Bangladesh and India as well as in Assam and southern Nepal. It is also known as the Bengal whipping frog, Bengal whipping tre ...

'' (Boulenger, 1906) – Bengal whipping Frog, Bengal whipping tree frog, or Terai tree frog * ''

Polypedates teraiensis ''Polypedates teraiensis'', also known as perching frog, six-lined tree frog, or Terai tree frog is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India a ...

'' (Dubois, 1987) – common tree frog, six-lined tree frog, Terai tree frog, or Perching frog * ''

Polypedates zed ''Polypedates zed'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in Nepal and possibly India. Its natural habitats are forests in the hills of the Himalayas. It has been observed between 100 and 300 meters above sea level. R ...

'' (Dubois, 1987) – Nepalese tree frog or Narayanghat whipping frog The recently described ''Polypedates bijui''Zachariah, Dinesh, Kunhikrishnan, Das, Raju, Radhakrishnan, Palot & Kalesh, 2011 has now been renamed as ''

Beddomixalus bijui ''Beddomixalus'' is a monotypic genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. The only described species, ''Beddomixalus bijui'', is endemic to the Western Ghats, India. Its name is derived from a combination of the cognomen of Richard Henry Bed ...

'', the only species in its genus.

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny of ''Polypedates'' is from Pyron & Wiens (2011). 8 species are included. ''Polypedates'' 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 '' Feihyla''. Together, ''Polypedates'' and ''Feihyla'' form a

to ''

''. Kuraishi, et al. (2013) gives the following phylogeny of ''Polypedates''.KURAISHI, N., MATSUI, M., HAMIDY, A., BELABUT, D. M., AHMAD, N., PANHA, S., SUDIN, A., YONG, H. S., JIANG, J.-P., OTA, H., THONG, H. T. and NISHIKAWA, K. (2013), Phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships of the Polypedates leucomystax complex (Amphibia). Zoologica Scripta, 42: 54–70. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00562.x ''Polypedates'' and ''

'' are estimated to have split off from their

most recent common ancestor In biology and genetic genealogy, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as the last common ancestor (LCA) or concestor, of a set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all the organisms of the set are descended. The ...

26.6 million years ago during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

. Furthermore, the genus ''

'' has been separated as a separate genus endemic to Sri Lanka.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q945221 Rhacophoridae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi