''Polypedates'' 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 Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs 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 commonly known as ...

, 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 suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

s. They belong to

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

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, which, with the related Hylidae, is one of the two genera of true tree frogs. They are found in China, India, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia, including the island ...

'' 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'' 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'' Mathew & Sen, 2009 * ''

Polypedates bengalensis ''Polypedates bengalensis'', the brown blotched Bengal tree frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to West Bengal, India. It has been observed between 7 and 13 meters above sea level. Etymology The specific name, ...

'' Purkayastha et al., 2019 * ''

Polypedates braueri ''Polypedates braueri'' is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It's native range includes tropical and subtropical China, Taiwan, and large parts of Southeast Asia. It has also been introduced to Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island th ...

'' (Vogt, 1911) – White-lipped treefrog or Java treefrog * ''

Polypedates colletti ''Polypedates colletti'' (Collett's tree frog, Collett's treefrog, Collett's whipping frog or black-spotted tree frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in the Malay Peninsula (Thailand and Malaysia), southern Vietnam ...

'' (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. It has been osbserved as high as 1600 meters above sea level. This fro ...

'' Blyth, 1852 – Sri Lanka whipping frog or common hour-glass tree-frog * ''

Polypedates discantus ''Polypedates discantus'', the Malayan slender tree frog or Malayan whipping frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Thailand and Malaysia, where it has been observed between 61 and 206 meters above sea level. Th ...

'' Rujirawan, Stuart, and Aowphol, 2013 – Malayan slender treefrog * '' Polypedates hecticus'' Peters, 1863 – Samara flying frog * ''

Polypedates himalayensis ''Polypedates himalayensis'', the Himalayan tree frog, is a species of tree frog found in north-eastern India. It has been observed between 100 and 2000 meters above sea level. A typical frog found in moist deciduous forest. This frog also found ...

'' (Annandale, 1912) – Himalayan tree frog * '' Polypedates impresus'' Yang, 2008 * '' Polypedates insularis'' Das, 2005 – Nicobarese tree frog * ''

Polypedates iskandari ''Polypedates iskandari'' is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs to the ''Polypedates leucomystax'' species complex; it was split from ''Polypedates leucomystax'' in 2011 based on a mor ...

'' Riyanto, Mumpuni & McGuire, 2011 * ''

Polypedates leucomystax ''Polypedates'' is a genus of frogs in the family (biology), 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 ...

'' (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 n ...

" (formerly often in ''P. maculatus'') * ''

Polypedates macrotis ''Polypedates macrotis'', commonly known as the dark-eared treefrog, as well as the Bongao tree frog, Bongao bubble-nest frog, Baram whipping frog, or brown-striped tree frog, is a species of tree frog (a "true" frog) in the family Rhacophoridae. ...

'' (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 Hima ...

'' (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 ...

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

Polypedates mutus ''Polypedates mutus'' (common names: northern treefrog, Burmese whipping frog, and vocal sacless treefrog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in southern and southwestern China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Ho ...

'' (Smith, 1940) – northern treefrog * '' Polypedates occidentalis'' Das and Dutta, 2006 – western tree frog * '' Polypedates otilophus'' (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, i ...

'' Das and Ravichandran, 1998 – false hour-glass tree frog or yellow tree frog * '' Polypedates pseudotilophus'' Matsui, Hamidy, and Kuraishi, 2014 * '' Polypedates ranwellai'' Wickramasingha, Munindradasa, and Fernando, 2012 – Ranwella's spined tree frog * '' Polypedates subansiriensis'' Mathew & Sen, 2009 – Subansiri's tree frog * '' Polypedates taeniatus'' (Boulenger, 1906) – Bengal whipping Frog, Bengal whipping tree frog, or Terai tree frog * '' Polypedates teraiensis'' (Dubois, 1987) – common tree frog, six-lined tree frog, Terai tree frog, or Perching frog * '' Polypedates zed'' (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'', 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 A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

26.6 million years ago during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

. Furthermore, the genus '' Taruga'' 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