''Romerus'' is a small genus of

rhacophorid 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 commonly ...

frogs that are distributed in southern China (

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

, Guangxi,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

). Some species now in ''Romerus'' 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 sp ...

''. It is thought to be the most

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

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

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning " reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and r ...

. 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. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

(IUCN) has assessed two species of the genus as

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

('' Romerus ocellatus'' and '' R. 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 and inv ...

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

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

('' R. feii''), while '' Romerus 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 necessarily ...

Species

There are six recognized species in the genus ''Romerus'': * '' Romerus calcarius'' (Milto, Poyarkov, Orlov, and Nguyen, 2013) * ''

Romerus feii ''Romerus'' is a small genus of rhacophorid frogs that are distributed in southern China (Hong Kong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong). Some species now in ''Romerus'' were originally placed in ''Philautus''. It is thought to be the most basal genus ...

'' Yang, Rao, and Wang, 2015 * '' Romerus hainanus'' (Liu and Wu, 2004) * '' Romerus ocellatus'' (Liu and Hu, 1973) * '' Romerus romeri'' (Smith, 1953) * '' Romerus shiwandashan'' (Li, Mo, Jiang, Xie, and Jiang, 2015)

References

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