Scutiger (frog)

''Scutiger'' is a genus of toads in the family Megophryidae. Common name lazy toads has been coined for them. They occur in China, Burma, Nepal, and northern India in high-altitude habitats. Most are endemic to China.

Evolution

A 2017 molecular phylogenetic study found that ''Scutiger'' originated in Paleo-Tibet during the Oligocene.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Scutiger'':
* ''Scutiger adungensis'' Dubois, 1979 – Adung lazy toad
* ''Scutiger bhutanensis'' Delorme and Dubois, 2001
* ''Scutiger boulengeri'' (Bedriaga, 1898) – Boulenger's lazy toad, Xizang alpine toad, Himalayan stream frog
* ''Scutiger brevipes'' (Liu, 1950)
* ''Scutiger chintingensis'' Liu and Hu, 1960 – Chinting lazy toad, Chinting alpine toad
* ''Scutiger ghunsa'' Khatiwada, Shu, Subedi, Wang, Ohler, Cannatella, Xie, and Jiang, 2019 – Ghunsa high altitude toad
* ''Scutiger glandulatus'' (Liu, 1950) – Hopachai lazy toad, chest gland cat-eyed toad
* ''Scutiger gongshanensis'' Yang and Su, 1979 – Gongshan lazy toad, Gongshan cat-eyed toad
* ''Scutiger jiulongensis'' Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 1995 – Jiulong cat-eyed toad
* ''Scutiger liupanensis'' Huang, 1985 – Liupan lazy toad, Liupan alpine toad
* ''Scutiger maculatus'' (Liu, 1950) – spotted lazy toad, piebald alpine toad
* ''Scutiger mammatus'' (Günther, 1896) – Tungsolo lazy toad
* ''Scutiger muliensis'' Fei and Ye, 1986 – Muli cat-eyed toad
* ''Scutiger nepalensis'' Dubois, 1974 – Nepal lazy toad, mountain pelobatid toad, Asiatic spadefoot toad
* ''Scutiger ningshanensis'' Fang, 1985 – Ningshan lazy toad, Ningshan alpine toad
* ''Scutiger nyingchiensis'' Fei, 1977 – Nyingchi lazy toad, Ladakh pelobatid toad, Nyingshi alpine toad
* ''Scutiger occidentalis'' Dubois, 1978 – Ladakh high altitude toad
* '' Scutiger pingwuensis'' Liu and Tian, 1978 – Pingwu lazy toad, Pingwu alpine toad
* '' Scutiger sikimmensis'' (Blyth, 1855) – Sikkim lazy toad, Sikkim high altitude toad, Blyth's short-limbed frog
* ''Scutiger spinosus'' Jiang, Wang, Li, and Che, 2016 – spiny lazy toad
* ''Scutiger tengchongensis'' Yang & Huang, 2019Scutiger tengchongensis

* '' Scutiger tuberculatus'' Liu and Fei, 1979 – bumpy lazy toad, round-tubercled cat-eyed toad
* ''Scutiger wanglangensis'' Ye and Fei, 2007 – Wanglang alpine toad
* ''Scutiger wuguanfui'' Jiang, Rao, Yuan, Wang, Li, Hou, Che, and Che, 2012 – Wu's lazy toad, Medog lazy toad

Endemic ranges

Many ''Scutiger'' species are endemic to highly restricted geographical areas in the Eastern Himalayas. The ranges often overlap with those of ''Oreolalax'' species.

*Ningxia, China
** ''Scutiger liupanensis'': Liupanshan National Nature Reserve, Jingyuan County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
*Shaanxi, China
** ''Scutiger ningshanensis'': Ningshan County, Shaanxi
*Sichuan, China
** ''Scutiger brevipes'': Dawu County, Sichuan
** ''Scutiger chintingensis'': Mount Emei area, Sichuan
** ''Scutiger jiulongensis'': Jiulong County, Sichuan
** ''Scutiger maculatus'': Garze, Sichuan and Jiangda, Tibet
** ''Scutiger muliensis'': Muli County, Sichuan
** '' Scutiger pingwuensis'': Pingwu County, Sichuan
** ''Scutiger wanglangensis'': Sichuan
*Yunnan, China
** ''Scutiger gongshanensis'': Gongshan County, Yunnan
*Tibet
** ''Scutiger maculatus'': Garze, Sichuan and Jiangda, Tibet
** ''Scutiger nyingchiensis'': Nyingchi Prefecture, Tibet
** ''Scutiger spinosus'': Medog County, Tibet and Tawang District, Arunachal Pradesh
** ''Scutiger wuguanfui'': Medog County, Tibet
*Bhutan
** ''Scutiger bhutanensis'': Bhutan
*Sikkim, India
** '' Scutiger sikimmensis'': Sikkim, India

References

Further reading

*Fu, J., et al. (1997)
Phylogeny of genus ''Scutiger'' (Amphibia: Megophryidae): a re-evaluation.
''Asiatic Herpetol. Res'' 7, 32–37.

Amphibian genera
Frogs of Asia
Megophryidae
Taxa named by William Theobald
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

{{Megophryidae-stub