Fejervarya

Fejervarya is a genera of frogs in the family Dicroglossidae found in Asia. First proposed in 1915 by István József Bolkay, a Hungarian naturalist, the genus did not see widespread adoption at first. As late as the 1990s it was generally included in Rana, but more recent studies have confirmed its distinctness.

Fejervarya
Crab-eating Frog (Fejervarya cancrivora), one of the "true" Fejervarya
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Dicroglossidae
Subfamily: Dicroglossinae
Genus: Fejervarya
Bolkay, 1915
Type species
Rana limnocharis
Gravenhorst, 1829
Species

13 species, see text

Synonyms
  • Minervarya Dubois, Ohler & Biju, 2001

These frogs are remarkable for being extremely euryhaline by amphibian standards. Species such as the crab-eating frog (F. cancrivora) can thrive in brackish water, and its tadpoles can even survive in pure seawater.[1]

Systematics and taxonomy
This specimen from the Javadi Hills of Tamil Nadu (India) resembles the Cricket Frog (F. limnocharis) of Indonesia, but its origin suggests that it does not belong to that species, and perhaps not even in Fejervarya sensu stricto.

Fejervarya was first introduced as subgenus of Rana and later placed as subgenus as Limnonectes. It was treated as an independent genus first in 1998. However, Fejervarya sensu lato was found to be paraphyletic with respect to Sphaerotheca. This issue was eventually resolved in 2011 by splitting off Zakerana from Fejervarya. Fejervarya, as now defined, is distributed from eastern India (Orissa) eastwards through Myanmar to southern China and Indochina to the islands of the Sunda Shelf as well as Japan.[2] In contrast, Zakerana contains species from southern Asia (Sri Lanka and Indian subcontinent including Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh).[3]

The widespread Cricket Frog (F. limnocharis) and some others have also been suspected to be cryptic species complexes since at least the 1970s, and indeed a few populations have been identified that almost certainly constitute undescribed species.[4][5]

Species

The following 13 species are recognised in the genus Fejerverya:[2]

Phylogeny

The following phylogeny of Fejervarya is from Pyron & Wiens (2011).[6] 7 species are included. Fejervarya is a sister group of Zakerana, which had until recently been included in Fejervarya.[6]

Fejervarya 
 
 
 

Fejervarya cancrivora

 
 

Fejervarya vittigera

 
 
 
 

Fejervarya triora

 
 
 
 

Fejervarya iskandari

 
 

Fejervarya orissaensis

 
 
 
 

Fejervarya sakishimensis

 
 

Fejervarya limnocharis

 
 
 
 
 
 

Vocalisation behaviour
  • 1. Preparing to vocalise - front view
  • 2. Vocalising front view
  • 3. Preparing to vocalise - side view
  • 4. Vocalising side view

References
  1. Malcolm S. Gordon; Knut Schmidt-Nielsen & Hamilton M. Kelly (1961). "Osmotic regulation in the crab-eating frog (Rana cancrivora)" (PDF). Journal of Experimental Biology. 38 (3): 659–678.
  2. Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Fejervarya Bolkay, 1915". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  3. Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Zakerana Howlader, 2011". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  4. Mohammed Mafizul Islam; Naoko Kurose; MdMukhlesur Rahman Khan; Toshitaka Nishizawa; Mitsuru Kuramoto; Mohammad Shafiqul Alam; Mahmudul Hasan; Nia Kurniawan; Midori Nishioka; Masayuki Sumida (2008). "Genetic divergence and reproductive isolation in the genus Fejervarya (Amphibia: Anura) from Bangladesh inferred from morphological observations, crossing experiments, and molecular analyses". Zoological Science. 25 (11): 1084–1105. doi:10.2108/zsj.25.1084. PMID 19267620.
  5. Manabu Kotaki; Atsushi Kurabayashi; Masafumi Matsui; Wichase Khonsue; Tjong Hon Djong; Manuj Tandon & Masayuki Sumida (2008). "Genetic divergences and phylogenetic relationships among the Fejervarya limnocharis complex in Thailand and neighboring countries revealed by mitochondrial and nuclear genes" (PDF). Zoological Science. 25 (4): 381–390. doi:10.2108/zsj.25.381. hdl:2433/85313. PMID 18459820.
  6. R. Alexander Pyron; John J. Wiens (2011). "A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (2): 543–583. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012. PMID 21723399.
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