''Amolops daorum'' is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is known from its type locality in the vicinity of

Sa Pa Sa Pa (, also written as Sapa) is a district-level town of Lào Cai Province in the Northwest region of Vietnam. As of 2018, the town had a population of 61,498. The town covers an area of 677 km2. The town capital lies at Sa Pa. It is one ...

in northern Vietnam near the Chinese border, Hong Kong, and Houaphanh Province in eastern Laos; presumably it also occurs the intervening areas. The Hong Kong record is considered suspicious, however.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''daorum'' refers to the

Dao people The Yao people (its majority branch is also known as Mien; ; vi, người Dao) is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China and reside in t ...

of northern Vietnam. Common name Dao frog has been coined for this species.

Taxonomy

''Amolops daorum'' was described in 2003 as ''Rana daorum'' based on specimens from northern Vietnam. In 2007, Ohler concluded that it is a junior synonym of ''Amolops mengyangensis'', but this conclusion was challenged by Stuart, Biju, and others who considered it valid as ''Amolops daorum''. As of late 2018, the

Amphibian Species of the World ''Amphibian Species of the World 6.1: An Online Reference'' (ASW) is a herpetology database. It lists the names of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians, which scientists first described each species and what year, and the animal's known range. ...

and AmphibiaWeb databases recognize ''Amolops daorum'' as a valid species. Meanwhile, placement of this species in the genus '' Odorrana'' appears to have been caused by a DNA sample allegedly representing this species actually coming from ''

Odorrana hmongorum ''Odorrana jingdongensis'' is a species of frogs in the family Ranidae. It is known from southern China (western and southern Yunnan, southern Guangxi) and northern Vietnam (Tùng Vài forest in Hà Giang Province and Fansipan in Lào Cai Provi ...

''.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The body is dorsoventrally compressed. The tympanum is distinct and round. The finger and the toe tips bear discs. The toes are fully webbed. The dorsum is green and occasionally has black spots. The flanks are brown and bear at least one large white glandular spot. A white lip stripe runs from the nostril to above the arm insertion. The tympanum and the loreal region are dark brown. The venter is creamy white.

Habitat and conservation

The type series of ''Amolops daorum'' was collected from and near streams: the males were on partially submerged rocks in cascades as well as in vegetation adjacent to the streams, whereas females were found slightly farther away from streams in denser vegetation. The elevation at the locality was

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. As of late 2022, ''Amolops daorum'' has been assessed as least concern an independent species for the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

but included in ''Amolops mengyangensis''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1610601 daorum Frogs of China Amphibians of Laos Amphibians of Vietnam Amphibians described in 2003 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN