''Limnonectes'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of fork-tongued frogs of about 75 known species, but new ones are still being described occasionally. They are collectively known as fanged frogs because they tend to have unusually large teeth, which are small or absent in other frogs.

Habitat

These frogs are found throughout East and Southeast Asia, most commonly near forest streams. Multiple species of ''Limnonectes'' may occupy the same area in harmony. Large-bodied species cluster around fast rivers, while smaller ones live among leaf-litter or on stream banks. The Indonesian island of

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

is home to at least 15 species of this frog, only four of which have been formally described.

Lifecycle

Tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

s of this genus have

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

to a variety of conditions. Most species (e.g.

Blyth's river frog Blyth's river frog (''Limnonectes blythii''), also known as Blyth's frog, giant Asian river frog or (ambiguously) giant frog, is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae found from Myanmar through western Thailand and the Malay Peninsula (M ...

''L. blythii'' or the fanged river frog ''L. macrodon'') develop normally, with free-swimming tadpoles that eat food. The tadpoles of the

corrugated frog ''Limnonectes khasianus'', commonly known as the corrugated frog, rivulet frog, or sometimes (ambiguously) called "flat-headed frog", is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is found in Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, ...

(''L. laticeps'') are free-swimming but endotrophic, meaning they do not eat but live on stored

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

until

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

into frogs. Before, '' L. limborgi'' was assumed to have direct development (eggs hatching as tiny, full-formed frogs), but more careful observations have showed it has free-swimming but endotrophic larvae; this probably applies to the closely related '' L. hascheanus'', too. '' L. larvaepartus'' is the only known species of frog that gives live birth to tadpoles. Parental care is performed by males.

Species

* '' Limnonectes acanthi'' (Taylor, 1923) – Busuanga wart frog * '' Limnonectes arathooni'' (Smith, 1927) – Djikoro wart frog; (Endangered) * '' Limnonectes asperatus'' * '' Limnonectes bannaensis'' Ye, Fei, Xie & Jiang, 2007 * '' Limnonectes beloncioi'' Herr, Vallejos, Meneses, Abraham, Otterholt, Siler, Rico & Brown, 2021 – Mindoro fanged frog * '' Limnonectes blythii'' –

, giant Asian river frog * '' Limnonectes cintalubang'' (Matsui, Nishikawa & Eto, 2014) * '' Limnonectes coffeatus'' Phimmachak, Sivongxay, Seateun, Yodthong, Rujirawan, Neang, Aowphol, and Stuart, 2018 * '' Limnonectes conspicillatus'' (Günther, 1872) * '' Limnonectes dabanus'' * '' Limnonectes dammermani'' – Dammerman's wart frog * '' Limnonectes deinodon'' Dehling, 2014 * '' Limnonectes diuatus'' – eastern Mindanao frog, Tagibo wart frog * ''

Limnonectes doriae ''Limnonectes doriae'' (common name: Burmese wart frog, Doria's frog, or red stream frog) is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae found in the Southeast Asia. Etymology The specific name ''doriae'' commemorates the Italian naturalis ...

'' – Burmese wart frog, Doria's frog, or red stream frog * ''

Limnonectes fastigatus ''Limnonectes'' is a genus of fork-tongued frogs of about 75 known species, but new ones are still being described occasionally. They are collectively known as fanged frogs because they tend to have unusually large teeth, which are small or abse ...

'' Stuart, Schoen, Nelson, Maher, Neang, Rowley & McLeod, 2020 * '' Limnonectes ferneri'' * '' Limnonectes finchi'' – Finch's wart frog * ''

Limnonectes fragilis ''Limnonectes fragilis'' (common names: fragile large-headed frog, fragile wart frog) is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the Hainan Island, China. It is a medium-sized frog, males being and females snou ...

Limnonectes kuhlii Kuhl's creek frog or large-headed frog (''Limnonectes kuhlii'') is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. Species complex ''L. kuhlii'' was once believed to have a broad distribution in Northeast India (Assam) and Southeast Asia, but a ...

'' – Kuhl's Creek frog, large-headed frog * ''

Limnonectes larvaepartus ''Limnonectes larvaepartus'' is a species of fanged frog in the family Dicroglossidae endemic to northern and western Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is unique in that it has internal fertilization and gives live birth to tadpoles. Other frog species ...

'' * '' Limnonectes lauhachindai'' (Aowphol, Rujirawan, Taksintum, Chuaynkern & Stuart. 2015) * '' Limnonectes leporinus'' –

giant river frog The giant river frog (''Limnonectes leporinus'') is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is endemic to Borneo, and found in Brunei, Kalimantan (Indonesia), and Sabah and Sarawak (Malaysia). Giant river frogs inhabit the banks of s ...

* '' Limnonectes leytensis'' – small disked frog, swamp frog * '' Limnonectes limborgi'' * '' Limnonectes liui'' (Yang, 1983) * '' Limnonectes longchuanensis'' (Suwannapoom, Yuan, Sullivan & McLeod, 2016) * '' Limnonectes macrocephalus'' – Luzon fanged frog * ''

Limnonectes macrodon The fanged river frog, Javan giant frog, Malaya wart frog, or stone creek frog (''Limnonectes macrodon'') is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae endemic to Sumatra and Java, Indonesia. Records from other regions are probably caused by ...

'' (Duméril & Bibron, 1841) – fanged river frog, Javan giant frog, Malaya wart frog, stone creek frog * '' Limnonectes macrognathus'' * '' Limnonectes magnus'' (Stejneger, 1910) – giant Philippine frog, large swamp frog, Mindanao fanged frog * '' Limnonectes malesianus'' – Malesian frog, peat swamp frog * '' Limnonectes mawlyndipi'' * '' Limnonectes megastomias'' McLeod, 2008 * '' Limnonectes micrixalus'' * ''

Limnonectes microdiscus ''Limnonectes microdiscus'' is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is endemic to Indonesia and occurs in Java and southern Sumatra. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moi ...

'' * ''

Limnonectes microtympanum ''Limnonectes microtympanum'' (common name: Sulawesi wart frog) is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia, where it is only known from the Moncong Lompobatang Moncong Lompobattang is a mountain in ...

'' * '' Limnonectes mocquardi'' (Mocquard, 1890) * '' Limnonectes modestus'' * '' Limnonectes namiyei'' –

Namiye's frog ''Limnonectes namiyei'' is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is endemic to Okinawa Island, Japan. It is named after Motoyoshi Namiye, a Japanese naturalist and herpetologist. Its common name is Okinawa wart frog or Namiye's frog ...

* '' Limnonectes nguyenorum'' * '' Limnonectes nitidus'' * '' Limnonectes palavanensis'' * '' Limnonectes paramacrodon'' * '' Limnonectes parvus'' – Philippine small-disked frog * '' Limnonectes plicatellus'' * '' Limnonectes poilani'' * '' Limnonectes quangninhensis'' Pham, Le, Nguyen, Ziegler, Wu, and Nguyen, 2017 * '' Limnonectes rhacoda'' * '' Limnonectes savan'' Phimmachak, Richards, Sivongxay, Seateun, Chuaynkern, Makchai, Som & Stuart, 2019 * '' Limnonectes selatan'' Matsui, Belabut, and Ahmad, 2014 * '' Limnonectes shompenorum'' * '' Limnonectes sinuatodorsalis'' Matsui, 2015 * '' Limnonectes sisikdagu'' McLeod, Horner, Husted, Barley, and Iskandar, 2011 * ''

Limnonectes taylori ''Limnonectes taylori'' is a species of frogs in the family Dicroglossidae, first described from Doi Inthanon Doi Inthanon ( th, ดอยอินทนนท์, ) is the highest mountain in Thailand. It is in Chom Thong District, Chiang ...

'' Matsui ''et al.'', 2010 * '' Limnonectes timorensis'' (Smith, 1927) * '' Limnonectes tweediei'' * '' Limnonectes utara'' Matsui, Belabut, and Ahmad, 2014 * '' Limnonectes visayanus'' – giant Visayan frog * '' Limnonectes woodworthi'' – Woodworth's frog

Phylogeny

Pyron & Wiens (2011)

The following phylogeny of ''Limnonectes'' is from Pyron & Wiens (2011). 35 species are included. ''Limnonectes'' 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 t ...

of ''

Nanorana ''Nanorana'' is a genus of dicroglossid frogs. They are found in Asia, from the Himalayan region of northern Pakistan and northern India, Nepal, and western China east to montane southern China and southeast to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and nor ...

''.

Aowphol, et al. (2015)

The following ''Limnonectes'' phylogeny is from Aowphol, et al. (2015). 20 species are included.

McLeod, et al. (2015)

Below is a phylogeny of species within the '' L. kuhlii'' species complex (McLeod, et al. 2015). '' Limnonectes longchuanensis'', '' Limnonectes hikidai'', and '' Limnonectes cintalubang''Matsui, Nishikawa, and Eto, 2014, Raffles Bull. Zool., Singapore, 62: 681. Holotype: KUHE 47859, by original designation. Type locality: "Ranchan, Serian, Samarahan Division, Sarawak, East Malaysia (01° 08′ 30″ N, 110° 34′ 57″ E, 64 m asl)". http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9C21B7C4-27AD-4103-89C0-513D2E80106C are also part of the ''L. kuhlii'' species complex.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2288011 Dicroglossidae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger