Pelophylax Porosus - 2

''Pelophylax'' is a genus of true frogs widespread in Eurasia, with a few species ranging into northern Africa. This genus was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1843 to accommodate the green frogs of the Old World, which he considered distinct from the brown pond frogs of Carl Linnaeus' genus ''Rana''.

They are also known as water frogs, as they spend much of the summer living in aquatic habitat; the pond frogs can be found more often, by comparison, on dry land, as long as there is sufficient humidity. Yet there are species of Eurasian green frogs – the Central Asian '' P. terentievi'', or the Sahara frog (''P. saharicus'') – which inhabit waterholes in the desert.

Systematics and taxonomy

Most authors throughout the 19th and 20th century disagreed with Fitzinger's assessment. The green frogs were included again with the brown frogs, in line with the tendency to place any frog similar in habitus to the common frog (''R. temporaria'') in ''Rana''. That genus, in the loose circumscription, eventually became a sort of "wastebin taxon".

Around 2000, with molecular phylogenetic studies becoming commonplace, it was discovered that Fitzinger's assessment was correct after all – not only is ''Pelophylax'' an independent genus, but it does in fact belong to a lineage of Raninae not particularly close to ''Rana''. But it also turned out that these Eurasian green frogs might not form a monophyletic lineage. The sheer number of species involved in the group of ''Pelophylax'' and its closest relatives means that it will probably be some time until the definite circumscription of this genus is resolved.

The ''Pelophylax'' frogs belong to a group of moderately advanced Raninae – possibly a clade – that also includes such genera as '' Babina'', ''Glandirana'', '' Hylarana'', ''Pulchrana'', ''Sanguirana'', ''Sylvirana'', as well as ''Hydrophylax'' which like ''Pelophylax'' is suspected of being not monophyletic. These genera were formerly also included in ''Rana'' by most authors, and several of them have only been established in the 1990s. And as regards the possible paraphyly of ''Pelophylax'', it seems that some species assigned there are very close to ''Hylarana'', and thus it might simply be a matter of moving them to that genus. But hybridogenic speciation is running rampant in the Old World green frogs, and this obfuscates the data gained from DNA sequence analyses.

Species

Including named klepta ( hybridogenic species), ''Pelophylax'' sensu lato contains 25 species:

* '' Pelophylax bedriagae'' – Levant water frog
* ''Pelophylax bergeri'' – Italian pool frog
* ''Pelophylax caralitanus'' (Arikan, 1988) (formerly in ''P. bedriagae'')
* ''Pelophylax cerigensis'' – Karpathos frog
* ''Pelophylax chosenicus'' – Seoul frog
* ''Pelophylax cretensis'' – Cretan frog
* ''Pelophylax cypriensis'' – Cyprus water frog
* ''Pelophylax demarchii'' (validity and taxonomic status unclear; klepton?)
* ''Pelophylax epeiroticus'' – Epirus water frog
* ''Pelophylax fukienensis'' (formerly in ''P. plancyi'')
* ''Pelophylax hubeiensis'' (may belong in ''P. plancyi'')
* '' Pelophylax kurtmuelleri'' – Balkan frog
* '' Pelophylax lessonae'' – pool frog
* ''Pelophylax nigromaculatus'' – dark-spotted frog (may include ''P. tenggerensis'')
* ''Pelophylax perezi'' – Perez's frog
* '' Pelophylax plancyi'' – eastern golden frog (may include ''P. hubeiensis'')
* '' Pelophylax porosus'' – Daruma pond frog
* ''Pelophylax ridibundus'' – marsh frog
* ''Pelophylax saharicus'' – Sahara frog
* '' Pelophylax shqipericus'' – Albanian water frog
* ''Pelophylax tenggerensis'' (may belong in ''P. nigromaculatus'')
* ''Pelophylax terentievi'' (taxonomic status unclear; klepton?)

Named klepta ( hybridogenic species) of ''Pelophylax'' are:
* ''Pelophylax'' kl. ''esculentus'' – edible frog (''P. lessonae'' × ''P. ridibundus'')
* ''Pelophylax'' kl. ''grafi'' – Graf's hybrid frog (''P. perezi'' × ''P. ridibundus'')
* ''Pelophylax'' kl. ''hispanicus'' – Italian edible frog (''P. bergeri'' × ''P. ridibundus'' / ''P.'' kl. ''esculentus'')

In addition, one species has been described that is sometimes assigned to ''Pelophylax'', but must be considered a ''nomen oblitum'':
* '' "Hyla" ranaeformis'' Laurenti, 1768 (= "Hyla gibbosa" Lacépède, 1788 ( unavailable: published in non-binomial work) )

See also

* Hybridogenesis in water frogs

References

External links

*

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1187092

Amphibian genera
Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger