''Philautus kempii'' (not to be confused with '' Philautus kempiae'') is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly ...

. It is known with certainty from its type locality, Upper Rotung in

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

, in the area also claimed by

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is also reported from Arunachal Pradesh in general as well as from extreme eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

; these might represent another species. Very little is known about this species, and even its taxonomic validity remains uncertain.

Etymology and common names

The specific name ''kempii'' honours

Stanley Wells Kemp Stanley Wells Kemp, FRS (14 June 1882 – 16 May 1945) was an English marine biologist. He was born in London, the second of three sons of Stephen Kemp, a professor at the Royal Academy and Royal School of Music. As a boy he took an interest in ...

, an English zoologist and anthropologist. Common names Kemp's spadefoot toad, Kemp's horned toad, Kemp's bush frog, and Kemp's small treefrog have been coined for it (only the latter two accord with the current placement of this species in Rhacophoridae).

Taxonomy and systematics

''Philautus kempii'' was originally described by

Nelson Annandale Thomas Nelson Annandale CIE FRSE (15 June 1876, in Edinburgh – 10 April 1924, in Calcutta) was a British zoologist, entomologist, anthropologist, and herpetologist. He was the founding director of the Zoological Survey of India. Life The el ...

as ''Megalophrys (=Megophrys) kempii'', in a genus that is now in the family

Megophryidae Megophryidae, commonly known as goose frogs, is a large family of frogs native to the warm southeast of Asia, from the Himalayan foothills eastwards, south to Indonesia and the Greater Sunda Islands in Maritime Southeast Asia, and extending to th ...

. Later authors placed the taxon in various megophryid genera. However, in 2006 Delorme and colleagues noted that the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

has granular belly and distinct finger and toe discs, characteristics that are not present in Megophryidae. Instead, they concluded that Annandale's ''Megalophrys kempii'' is a rhacophorid, likely in the genus ''

Philautus ''Philautus'' is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae from Asia. Some species in this genus are now considered extinct by IUCN, while others are widespread and abundant (such as the recently described ''P. abundus'', which was spec ...

''. It has also been placed in other rhacophorid genera.

Description

The

measures in snout–vent length and is at least a sub-adult. The snout is relatively long and sloping forwards, round, and truncate in profile. The tympanum is distinct. The limbs are slender. The fingers and toes bear small but distinct discs. The toes have basal webbing. Skin is smooth except for the belly. The dorsum (in preservative) is dark olive and has symmetrically arranged greyish-green marks. The snout is also greyish-green. The hind limbs have obscure cross-bands. The ventral surfaces are yellowish.

Habitat and conservation

Presumably, this species inhabits tropical moist forest, but nothing definite is known regarding its habitats and biology. Threats and its presence in protected areas are unknown.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2706731 kempii Frogs of China Frogs of India Fauna of Tibet Amphibians described in 1912 Taxa named by Nelson Annandale Taxonomy articles created by Polbot