''Romerus'' is a small genus of rhacophorid frogs that are distributed in southern

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 ...

(

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

). Some species now in ''Romerus'' were originally placed in ''

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 is thought to be the most basal genus in the

Rhacophorinae The Rhacophorinae are a subfamily of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. They range from tropical Africa and Asia to temperate China and Japan. Genera The following genera are recognised in the subfamily Rhacophorinae, representing 422 species: * ...

. The genus was first erected as ''Liuixalus'' in 2008 based on molecular genetic evidence showing distinctness of ''

Liuixalus romeri Romer's tree frog (''Romerus romeri'') is a species of frog native to Hong Kong and a small portion of Guangxi, China. With an average snout-vent length of 1.5 – 2.5 cm, it is the smallest amphibian recorded in the territory. Despite its ...

'' (then known as ''Chiromantis romeri'') from the rest of ''

Chiromantis ''Chiromantis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, commonly known as foam-nest frogs or foam-nest tree frogs. It contains species from the Sub-Saharan African tropics. Following the molecular genetic study by Chen and colleagues (2 ...

.'' The genus name ''Liuixalus'' commemorates , a Chinese

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

. In 2021, another phylogenetic study deemed the name ''Liuixalus'' as invalidly proposed due to a lack of a diagnosis for the genus in the original study, and thus redescribed the genus as ''Romerus'', alongside morphological characteristics distinguishing it. The name ''Romerus'' commemorates British herpetologist

John D. Romer John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) has assessed two species of the genus as vulnerable ('' Romerus ocellatus'' and '' R. hainanus''), one as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

('' R. romeri''), and one as

least-concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

('' R. feii''), while '' Romerus shiwandashan'' is considered

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

Species

There are six recognized species in the genus ''Romerus'': * ''

Romerus calcarius ''Romerus'' is a small genus of rhacophorid frogs that are distributed in southern China (Hong Kong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong). Some species now in ''Romerus'' were originally placed in ''Philautus''. It is thought to be the most basal genus ...

'' (Milto, Poyarkov, Orlov, and Nguyen, 2013) * ''

Romerus feii ''Romerus'' is a small genus of rhacophorid frogs that are distributed in southern China (Hong Kong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong). Some species now in ''Romerus'' were originally placed in ''Philautus''. It is thought to be the most basal genus ...

'' Yang, Rao, and Wang, 2015 * '' Romerus hainanus'' (Liu and Wu, 2004) * '' Romerus ocellatus'' (Liu and Hu, 1973) * '' Romerus romeri'' (Smith, 1953) * '' Romerus shiwandashan'' (Li, Mo, Jiang, Xie, and Jiang, 2015)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3256871 Rhacophoridae Amphibians of Asia Endemic fauna of China Amphibian genera