Sphaerotheca (frog)

Sphaerotheca
Sphaerotheca breviceps
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Dicroglossidae
Subfamily:	Dicroglossinae
Genus:	Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859
Type species
Sphaerotheca strigata Günther, 1859 "1858"
Species
9, see text.

Sphaerotheca is a genus of frogs in the family Dicroglossidae. ^{[1] [2]} They can be found in South Asia. ^{[1] [3]} Molecular data suggest that they are closely related to Fejervarya . ^[1] Ecologically, they are burrowing frogs. ^[3]

Species

There are currently 9 recognized species in Sphaerotheca: ^[1]

• Sphaerotheca bengaluru Deepak, Dinesh, Ohler, Shanker, Channakeshavamurthy & Ashadevi, 2020 ^[4]
• Sphaerotheca breviceps (Schneider, 1799)
• Sphaerotheca dobsoni (Boulenger, 1882)
• Sphaerotheca leucorhynchus (Rao, 1937)
• Sphaerotheca maskeyi (Schleich and Anders, 1998)
• Sphaerotheca pluvialis (Jerdon, 1853)
• Sphaerotheca rolandae (Dubois, 1983)
• Sphaerotheca strachani (Murray, 1884)
• Sphaerotheca varshaabhu Deepak, Dinesh, Chetan Nag, Ohler, Shanker, Souza, Prasad, and Ashadevi, 2024 ^{[3] [5]}

The status of Sphaerotheca swani is disputed, with Deepak and colleagues (2024) arguing for its recognition ^[3] (as is done by AmphibiaWeb ^[2] ), whereas it is considered a synonym of Sphaerotheca breviceps by the Amphibian Species of the World. ^[1]

References

1. Frost, Darrel R. (2024). "Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.2. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001 . Retrieved 2 September 2024.
2. "Dicroglossidae". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
3. Deepak, P.; Dinesh, K.P.; Nag, K.S. Chetan; Ohler, Annemarie; Shanker, Kartik; Souza, Princia D; Prasad, Vishal Kumar; Ashadevi, J.S. (2024). "Discovery and description of a new species of burrowing frog Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the suburban landscapes of Bengaluru, India". Zootaxa. 5405 (3): 381–410. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5405.3.3.
4. Deepak, P.; Dinesh, K. P.; Ohler, Annemarie; Shanker, Kartik; Channakeshavamurthy, B. H.; Ashadevi, J. S. (2020-11-26). "A new species of Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the degraded urban ecosystems of Bengaluru, Deccan Plateau, India" . Zootaxa. 4885 (3): 423–436. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4885.3.6. PMID   33311271. S2CID   229174927.
5. "New species of burrowing frog named 'Sphaerotheca Varshaabhu' discovered in Bengaluru". NewsDrum. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.