Raorchestes andersoni ( Ahl, 1927 )

Boruah, Bitupan, Deepak, V. & Das, Abhijit, 2025, Revision of bush frogs, Raorchestes and Philautus (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the northeast Indian biodiversity hotspot with description of thirteen new species, Vertebrate Zoology 75, pp. 517-625 : 517-625

Raorchestes andersoni ( Ahl, 1927)

Synonymy and chresonymy.

Ixalus tuberculatus Anderson, 1879 “1878”: 845.

Rhacophorus andersoni Ahl, 1927: 36 .

Rhacophorus ( Philautus) andersoni — Ahl (1931): 53, 67.

Philautus tuberculatus — Bourret (1942): 178.

Philautus andersonii — Bourret (1942): 452 (incorrect spelling).

Rhacophorus ( Philautus) andersoni — Bourret (1942): 452.

Philautus andersoni — Bourret (1942): 526; Ahmed et al. (2009): 15.

Philautus ( Philautus) tuberculatus — Bossuyt and Dubois (2001): 28.

Aquixalus tuberculatus — Fei et al. (2009): 714.

Theloderma andersoni — Li et al. (2009): 520.

Liuixalus tuberculatus — Fei et al. (2012): 513.

Theloderma ( Theloderma) andersoni — Poyarkov et al. (2015): 276.

Theloderma tuberculatus — Hou et al. (2017): 114.

Raorchestes andersoni — Chen et al. (2020): 4.

Comments on taxonomic status.

Raorchestes andersoni was originally described by Anderson in 1879 “1878” as Ixalus tuberculatus from Nampoung [= Nanben River] in the centre of the Kakhyen Hills, Yingjiang County, Yunnan, China ( Hou et al. 2017). Ahl (1927) gave the replacement name as Rhacophorus andersoni for the nomen I. tuberculatus , as it became a secondary homonym of Polypedates tuberculatus Anderson, 1871 , when both species ( I. tuberculatus and P. tuberculatus ) were placed in the genus Rhacophorus (see Frost 2025). Bourret (1942) placed this species under the genus Philautus without discussion of Ahl’s (1931) placement of this species under the genus Rhacophorus and subgenus Philautus . Li et al. (2009) placed this species in the genus Theloderma Tschudi, 1838 mentioning its morphological similarity to T. albopunctatum (Liu & Hu, 1962) without further discussion. Later Hou et al. (2017) obtained topotypic specimens of this species and reallocated them to the genus Raorchestes . Hou et al. (2017) provided a photograph of the species and mentioned morphological similarity with topotypic specimens of R. longchuanensis (Yang & Li, 1978) but did not provide a description. Subsequently, Chen et al. (2020) supported this reallocation by Hou et al. (2017) and provided a phylogenetic status of R. andersoni . However, Chen et al. (2020) did not mention about the locality of the sample they referred to as R. andersoni . Raorchestes andersoni has never been reported from the type locality since its original description until Hou et al. (2017) reported it, and the type specimen, which was deposited in the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata is presumed lost ( Bossuyt and Dubois 2001; Frost 2025).

It is worth mentioning that the original sketch of the species provided by Anderson (1878) and, the original description of “ I. tuberculatus ” (on page 845 of Anderson 1878) does not correspond to the sketch provided in figure 7 of plate LXXVIII of Anderson (1878), as reproduced in Figure 12 here. Instead, it corresponds to “ fig. 6 ” on the same plate named as “ I. kakhienensis ”, which was also described in the same communication (page 845 of Anderson 1878). The latter species ( I. kakhienensis ) is now a tentative synonym of Amolops afghanus (Gunther, 1858) ( Dever et al. 2012; Frost 2025). In the original description of “ I. tuberculatus ” Anderson stated “ a transverse pale yellowish band between the eyes and two similar bands behind the eyes ”. However, this is not shown in “ fig. 7 ”, but two white bars are clearly visible in “ fig. 6 ” and the original description mentioned “ A large black irregular spot on the groin, extending halfway up the side with two yellow spots, the thigh broadly but obscurely banded with dark brown and yellow, one broad band across the middle of the thigh and lower leg ”. But there is no large black irregular spot visible on the groin in “ fig. 7 ” and more than one broad band is clearly present on the thigh and tibia of “ fig. 7 ”. However, the sketch of “ fig. 6 ” has at least one broad band visible on the thigh and tibia. In addition, the original description of the species stated that the hindlimbs are very weekly webbed, with the webbing only extending to the end of the first phalanx. However, more extensive webbing can be seen in “ fig. 7 ” but not in “ fig 6 ”. Thus, a redescription (in which the text matches an image) of the species based on fresh material from the type locality will be helpful in stabilising the taxonomic identity of this species.

Annandale (1912) reported Raorchestes andersoni from the Adi Hills (Abor Hills), Arunachal Pradesh, India based on morphology. Bourret (1942) discussed the dissimilarity of Annandale’s specimen with the original description. We now refer to this population from Adi Hills as a new species described below. Recently, a few species of Raorchestes have been described from the nearest locality to the type locality of R. andersoni in Yunnan, such as R. hillisi Jiang et al., 2020 , R. huanglianshan Jiang et al., 2020 , and R. dulongensis Wu et al., 2021 . However, none of these authors discussed the phylogenetic status of R. andersoni . Che et al. (2020) provided a record and phylogenetic status of R. andersoni as “ Raorchestes cf. tuberculatus ” from Tibet. Sen and Mathew (2008) reported one specimen from Nagaland and claimed its distribution in much of northeast India ( Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram). Later, Mathew and Sen (2010) provided photographs of a specimen of Philautus andersoni and maintained its distribution in northeast India ( Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram), but did not include Nagaland in its distribution. Wangyal and Jamtsho (2022) reported R. andersoni from Bhutan based on photographs. Since there is still no molecular data available from an individual from the type locality that matches the original description of this species, these records require further verification and may represent some undescribed species or one of our newly described species from this region.

Figures

Figure 12. The original plate LXXVIII from Anderson (1878) where he depicted “ Ixalus kakhiensis ” and “ Ixalus tuberculatus ”.