Sphaerotheca (frog) explained

Sphaerotheca is a genus of frogs in the family Dicroglossidae. They can be found in South Asia. Molecular data suggest that they are closely related to Fejervarya. Ecologically, they are burrowing frogs.

Species

There are currently 9 recognized species in Sphaerotheca:

• Sphaerotheca bengaluru
• 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^[1]

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: New species of burrowing frog named 'Sphaerotheca Varshaabhu' discovered in Bengaluru . 31 January 2024 . 31 January 2024 . NewsDrum . en.