Microhyla, commonly known as the rice frogs or narrow-mouthed frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It consists of 42 species of diminutive frogs.[1] Members of this genus are widespread from Ryukyu Is. in Japan, and throughout South-east Asia, (China, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, India and Sri Lanka).[2]
In 2021, nine species of Microhyla were moved to Nanohyla on the basis of morphological and phylogenetic differences.[1] Microhyla pulverata was found to be a junior synonym of Nanohyla marmorata based on phylogenetic evidence.[3]
According to Seshadri et al. (2016),[4] this genus can be diagnosed using the following set of criteria: Adult frogs are of small size; pupil circular; skin on dorsum smooth; lateral side of body with markings from back of eye to vent; supratympanic fold present in adults; paratoid glands are absent, fingers without webbing, finger tips may or may not be dilated; oval tongue, its margin is entire and free at the base; the diameter of eye is smaller than snout; a thin layer of skin hides the tympanum; tubercles on hand distinct; distinct oval shaped inner metatarsal tubercle and rounded outer metatarsal tubercle; webbing in feet, rudimentary.
The genus Microhyla is closely related to Glyphoglossus within the family Microhylidae.[2][5] Members of the genus Microhyla began diversifying from the most common ancestor around 45 million years ago and this resulted in forming Metaphrynella and Microhyla.[5] However, ascertaining the phylogenetic relationship of frogs within Microhyla has been difficult as many species are not monophyletic.[6]
A 2021 study on the relationship between Microhyla and Glyphoglossus found that nine species within Microhyla actually belong to a separate lineage. They have been subsequently moved to the new genus, Nanohyla.[1]
The following species are recognised in the genus Microhyla:[2][4][7]
Binomial Name and Author Common Name Microhyla achatina Tschudi, 1838 Javan rice frog, Javan chorus frog, Javanese narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla aurantiventris Nguyen, Poyarkov, Nguyen, Nguyen, Tran, Gorin, Murphy, and Nguyen, 2019 Orange-bellied narrow-mouth frog Microhyla beilunensis Zhang, Fei, Ye, Wang, Wang, and Jiang, 2018 Beilun pygmy frog Microhyla berdmorei (Blyth, 1856) Pegu rice frog, Berdmore's narrow-mouthed frog, Burmese microhylid frog, Berdmore's chorus frog Microhyla borneensis Parker, 1928 Borneo rice frog, Borneo narrow-mouthed frog, Bornean narrow-mouthed frog, Bornean chorus frog, long-snouted frog Microhyla butleri Boulenger, 1900 Butler's rice frog, Butler's ricefrog, Butler's narrow-mouthed Toad, Butler's pigmy frog, painted chorus frog, tubercled pygmy frog, noisy frog Microhyla chakrapanii Pillai, 1977 Mayabunder rice frog, Chakrapani's narrow-mouthed frog, bilateral banded frog Microhyla darevskii [8] Darevsky's Narrow-Mouth Frog, Darevsky's Pigmy Narrow-Mouth Frog (original publication). Microhyla darreli Garg et al'., 2018 "2019" Darrel's chorus frog Microhyla eos Biju, Garg, Kamei, and Maheswaran, 2019 Arunachal chorus frog Microhyla fanjingshanensis Li, Zhang, Xu, Lv, and Jiang, 2019 Fanjing Mountain pygmy frog Microhyla fissipes Boulenger, 1884 Ornamented pygmy frog, ornata microhylid frog, Malayan bullfrog, ornate narrow-mouthed frog, ornate narrowmouth frog, ornate pigmy frog, ornate chorus frog Microhyla fodiens Poyarkov, Gorin, Zaw, Kretova, Gogoleva, Pawangkhanant, and Che, 2019 Burrowing narrow-mouth frog Microhyla fusca Andersson, 1942 Brown rice frog, Dalat pigmy frog Microhyla gadjahmadai Atmaja, Hamidy, Arisuryanti, Matsui, and Smith, 2018 Microhyla heymonsi Vogt, 1911 Taiwan rice frog, Heymon's ricefrog, dark-sided chorus frog, arcuate-spotted pygmy frog, Heymon's narrow-mouthed frog, Heymon's narrow-mouthed toad, burrowing microhylid frog, black-sided narrow-mouthed frog, black-flanked pigmy frog Microhyla irrawaddy Poyarkov, Gorin, Zaw, Kretova, Gogoleva, Pawangkhanant, and Che, 2019 Irrawaddy narrowmouth frog Microhyla karunaratnei Fernando & Siriwardhane, 1996 Microhyla kodial Kumar and Aravind, 2018[9] Mangaluru narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla kuramotoi Matsui & Tominaga, 2020 Microhyla laterite Seshadri et al., 2016[4] Laterite narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla maculifera Inger, 1989 Sabah rice frog Microhyla malang Matsui, 2011 Microhyla mantheyi Das, Yaakob, and Sukumaran, 2007 Microhyla mihintalei Wijayathilaka et al., 2016[10] Sri Lanka red narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla minuta [8] Tiny Narrow-Mouth Frog, Tiny Pigmy Narrow-Mouth Frog Microhyla mixtura Liu & Hu in Hu, Zhao, & Liu, 1966 Chinese rice frog, mixtured pigmy frog Microhyla mukhlesuri Hasan et al. 2014 Microhyla mymensinghensis Hasan et al. 2014 Microhyla nilphamariensis Howlader et al. 2015 Microhyla okinavensis Stejneger, 1901 Okinawa rice frog Microhyla orientalis Matsui, Hamidy & Eto, 2013[11] Microhyla ornata (Duméril & Bibron, 1841) Ant frog, ornate narrow-mouthed frog, ornate narrowmouth frog, ornate rice frog, ornate ricefrog, black-throated frog Microhyla palmipes Boulenger, 1897 Pengalengan rice frog, palmated chorus frog, palmated narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla picta Schenkel, 1901 Painted rice frog Microhyla pineticola [8] Pine Narrow-Mouth Frog, Pine Pigmy Narrow-Mouth Frog Microhyla pulchra (Hallowell, 1861) Guangdong rice frog, marbled pigmy frog, yellow-legged pigmy frog, beautiful pygmy frog, painted frog, yellow-legged narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla rubra (Jerdon, 1854) Guangdong rice frog, red narrow-mouthed frog, densely spotted microhylid frog Microhyla sholigari Dutta & Ray, 2000 Microhyla superciliaris Parker, 1928 Batu Cave rice frog Microhyla taraiensis Khatiwada, 2017 Microhyla zeylanica Parker & Osman-Hill, 1949 Sri Lanka rice frogIn central Vietnam, several new species of Microhyla have been described in the 2000s:
Several new species of Microhyla have been described since 2018.
The following phylogeny of the genus Microhyla is from Khatiwada, et al. (2017).[12] 27 species are listed, including various newly described species from South Asia. (Note: the chart below includes some species that have since been moved to Nanohyla including N. annectens and N. perparva.)
MicrohylaMicrohyla, commonly known as the rice frogs or narrow-mouthed frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It consists of 42 species of diminutive frogs. Members of this genus are widespread from Ryukyu Is. in Japan, and throughout South-east Asia, (China, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, India and Sri Lanka).
