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Odorrana chloronota
EOL Text
Odorrana chloronota (chloronate huia frog or copper-cheeked frog) is a species of frog in the Ranidae family that is found in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and possibly Bangladesh and Nepal.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and rivers. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
References[edit]
- Lau, M.W.N., Baorong, G., Huiqing, G., Haitao, S., Zhigang, Y., van Dijk, P.P., Truong, N.Q., Bain. R., Dutta, S., Sengupta, S. & Bordoloi, S. 2004. Odorrana chloronota. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 July, 2007.
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The green cascade frog (Odorrana chloronota) is relatively common and widespread across Southeast Asia. It inhabits forested mountain rivers at altitudes between 100-1900 m asl. Its habitat include rivers that range in size from deep, torrential flows to slow, shallow water. Boulenger synonymized O. chloronota with the closely related O. livida. Morphometric and allozyme comparison by Bain et al. (2003) indicate that O. livida is in fact far more regional (restricted to southern Myanmar) whereas O. chloronota is a large species complex that occurs throughout Southeast Asia, ranging from West Bengal, northeastern India, Myanmar, southern China to Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, southern Vietnam and Hong Kong (Frost 2016; Lau et al. 2016). Across this range, Bain et al. (2003) found remarkable diversity within O. chloronota suggest that more study will uncover multiple currently unrecognized and cryptic species from within the O. chloronota complex.
Odorrana chloronota has long, powerful legs and fully webbed feet, adaptations for swimming in fast-moving water. Its large toe pads allow it to cling to rocks in the torrents and surrounding vegetation. Its body is dorsoventrally compressed (Lau 2016). This frog has a smooth, bright green dorsum, and dark sides. Its limbs have dark cross bars and granular skin on the flanks of its legs. It can easily be distinguished morphologically from O. livida, as O. livida is uniformly dull-grey in color, and has smooth skin on its flanks (Gunther 1875).
Little is known about the reproductive behavior in this species, although it is presumed to occur in streams. Gunther (1875) described the eggs as white. Adults can be found sitting on boulders and logs around and in the water (Lau et al. 2016). Their feeding habits are also poorly known (Bain et al. 2003).
Despite having distasteful skin secretions, which presumably deter predators, O. chloronota is harvested for food in China (where it is known as “green chicken”) and perhaps to a lesser extent, in Viet Nam. They are skinned and carefully cleaned before eating. Females are far larger than males and harvested far more heavily (Bain et al. 2003). Water pollution from agricultural runoff and dam construction are also significant threats. Although when considered as a species complex, these frogs are widespread and common, O. chloronota may harbor a number of unknown, rare, and threatened cryptic species within. Lau et al. (2016) urge for more taxonomic work to identify and protect these potential threatened lineages.
- Bain, R. H., A. Lathrop, R. W. Murphy, N. L. Orlov, and C. T. Ho. 2003. Cryptic species of a cascade frog from Southeast Asia: taxonomic revisions and descriptions of six new species. American Museum Novitates 3417: 1–60. Available at http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/2846//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/nov/N3417.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
- Günther, A. C. L. G. 1876 "1875". Third report on collections of Indian reptiles obtained by the British Museum. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1875: 567–577. Available from Biodiversity Heritage Library at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28501838#page/723/mode/1up, contributed by BioStor.
- Lau, M.W.N., Baorong, G., Huiqing, G., Haitao, S., Zhigang, Y., van Dijk, P.P., Truong, N., Bain, R., Dutta, S., Sengupta, S. & Bordoloi, S. 2016. Odorrana chloronota. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T58576A86154712. Downloaded on 01 November 2016 from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/58576/0
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Rights holder/Author | Dana Campbell, Dana Campbell |
Source | No source database. |
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