Raorchestes
Raorchestes is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Rhacophorinae that are found in mountainous regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and southern China. A recent study places Raorchestes as a sister taxon of Pseudophilautus. Before the description of the genus in 2010, species now in Raorchestes had been assigned to genera Ixalus (no longer recognized), Philautus, and Pseudophilautus.
| Raorchestes | |
|---|---|
| Raorchestes signatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Rhacophoridae |
| Subfamily: | Rhacophorinae |
| Genus: | Raorchestes Biju, Shouche, Dubois, Dutta, and Bossuyt, 2010 |
| Type species | |
| Ixalus glandulosus Jerdon, 1854 | |
| Diversity | |
| See text | |
The genus is named in honour of C. R. Narayan Rao in recognition of his contribution to Indian batrachology. The other root orchestes is based on an older genus name for frogs of the Philautus group, Orchestes Tschudi 1838. Extensive exploration in the range of the genus in the Western Ghats of India suggests an under-estimation of the number of species in the genus. A study of the diverse species of the genus show that the separate isolated massifs of the Western Ghats played a major role in the speciation and habitat specificity seen in the genus of bush frogs.