Odorrana, commonly known as odorous frogs, is a genus of (Ranidae) from East Asia and surrounding regions. Many of these frogs inhabit fast-flowing mountain streams, and they typically have a remarkably pointed snout, as evidenced by common names like tip-nosed frog and like nasica or nasutus ("with a nose").
Systematics and taxonomy
Odorrana has a confusing taxonomic and
systematics history. Most species placed here were initially placed in
Rana. Some were considered to belong in
Amolops and
Huia instead, and yet again others were separated as
Eburana. The most extreme proposal was to merge
Odorrana into
Huia.
[Cai et al. (2007), Stuart (2008)]
In the early 21st century, molecular phylogenetic studies established that the systematic confusion was due to widespread convergent evolution between Amolops, Huia and Odorrana, which actually represent quite distinct lineages of Raninae. This necessitated some taxonomic changes, especially affecting Huia. It was also found that Odorrana is a rather close relative of Rana (which includes Lithobates nowadays) – possibly the most closely related living lineage. And while it is not completely certain that Odorrana is in fact a distinct genus, the available evidence points towards this being so.
Initial studies have revealed what seems to be several of Odorrana, which are sometimes considered subgenera. But few species have had their DNA sequence data sampled, and that the convergent evolution is liable to obscure relationships if assessed by morphology alone:
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A number of very basal species, including O. bacboensis, O. chapaensis, Ishikawa's Frog ( O. ishikawae) and perhaps others do not seem to be particularly close to any of the larger groups or each other.
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A very robustly-supported clade containing the type species O. margaretae as well as at least O. andersonii, Odorrana daorum Odorrana grahami and O. hmongorum.
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A minor but quite distinct lineage containing Odorrana absita, Odorrana khalam and perhaps others. Namely O. hejiangensis and O. schmackeri might belong here, or represent another minor and distinct lineage.
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A large group, quite likely a clade, containing the Amami Tip-nosed Frog ( O. amamiensis), O. banaorum, O. chloronota, Hose's Frog ( O. hosii), Odorrana livida, O. morafkai, O. megatympanum, the Ryukyu Tip-nosed Frog ( O. narina), O. supranarina, O. swinhoana, O. tiannanensis, O. utsunomiyaorum and probably others. The specialized lineage encompassing the Long-snout Torrent Frog ( O. nasica), the Concave-eared Torrent Frog ( O. tormota), O. versabilis, and maybe some more species also belongs here.
Species
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Odorrana absita
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Odorrana amamiensis – Amami tip-nosed frog
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Odorrana andersonii
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Odorrana anlungensis
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Odorrana aureola
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Odorrana bacboensis
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Odorrana banaorum
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Odorrana bolavensis
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Odorrana cangyuanensis
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Odorrana chapaensis
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Odorrana chloronota
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Odorrana concelata
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Odorrana confusa
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Odorrana damingshanensis
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Odorrana dulongensis
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Odorrana exiliversabilis
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Odorrana fengkaiensis
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Odorrana geminata
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Odorrana gigatympana
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Odorrana grahami
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Odorrana graminea
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Odorrana hainanensis
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Odorrana heatwolei
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Odorrana hejiangensis
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Odorrana hosii – Hose's frog
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Odorrana huanggangensis
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Odorrana ichangensis
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Odorrana indeprensa (Bain & Stuart, 2005)
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Odorrana ishikawae – Ishikawa's frog
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Odorrana jingdongensis
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Odorrana junlianensis
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Odorrana khalam
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Odorrana kuangwuensis
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Odorrana kweichowensis
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Odorrana leishanensis
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Odorrana leporipes
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Odorrana liboensis
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Odorrana lipuensis
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Odorrana livida
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Odorrana lungshengensis
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Odorrana macrotympana
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Odorrana margaretae
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Odorrana mawphlangensis
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Odorrana monjerai
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Odorrana morafkai
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Odorrana mutschmanni Pham, Nguyen, Le, Bonkowski, and Ziegler, 2016
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Odorrana nanjiangensis Fei, Ye, Xie & Jiang, 2007
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Odorrana narina – Ryukyu tip-nosed frog
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Odorrana nasica – Long-snout torrent frog (formerly in Amolops)
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Odorrana nasuta
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Odorrana orba
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Odorrana rotodora
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Odorrana sangzhiensis
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Odorrana schmackeri
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Odorrana sinica
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Odorrana splendida
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Odorrana supranarina
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Odorrana swinhoana
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Odorrana tianmuii
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Odorrana tiannanensis
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Odorrana tormota – Concave-eared torrent frog
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Odorrana trankieni
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Odorrana utsunomiyaorum
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Odorrana versabilis
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Odorrana wuchuanensis
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Odorrana yentuensis
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Odorrana yizhangensis
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Odorrana zhaoi
In addition, the Phu Luang cliff frog (presently Huia aureola) might belong in Odorrana too.
Footnotes
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(2007): Paraphyly of Chinese Amolops (Anura, Ranidae) and phylogenetic position of the rare Chinese frog, Amolops tormotus. Zootaxa 1531: 49–55. PDF fulltext
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(2008): The phylogenetic problem of Huia (Amphibia: Ranidae). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 46(1): 49-60. PDF fulltext
