Sauter's Brown Frog

About the Sauter's Brown Frog

Rana sauteri is a species of true frog endemic to Taiwan. It inhabits low-altitude hill forests and the associated streams. It is an endangered species threatened by habitat loss due to agriculture and infrastructure development. Common names recorded for Rana sauteri include Kanshirei Village frog, Taiwan groove-toed frog, Sauter's brown frog, and Taiwan pseudotorrent frog.

Rana sauteri was first described in 1909 by George Albert Boulenger on the basis of specimens collected on Taiwan by one H. Sauter. Boulenger noted resemblances to Rana japonica and Rana mortenseni (now Hylarana mortenseni) and thought the species bridged part of the gap between Hylorana (now spelled Hylarana) and the Rana temporaria group of species. In 1920, however, Boulenger placed the species in the subgenus Hylorana of the genus Rana. In 1991, Fei and colleagues placed it in a new genus Pseudorana together with Rana sangzhiensis and Rana weiningensis, and in 2000 they even placed it in a genus of its own, Pseudoamolops, because they thought it was more closely related to Amolops frogs than to other species of Pseudorana. However, molecular data place Rana sauteri well within the genus Rana,... Wikipedia →