New distributional records of the Baibung Small Treefrog, Theloderma baibungense (Jiang, Fei, and Huang 2009) (Anura: Rhacophoridae), from Mizoram, India with comments on taxonomy, natural history and conservation status.

Abstract

T he genus Theloderma Tschudi 1838 (Bug-eyed Treefrogs) comprises 26 currently recognized species that are distributed in northeastern India, Myanmar, southern China, and throughout southeastern Asia (Frost 2021). Information on these frogs is very limited and species delineation for this group is quite challenging, largely due to morphological similarity but also because many species are poorly represented in museum collections, with some known only from a single or a few sampling sites (Nguyen et al. 2014(Nguyen et al. , 2016. The Baibung Small Treefrog (Theloderma baibungense) is known from the type locality in Beibung, Medog County, Tibet, China, to northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Nagaland) and northeastern Bangladesh (Lawachara National Park) (Frost 2021). Members of the T. asperum species complex from southern Asia have been identified as either T.