AmphibiaChina 中国两栖类.

Description
Rana huanrensis adult males measure up to 53.4 mm and adult females up to 58.8 mm SVL. Males have longer limbs, more developed forelimbs, and lack internal vocal sacs (Yang et al. 2000). It is morphologically similar to R. dybowskii; however, R. huanrensis can be distinguished by ventral coloration (see below) and absence of vocal sacs in males (present and paired in R. dybowskii (Kim et al. 2002). Male members of R. huanrensis also have a smaller SVL, relatively long lower arms, and shorter tibias, femurs, and feet compared to males of R. dybowskii (Yang et al. 2000).

Dorsal coloration is greyish, brown, brown-olive, or olive for Rana huanrensis . Dark spots may or may not be present (Kuzmin 1999). The male ventral color pattern is yellowish-gray, with tiny black dots covering the throat and chest. Females also have the tiny black dots covering the throat and chest, and during breeding season, the female ventral color is yellowish-green (Kim et al. 2002). In contrast, the sympatric species R. dybowskii can be distinguished by a milky white venter in males and red throat and chest patches in females (Kim et al. 2002).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: China, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Korea, Republic of

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (10 records).

China: Huanren County, Liaoning Province (near NW North Korean border)

Republic of Korea: Rana huanrensis lives in valleys in high montane regions, above 500 m in elevation (Yang et al. 2000).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The breeding season for Rana huanrensis is late spring to early summer. (Liu et al. 2004). Unlike most East Asian brown frogs that breed in still water, R. huanrensis breeds in slow-moving montane streams and rivers (Yang et al. 2000). Eggs are laid in moderately small masses that are attached to submerged rocks. The diameter of an egg mass is approximately 10 cm (Yang et al. 2000).

Trends and Threats
This species has a relatively wide range of distribution. It is unlikely to be declining, although it may suffer from mass collection for Chinese medicine. Due to the low number of confirmed populations for this species, it could qualify as Vulnerable under IUCN Red List criterion B1ab(iii), but is listed as Least Concern based on the assumption of widespread occurrence, especially in the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (North Korea) (IUCN 2006).

Relation to Humans
The Huanren frog is used for food and traditional Chinese medicine (IUCN 2006).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Intentional mortality (over-harvesting, pet trade or collecting)

Comments
This frog is sympatric with Rana dybowskii. Both frogs belong to the brown frog group. Rana huanrensis is morphologically and karyologically similar to R. dybowskii, and was originally misidentified in South Korea due to this similarity. However, R. huanrensis can be visibly distinguished by its ventral coloration patterns and lack of vocal sacs (Kim et al. 2002).

Those literate in Chinese can find more information at the Sichuan Journal of Zoology. Those literate in Korean can find more information at DAPTF.

References

Dubois, A., Crombie, R. I., and Glaw, F. (2005). ''Recent amphibians: generic and infrageneric taxonomic additions (1981-2002).'' Alytes, 1.2(23), 25-69.

IUCN, Conservation International, and NatureServe. (2006). Global Amphibian Assessment: Rana huanrenensis. [Internet]. www.globalamphibians.org. Accessed on 26 September 2007.

Kim, J., Min, M., Yang, S., and Matsui, M. (2002). ''Genetic relationships among Korean brown frog species (Anura, Ranidae) with special reference to evolutionary divergences between two allied species Rana dybowskii and R. huanrenensis.'' Zoological Science, 19, 369-382.

Kuzmin, S. L. (1999). The Amphibians of the Former Soviet Union. Pensoft, Sofia-Moscow.

Liu, M., Liu, Y., and Li, J. (2004). ''Reproductive habits of Rana huanrenensis.'' Sichuan Journal of Zoology, 23(3), 183-184.

Yang, S., Kim, J., Min, M., Suh, J., Kang, Y., Matsui, M., and Fei, L. (2000). ''First record of a Brown Frog Rana huanrenensis (Family Ranidae) from Korea.'' Korean Journal of Biological Science, 4, 45-50.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2011 Rana huanrensis: Huanren Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5055> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 4, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 4 Nov 2024.

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