A bush frog with multiple names: New populations of Raorchestes kempiae (Boulenger, 1919) and reassessment of the taxonomic status of Philautus namdaphaensis (Sarkar and Sanyal, 1985) and Raorchestes manipurensis (Mathew and Sen, 2009)

We examined morphological and phylogenetic relationships of the bush frog species Raorchestes kempiae and two other species described from within its distribution range: Philautus namdaphaensis from Arunachal Pradesh and R. manipurensis from Manipur. A short fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene was used to assess their phylogenetic relationships. All sequenced specimens, including material from near the type localities of Raorchestes kempiae , Philautus namdaphaensis , and R. manipurensis , were genetically similar, with pairwise uncorrected distances of <=0.5% in the 16S rRNA gene. Raorchestes kempiae (Boulenger 1919), is the first available nomen for this taxon; therefore, we propose to treat Philautus namdaphaensis (Sarkar and Sanyal 1985) syn. nov. and Raorchestes manipurensis (Mathew and Sen 2009) syn. nov. as junior subjective synonyms of this nomen. This study presents a novel case of remarkable genetic homogeneity across a vast range (EOO 210,677.79 km 2 ), which is uncommon among members of this genus. Based on the findings here, following previous work, we also recommend reclassifying it from Critically Endangered to Least Concern.