Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1621 No. 1: 23 Oct. 2007
Type: Article
Published: 2007-10-23
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1621.1.1
Page range: 1–16
Abstract views: 63
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of Philautus Gistel (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from southern Western Ghats, India

Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, Karnataka, India
Western Ghats Field Research Station (WGFRS), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI),Calicut – 673 002, Kerala, India
Western Ghats Field Research Station (WGFRS), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI),Calicut – 673 002, Kerala, India
Western Ghats Field Research Station (WGFRS), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI),Calicut – 673 002, Kerala, India
Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, Karnataka, India
Amphibia Philautus ochlandrae sp.nov. shrub frogs Western Ghats Ochlandra setigera Gamble advertisement calls

Abstract

A new species of the oriental shrub frog genus Philautus is described from Kakkayam Reserve Forest of Calicut district, Kerala state, in the southern Western Ghats. This species is distinguished from congeners by the combination of characters such as body small, elongate, squat and flat; head arched, wider than long; snout short rounded, equal or sub equal to diameter of eye; canthus rostralis rounded; tympanum indistinct but visible; eyes protruding, pupil with striking golden yellow dentition like marks; belly granular; vocal sac unpigmented; fleshy brown to cream yellow dorsum with two distinct golden yellow lateral bands bordered by dark brown from upper eyelid to the posterior part of flanks. A description of the advertisement calls and ecology and natural history notes are also provided for the new species which so far is only known from the type locality.

References

  1. Aravind, N.A., Tambat, B., Ravikanth, G., Ganeshaiah, K.N. & Uma Shaanker, R. (2007) Patterns of species discovery in the Western Ghats, a megadiversity hot spot in India. Journal of Bioscience, 32, 781–790.

    Biju, S.D. & Bossuyt, F. (2005a) Two new Philautus (Anura: Ranidae, Rhacophorinae) from Ponmudi hill in the Western Ghats of India. Copeia, 1, 29–37.

    Biju, S.D. & Bossuyt, F. (2005b) A new species of frog (Ranidae, Rhacophorinae, Philautus) from the rainforest canopy in the Western Ghats, India. Current Science, 88, 175–178.

    Biju, S.D. & Bossuyt, F. (2005c) New species of Philautus (Anura: Ranidae, Rhacophorinae) from Ponmudi hill in the Western Ghats of India. Journal of Herpetology, 39, 349–353.

    Biju, S.D. & Bossuyt, F. (2006) Two new species of Philautus (Anura, Ranidae, Rhacophorinae) from the Western Ghats, India. Amphibia–Reptilia, 27, 1–9.

    Bossuyt, F. (2002) A new species of Philautus (Anura: Ranidae) from the Western Ghats. Journal of Herpetology, 36, 656–661.

    Bossuyt, F. & Dubois, A. (2001) A review of the frog genus Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae, Rhacophorinae). Zeylanica, 6, 1–12.

    Bossuyt, F., Meegaskumbura, M., Beenaerts, N., Gower, D.J., Pethiyagoda, R., Roelants, K., Mannaert, A., Wilkinson, M., Bahir, M.M., Manamendra–Arachchi, K., Ng, P.K.L., Schneider, C.J., Oommen, O.V. & Milinkovitch, M.C. (2004) Local endemism within the Western Ghats–Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot. Science, 306, 479–481.

    Chaitra, M. S., Vasudevan, K. & Shankar, K. (2004) The biodiversity bandwagon: The splitters have it. Current Science, 86, 897–899.

    Chanda, S.K. (2002) Hand book–Indian amphibians. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India. pp.148–170.

    Daniels, R.J.R. (2005) Amphibians of peninsular India. Universities Press (India) Private Limited, Hyderabad, India. pp.141–160.

    Das, A., Krishnaswamy, J., Bawa, K.S., Kiran, M.C., Srinivas, V., Kumar, N.S. & Karanth, K.U. (2006) Prioritization of conservation areas in the Western Ghats, India. Biological Conservation, 133, 16–31.

    Dubois, A. (2003) The relationships between taxonomy and conservation biology in the century of extinctions. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 326, S9–S21.

    Duellman, W.E. & Trueb, L. (1994) Biology of amphibians. The John Hopkins University Press, Maryland, USA. pp.22–28.

    Giacomo, C. & Castellano, S. (2001) Advertisement call variation and speciation in the Bufo viridis complex. In: Ryan, M.J. (ed). Anuran communication. Smithsonian University Press, Washington. pp.205–219.

    Gururaja, K.V. & Ramachandra, T.V. (2006) Developmental mode in white–nosed shrub frog Philautus cf. leucorhinus. Current Science, 90, 450–454.

    Gururaja, K.V., Aravind, N.A., Sameer Ali, Ramachandra, T.V., Velavan, T.P., Krishnakumar, V. & Aggarwal, R.K. (2007) A new frog species from the central Western Ghats of India, and its phylogenetic position. Zoological Science, 24, 525–534.

    Kuramoto, M. & Joshy, S.H. (2003) Two new species of the genus Philautus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, southwestern India. Current Herpetology, 22, 51–60.

    Manamendra–Arachchi, K. & Pethiyagoda, R. (2005) The Sri Lankan shrub–frogs of the genus Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Ranidae: Rhacophorinae), with description of 27 new species. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl.12, 163–303.

    Nair, S.C. (1991) The Southern Western Ghats. A Biodiversity Conservation Plan. Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. New Delhi. 93pp.