Description of a new species of Pseudophilautus (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae) from southern Sri Lanka

Abstract

We describe a new Pseudophilautus species, P. conniffae sp. nov. from southern Sri Lanka. It was previously confused with Pseudophilautus rus (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda). The new species differs from the latter by the combination of the following characters: fourth toe webbing to penultimate subarticular tubercle on inner and outer sides (vs. fourth toe webbing in between penultimate and anetpenultimate subarticular tubercles on inner and outer sides), presence of conical median lingual process (vs. absent), and black patches on the posterior flank, anterior and posterior edges of the thigh (vs. black patches on the anterior surface of the thigh). Pseudophilautus conniffae sp. nov. may be sympatric with P. limbus (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda), which shares certain characters with the new species. The new species is, however, distinguished from P. limbus by the following characters: having supernumerary tubercles on manus (vs. lacking), absence of frontoparietal ridges (vs. presence), fourth toe webbing to penultimate subarticular tubercle on both sides (vs. fourth toe webbing between penultimate and anetpenultimate subarticular tubercle on both sides), third toe webbing to distal subarticular tubercle on both sides (vs. distal subarticular tubercle on outer side and below penultimate subarticular tubercle on inner side), and having the dorsum light brown with dark brown patches (vs. black and yellow variegated pattern on dorsum). The new species may be restricted to the southwestern wet zone of Sri Lanka. It is compared with all known Pseudophilautus species and also provided with a field key to identify it from those species that are sympatric with it or inhabit the southwestern wet zone.

A review of amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka: distribution, recent taxonomic changes and conservation

“…The distribution of species are based on the data gathered from previously published literature: monographs (Dutta and Manamendra-Arachchi, 1996;Manamendra-Arachchi and Pethiyagoda, 2006), periodicals (Fernando et al, 2007;Wickramasinghe et al, 2012a, b;Wickramasinghe et al, 2013b;Batuwita et al, 2019b), reports, IUCN (19992012), WCSG (20082009), together with personal observations based on field observations by the first three authors during 1997 to 2014. Elevations were classified as follows: (1) Low elevations (<800 m), (2) Mid-elevations (~800 m to ~1700 m), and (3) High elevations (1700 m to 2500 m).…”

“…Manamendra-Arachchi and considered this species as a Data Deficient taxon. In addition, subsequent new species descriptions raised the Pseudophilautus species assemblage up to 77 (Meegaskumbura and Manamendra-Arachchi, 2011;Meegaskumbura et al, 2007;2009;Wickramasinghe et al, 2013a;Batuwita et al, 2019b). In addition to Pseudophilautus species, several new species were also added to the Sri Lankan amphibian assemblage as well (Fernando et al, 1994;Fernando and Siriwardhane, 1996;Manamendra-Arachchi and Gabadage, 1996;Manamendra-Arachchi and Pethiyagoda, 1998;2001a, b;Fernando et al, 2007;Wickramasinghe et al, 2012a;Wijayathilaka et al, 2015;Senevirathne et al, 2018).…”

“…Currently, the amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka consists of five families: Bufonidae Gray, Dicroglossidae Anderson, Ichthyophiidae Taylor, Microhylidae Günther, and Rhacophoridae Hoffman (Frost, 2006). Sri Lanka is also known as a country with amphibian "megadiversity" with about 250 species (Pethiyagoda and Manamendra-Arachchi, 1998), but to date, this number should revise to 120 (Dutta, 1997;Manamendra-Arachchi and Pethiyagoda, 2006;Fernando et al, 2007;Biju et al, 2014;Jayawardena et al, 2017;Meegaskumbura et al, 2015;Frost, 2018;Senevirathne et al, 2018;Batuwita et al, 2019b). This is only second to Journal of Animal Diversity (2019) | © Lorestan University Press Costa Rica (Table 1), due to the highest density of species per unit area (~1.8 species per 1000 km 2 ).…”

Molecular species delimitation of shrub frogs of the genus Pseudophilautus (Anura, Rhacophoridae)

“…The genus Pseudophilautus currently contains 59 extant species in Sri Lanka [ 5 ]. Many of these were described relatively recently [ 14 – 21 ]. Some of these species are cryptic and hence difficult to identify from morphology alone, though validated in molecular analyses; others (e.g., [ 20 , 21 ]) are based on morphological data alone.…”

“…Many of these were described relatively recently [ 14 – 21 ]. Some of these species are cryptic and hence difficult to identify from morphology alone, though validated in molecular analyses; others (e.g., [ 20 , 21 ]) are based on morphological data alone. As of now, molecular data are available, at least for a single locus, for 49 of the 59 extant Sri Lankan Pseudophilautus (See S1 Table ).…”