ON THE IDENTITY OF TWO Fejervarya FROG (DICROGLOSSIDAE) SPECIES FROM THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ARCHIPELAGO

Abstract

The taxonomic status of the large-sized Fejervarya frogs of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was assessed based on integrative analysis of molecular, morphological and acoustic data. Our results identify the population from the Andaman Islands as Fejervarya moodiei, and that from the Nicobar Islands as F. limnocharis. Representative specimens collected during this study are described along with observations on their natural history. The distribution of F. moodiei within the Andaman Islands and F. limnocharis in the Nicobar Islands recorded during this study are mapped, suggesting that these species are fairly widespread.

First report of Fejervarya moodiei (Taylor, 1920) (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the state of West Bengal, India

“…Morphological characters of the specimens were measured using Mitutoyo TM digital callipers (to the nearest 0.1 mm). The species was identified following the description of Chandramouli et al (2020). The second author had the opportunity of examining and measuring five specimens of the Crab-eating Frog (Fejervarya cancrivora) at the Department of Systematics et Evolution, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France in 2013.…”

“…Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on 22 morphometric variables according to Chandramouli et al (2020) from specimens of both F. moodiei (n= 3) and F. cancrivora (n= 5), using PAST 3.0. Before doing the PCA, a normality test was done for all the variables.…”

“…Satheeshkumar (2011) reported Fejervarya cancrivora Gravenhorst, 1829 from Veerampattinam of the mangroves of Pondicherry; Pillai (1991), Harikrishnan et al(2012) and Chandramouli et al (2015) reported the species from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Jena et al (2013) reported it from the Bhitarkanika mangroves in Odisha. However, recent studies by Deuti et al (2016) and Chandramouli et al (2020) clearly indicates that it is not F. cancrivora Gravenhorst, 1829but Fejervarya moodiei Taylor, 1920 that is present in the Indian Subcontinent.…”

“…Whereas, F. moodiei was first described from Manila, Luzon in Philippines and presently it occurs in various regions of South and Southeast Asia namely, Odisha, Pondicherry and Andaman Islands in India, southern China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and Luzon Island in the Philippines (Frost, 2021). It was first reported from India by Deuti et al (2016) and its confirmed reports are known only from a handful of locations till date-Bhitarkanika mangroves and Bichitrapur mangroves (Odisha), Pondicherry mangroves (Pondicherry UT) (Deuti et al, 2016) and Andaman Islands (Chandramouli et al, 2020). This species has not been yet reported from West Bengal, which may be due to the fact that not many studies were done on the amphibians of the Sunderban mangroves and the coastal regions Journal of Animal Diversity (2021) | © Lorestan University Press (Mukherjee, 1975;Mandal and Nandi, 1989;Varadaraju, 2009) and the researchers may have overlooked this species.…”