Range extension of the Western Burrowing Frog, Sphaerotheca pashchima (Anura: Dicroglossidae), in central and northern India with an overview of the distribution of other Indian species in the Genus Sphaerotheca

Dandekar, Nikhil; Sulakhe, Shauri; Padhye, Anand

doi:10.17161/randa.v27i3.14853

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…These authors also suggested the presence of this taxon in the state of Rajasthan. Recent molecular studies have thus unraveled the long-standing mystery in restricting the distribution range of S. breviceps to the east coastal plains of India [4,7]. However, a new study [8] from the material originating from type localities of two taxa from Nepal (S. maskeyi, S. swani) showed that S. pashchima is conspecific with S. maskeyi and thus this former taxon should be its junior synonym.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, Pakistan is also known to harbor S. strachani (Murray, 1884) from the type locality Sindh (Mulleer = Malir, near Karachi), with so far, unclear taxonomic status. However, the overall distribution and the diversity of the genus based on genetic data from India and Nepal suggest that the Pakistani populations should not be assigned under previously mentioned taxa [4,5,7,8]. Therefore, we bring the first genetic data of the genus Sphaerotheca from northern Pakistan (Figure 1) to provide arguments for its genetic affiliation that could resolve the taxonomy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The genus originated in the Oriental zoogeographical region and the territory of Pakistan represents the northern-and westernmost limit of the overall range of the genus [2,3]. Sphaerotheca frogs have high species diversity in the Indian subcontinent [4] and, due to descriptions of various taxa, changing taxonomy, and high genetic diversity with an unclear distribution, they are objects of several studies [5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revisited Molecular Phylogeny of the Genus Sphaerotheca (Anura: Dicroglossidae): The Biogeographic Status of Northernmost Populations and Further Taxonomic Changes

Jablonski

Masroor²,

Hofmann

2021

Diversity

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Heretofore, the populations of the genus Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Dicroglossidae) in their northern and western borders laying in Pakistan have been assigned to two species, S. breviceps (Schneider, 1799) and S. strachani (Murray, 1884). The genus has origin in the Oriental zoogeographic region and comes to close geographic proximity with the Palearctic region in Pakistan. The recent molecular studies have on one hand restricted the distribution range of S. breviceps to the eastern coastal plains of India and, on the other hand, revealed the northern- and westernmost population in India as a separate species, S. pashchima Padhye et al., 2017. This species has recently been synonymized with S. maskeyi (Schleich and Anders, 1998). These taxonomic changes, however, warranted the need for validation of Pakistani Sphaerotheca based on genetic data. We sequenced and analyzed 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene from specimens originating from the Himalayan foothills of Pakistan and compared these with all available GenBank sequences of the genus. Based on this data, we conclude that the Himalayan foothills of Pakistan are occupied by S. maskeyi. Simultaneously, we bring the first record of this species for the Palearctic region. We further suggest that more genetic material from across Pakistan is required to ascertain the validity of S. strachani and for the phylogeographic evaluation of western and northern border populations of the genus. Our geographically wide and revisited molecular phylogeny shows that the genus exhibits genetic diversity suggesting further taxonomic changes. The low level of genetic divergences between S. breviceps and S. magadha Prasad et al., 2019 compared to other species of the genus, indicates that the taxonomic status of S. magadha is questionable. Moreover, we found that S. magadha and S. swani (Mayers and Leviton, 1956) are genetically conspecific with S. breviceps and both should be thus considered as its junior synonyms. On the other hand, S. dobsonii and populations from Myanmar need further detailed investigations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Revisited Molecular Phylogeny of the Genus Sphaerotheca (Anura: Dicroglossidae): The Biogeographic Status of Northernmost Populations and Further Taxonomic Changes

Jablonski

Masroor²,

Hofmann

2021

Diversity

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“…Tadpoles of many larval stages sighted in ponds. Remarks: This species has been reported precisely from Chengelpet and Tadoba in India apart from Sri Lanka (Dahanukar et al, 2017;Dandekar et al, 2020). The current reports from intervening areas fill up gaps in its Indian geographic range.…”

Section: Jerdon's Burrowing Frog Sphaerotheca Pluvialis (Jerdon 1853)mentioning

confidence: 88%

“…New precise records of amphibians include the record of the dicroglossid Sphaerotheca pluvialus (Jerdon, 1853) a species that is so far known from parts of Southern Eastern Ghats, Coromandel Coast and Sri Lanka (Dahanukar et al, 2017; and recently reported from near Central India (Dandekar et al, 2020). Some observations were made on rangerestricted, potentially endemic frogs from this region including that of the ranids Indosylvirana sp., Hydrophylax sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herpetological diversity in the Central Eastern Ghats, Peninsular India

S.R.¹,

Guptha

2021

JAD

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Herpetological diversity of the Eastern Ghats hill range in the Indian peninsula has been mostly overlooked and incompletely documented. We here present information on the amphibian and reptile diversity in the poorly-explored Central Eastern Ghats hill range in peninsular India. Based on a 1,000-hour bioinventory study of the series of ranges between the Palar River (abutting Tamil Nadu) and the Krishna River (abutting Telangana) for about 10 months (300 field days), we present the following results. A total of 105 species of herpetofauna, consisting of 24 amphibian species, 35 lizard species, 42 snake species and 4 chelonian species were documented. Several new range extension records and new findings of rare species are discussed, substantiated by photovouchers, pre-existing museum specimens or both.

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Discovery and description of a new species of burrowing frog Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the suburban landscapes of Bengaluru, India

DEEPAK,

DINESH,

NAG

et al. 2024

Zootaxa

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Recent resolution of prevailing taxonomic ambiguities in the genus Sphaerotheca and new species discoveries from urban/suburban landscapes highlight the need for attention to non-forested habitats for amphibian conservation. In this paper, we review the status of the members of the genus Sphaerotheca and justify the synonymy of Sphaerotheca magadha as a junior synonym of Sphaerotheca swani. The prospects of resurrection of Sphaerotheca swani (herein preliminarily referred to as Sphaerotheca cf. breviceps [swani]) are discussed. In addition, we describe a new species Sphaerotheca varshaabhu sp. nov. from the suburban region of Bengaluru, India. We employ an integrative taxonomic approach to characterize the new species using molecular phylogeny, genetic distance, morphological characters, and geographical isolation as lines of evidence. We also provide a description of vocal repertoire of Sphaerotheca varshaabhu sp. nov. and provide comparative bioacoustics data for four species. This previously undescribed species from the suburban areas of Bengaluru described herein as Sphaerotheca varshaabhu sp. nov. forms a genetically divergent lineage and its genetic distance varied from 3.6% to 12.2% for 16S rRNA with respect to other species of Sphaerotheca. Our phylogenetic analysis for the genus including the new species confirms the synonymy of one recently described species, resulting in 10 valid species in the genus Sphaerotheca. These results emphasize the need for utilizing an integrative taxonomic approach for uncovering hidden diversity of suburban areas. Given these recent discoveries, we advocate for more robust surveys in human dominated areas, so that these amphibians may receive more attention.

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Range extension of the Western Burrowing Frog, Sphaerotheca pashchima (Anura: Dicroglossidae), in central and northern India with an overview of the distribution of other Indian species in the Genus Sphaerotheca

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

Revisited Molecular Phylogeny of the Genus Sphaerotheca (Anura: Dicroglossidae): The Biogeographic Status of Northernmost Populations and Further Taxonomic Changes

Revisited Molecular Phylogeny of the Genus Sphaerotheca (Anura: Dicroglossidae): The Biogeographic Status of Northernmost Populations and Further Taxonomic Changes

Herpetological diversity in the Central Eastern Ghats, Peninsular India

Discovery and description of a new species of burrowing frog Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the suburban landscapes of Bengaluru, India

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