Two New Species of Cricket Frogs of the Genus <I>Fejervarya bolkay</I>, 1915 (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the Peninsular India

Abstract

The Dicroglossidae frogs of genus Fejervarya Bolkay, 1915 are morphologically cryptic and represented by one of the widespread group of frogs across the tropical Asia comprising about 45 species. Being morphologically cryptic, taxonomic status for many of the species remains uncertain. Recent studies using integrative taxonomic approach have revealed the existence of many novel and hitherto undescribed species. Herewith, we describe two new species of Fejervarya viz. Fejervarya kalinga sp. nov. and Fejervarya krishnan sp. nov. from peninsular India having morphological and phylogenetic distinctness. Detailed morphological descriptions and comparisons with the known congeners along with their systematic relationship inferred from phylogenetic analyses are presented herein. Taxonomic problems within the genus for the peninsular India and the pattern of phylogenetic relationships are also presented.

Bioacoustics, breeding ecology and range of the Kerala warty frog Minervarya cf. keralensis from north of the Palghat gap, central Western Ghats

“…Minervarya nilagirica is predominantly from the central Western Ghats but is also reported from the southern Western Ghats and the southern part of the Eastern Ghats (Biju & Garg, 2021). M. kalinga is known from northern part of the Eastern Ghats (Raj et al, 2018), central Western Ghats (Hegde et al, 2020) and northern Western Ghats (Biju & Garg, 2021) while M. keralensis is predominantly from the southern Western Ghats (Biju & Garg, 2021) but this study reports it from north of Palghat gap, in the central Western Ghats with a range extension of about 85 kms. Within the Peninsular India this group is distributed in highly elevated forest areas.…”

“…6). Among the minervaryans, the M. nilagirica group consists of large bodied frogs and large body size may enable them to be active and reproduce after the monsoon (dry periods) in peninsular India, as they are likely to be less prone to desiccation than the smaller minervaryan frogs (Raj et al, 2018;Hegde et al, 2020;unpublished data). Most minevaryan frogs breed in the pre-monsoon period or during the monsoon (Fig.…”

“…regions of the central Western Ghats, we have undertaken regular visual encounter and acoustics surveys (Rödel & Ernst, 2004) throughout the year. Frogs were identified to species level by observing morphological characters based on the available taxonomic descriptions and literature (Garg & Biju, 2021;Hegde et al, 2020;Raj et al, 2018).…”

Phylogenetic relationships in the cricket tribe Xenogryllini (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Eneopterinae) and description of the Indian genusIndigryllusgen. nov.

“…Since the species was never found again in the same area, we hypothesize that its type locality may not correspond to the natural habitat of the species. The Western Ghats is one of the biodiversity centers in India; therefore, it has been a focus region for numerous recent faunal discoveries in diverse groups such as frogs, birds, shield tail snakes, and lizards (e.g., Kuramoto & Joshy, 2003;Giri, Gower, & Wilkinson, 2004;Biju & Bossuyt, 2005Biju, Bocxlaer, Giri, Loader, & Bossuyt, 2009;Robin et al, 2017;Jins, Sampaio, & Gower, 2018;Sadasivan, Ramesh, Palot, Ambekar, & Mirza, 2018;Raj et al, 2018;Agarwal, Khandekar, Ramakrishnan, Vyas, & Giri, 2018). In the last two decades, only a handful of new cricket species belonging to Gryllidae, Phalangopsidae and Pteroplistinae have been described (Desutter-Grandcolas & Jaiswara, 2012;Gorochov, 2002Gorochov, , 2003Gorochov, , 2009Gorochov, , 2018Jaiswara & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2014).…”

Bioacoustics Reveal Hidden Diversity in Frogs: Two New Species of the Genus Limnonectes from Myanmar (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae)

“…The anuran family Dicroglossidae has its center of distribution and greatest species diversity in South, Southeast, and East Asia as well as on the islands of the Sunda Shelf and the Philippines but is also known from northwestern and sub-Saharan Africa across the southern Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan [1]. The great number of new species described every year (e.g., [2][3][4]) shows that this group of frogs is understudied. Obviously, much more field and lab work is needed to evaluate the actual diversity and better understand their phylogenetic relationships.…”