Micrixalus fuscus (Boulenger, 1882)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Micrixalidae > Genus: Micrixalus > Species: Micrixalus fuscus

Ixalus fuscus Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 96. Syntypes: Many specimens in BMNH including animal figured in pl. 10, fig. 3 in the original publication; syntypes are BMNH 72.4.12.256, 74.4.29.258–265, 74.4.29.927–930, 74.4.29.1401–1404, 74.4.29.1459–64, 74.4.29.1506–08 according Dutta, 1985, In Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 461. Syntypes considered to be BMNH 1874.4.29–1506–1508 by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 53. BMNH 74.4.29.258 designated lectotype by Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 31. Type localities: "Travancore"; "Torocata"; "Anamallays"; "Sevagherry"; "Malabar"; "N. Canara" (all localities in India). Lectotype is from "Travancore", India. 

Micrixalus fuscus — Boulenger, 1888, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1888: 205.

Micrixalus herrei Myers, 1942, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 55: 71. Holotype: CAS-SU 7265, by original designation. Type locality: "Kallar, 30 miles northeast of Trivandrum, Travancore, South India". Synonymy by Inger, Shaffer, Koshy, and Bakde, 1984, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 81: 410.

Staurois fuscus — Forcart, 1946, Verh. Naturforsch. Ges. Basel, 57: 130.

English Names

Brown Tropical Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 102).

Dusky Torrent Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 211; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 46).

Kalakkad Dancing Frog (Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 31). 

Distribution

Western Ghats in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with its distribution restricted to south of Shencottah Gap; reported specifically in Kakkachi and Sengaltheri (Tirunelveli District) in Tamil Nadu state, and Athirimala and Pandipath (Thiruvananthapuram District) in Kerala state. 

Comment

See brief accounts by Inger, Shaffer, Koshy, and Bakde, 1984, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 81: 410–412, and Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 57–58 (who, page 58, also recognized Micrixalus herrei as distinct, without discussion). Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 139–140, provided range, systematic comments, and partial taxonomic bibliography. Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 211–212, provided an account. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 630, who suggested that this taxon is a species complex. A very brief characterization, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 59. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted no larval descriptions. Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 1–87, revised and redlimited the species to exclude a number of other new and revived species in the Micrixalus fuscus group; earlier literature therefore addresses composites of species in the Micrixalus fuscus group. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 66–67, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India. 

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