Micrixalus phyllophilus (Jerdon, 1853)

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

Limnodytes ? phyllophila Jerdon, 1853, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 22: 532. Type(s): ZSIC; reported as lost by Jerdon, 1870, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1870: 67; lost, according to Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 51, who also designated as neotype the holotype of Ixalus opisthorhodus Günther, 1869, BMNH 1947.2.29.87. Type locality: "Western forests among dead leaves", in South India by implication; given as "Nilgiris", South India, by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 51. Considered a possible senior synonym of Ixalus opithorhodus by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 95, and Boulenger, 1890, Fauna Brit. India, Rept. Batr.: 465; this synonymy accepted by all subsequent authors, e.g., Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 51, except for Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 61, although the synonymy is now objective through the shared type specimen.

Ixalus opisthorhodus Günther, 1869 "1868", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868: 484. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.29.87 according to Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 22. Type locality: "Nilgherries [= Nilgiri Hills]", South India. Synonymy by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 51.

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

Micrixalus phyllophilus — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 50.

Common Names

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

Pink-thighed Torrent Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 215; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 48; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 7).

Black-banded Frog (Micrixalus opisthorhodus [no longer recognized]: Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 61).

Nilgiri Dancing Frog Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43(: 61). 

Distribution

High elevations (above 1800 m) of the Nilgiri Hills in the Western Ghats; specifically reported for Avalanche, Longwood Shola, and Naduvattam (Nilgiris District) in Tamil Nadu and adjacent Kerala (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 61- 62, provided a brief account (as Micrixalus opisthorhodus). Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 140-141, provided range, systematic comments, and partial taxonomic bibliography. Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 215-216, provided an account. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 486. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted one larval descriptions in the literature. Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 48, reported the species in Karnataka. A very brief characterization, photograph, and dot map (now inaccurate due to subsequent taxonomic changes) provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 64. In the Micrixalus silvaticus group of Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 1-87, who revised the species and provided a dot map that takes into account recent recognitions of additional species requiring the delimitation of the former widespread range. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 72–73, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India, although the specifics of the mapped Kerala locality were not provided.   

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