Scaling new heights: first record of Boulenger’s Lazy Toad Scutiger boulengeri (Amphibia: Anura: Megophryidae) from high altitude lake in Sikkim Himalaya, India
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Abstract
Frogs in the genus Scutiger of the family Megophryidae are the highest altitude frogs in the world, and are endemic to eastern Himalaya. Here, we report the occurrence of Scutiger boulengeri (Bedriaga, 1898) in one of the highest altitude lakes in the world, Lake Gurudongmar. This is the first report of Scutiger boulengeri from India and the first record of any amphibian species to be found at an altitude as high as 5270m, thus setting a world record for the highest altitude frog. Scutiger sikimmensis (Blyth, 1855) is another species of the genus Scutiger found in this region. This species is often confused with Scutiger boulengeri due to similar morphology and habitat overlap. We provide a detailed account of both S. boulengeri and S. sikimmensis based on morphology and molecular identification techniques.
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