Anurans of the Meghamalai landscape, Western Ghats, India

 

G. Srinivas 1 & Subramanian Bhupathy 2

 

1 Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society, 96 Kumudham Nagar, VilankurichiRoad, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641035, India

1,2 Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatti(PO), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641108, India

1 sriniherp@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 bhupathy.s@gmail.com

 

 

Abstract: Meghamalai landscape, southern Western Ghats was surveyed for anurans from March 2006 to January 2009.  Including published data, a total of 35 species of anurans belonging to 19 genera and eight families have been reported from the area.  This includes 23 (65.7%) species endemic to the Western Ghats.  New locality records for four species namely, Fejervarya mudduraja, Raorchestes griet, R. ponmudi and Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricuswere obtained.  Several species recorded from the area are listed under various threat categories of IUCN Red List.  Further studies are required to understand the ecological requirements of the anurans of the landscape.

 

Keywords: Anuran diversity, conservation status, endemic species, High Wavy Mountains.

 

 

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3593.4973-8   |  ZooBank:urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5A2884C3-B85B-414A-958F-1233FB0253A2

 

Editor: Anonymity requested.           Date of publication: 26 November 2013 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # o3593 | Received 26 April 2013 | Final received 03 August 2013 | Finally accepted 10 October 2013

 

Citation: Srinivas, G. & S. Bhupathy (2013).Anurans of the Meghamalai landscape, Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(15): 4973–4978; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3593.4973-8

 

Copyright: © Srinivas & Bhupathy 2013. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India.

 

Competing Interest:Authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: This paper is an offshoot of a research project funded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. We are thankful to G.V. Subramanian and Naseem Ahmad (MoEF) for financial support; R. Sundararaju(PCCF & Chief Wildlife Warden) and Srinivas R. Reddy (District Forest Officer) for permission to work in the forest area and logistic support, and P.A. Azeez and N. Sathish Kumar and other colleagues at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, for encouragement and support at various levels. We thank K.V. Gururaja for helping us in species identification; and Yesudoss, Kumar and Munusamy for helping us in the fieldwork.

 

The publication of this article is supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank.

 

 

 

For figures, images, tables -- click here

 

 

Globally 7,044 species of amphibians have been reported (Frost 2013), and 342 species are known from India (Dinesh et al. 2012).  Of the 157 species reported from the Western Ghats, 135 (85.99%) are endemic to the hill range (Dinesh & Radhakrishnan 2011).  Though there are few studies that have looked at the ecological aspects of the amphibians in the Western Ghats, inventories of amphibians are available for many parts of the Ghats; 33 species from the Kerala part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (Easa 1998), 35 from KalakadWildlife Sanctuary (Cherian et al. 2000), 32 from Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (Vasudevanet al. 2001), and 40 from Anamalai Hills (Kumar et al. 2001) which are adjacent or in close vicinity to the Meghamalaiarea.

Meghamalai landscape is situated in the southern Western Ghats, which is also known as High Wavy mountains.  An understanding of its biodiversity is very crucial, this has been highlighted by Bhupathy et al. (2012).  However, no such exploration was carried out in the Meghamalai landscape especially on amphibians.  A study on the herpetofaunal mortality due to vehicular traffic along the interstate National Highway Cumbum–Kumuly (NH 220), that cuts across the landscape is available (Bhupathy et al. 2011).  In the present paper, we provide data on the amphibian fauna of Meghamalailandscape based on a study from March 2006 to January 2009 and published literature.

 

Materials and Methods

Time-constrained visual encounter surveys (TCVES) and quadrat search (size: 10x10 m) as described in Heyeret al. (1994) were used for data collection in three belt transects for a period of two years between December 2006 and November 2008 on a seasonal basis; dry (December–May) and wet (June–November) seasons (also see Bhupathy et al. 2009; Bhupathy& Sathishkumar 2013).  These transects (fixed width of 1000m) were located in Mavadi, Suruliand Vellimalai areas of Meghamalai(Fig. 1), and they measured 8.00km, 6.86km and 6.31km in length respectively.  On each belt transect, 100 hours (x 3 men), i.e., 300 man-hours of visual encounter survey and 100 quadrats of 1ha were sampled during each dry and wet season.  In all, 3600 man-hours of TCVES and 1200auadrats (12ha) were examined.  In addition, opportunistic observations of anurans in the area during March 2006 to January 2009 and data on anuran mortality in a 6km length of the Cumbum-KumulyNational Highway 220 that cut across Meghamalailandscape (see Bhupathy et al. 2011) were considered for analysis.

The anurans observed were identified based on keys and other publications (e.g., Vasudevan &Dutta 2000; Bossuyt 2002; Biju & Bossuyt 2005; Daniels 2005; Kuramoto et al. 2007), further the species identity was confirmed by K.V. Gururaja (Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban planning CISTURB).  Nomenclature followed herein is of Frost (2013), and the assessment of threat status of anuran species observed in the area was based on IUCN Red List (2013).

 

Results and Discussion

A total of 3166 of anurans belonging to 21 species, of 12 genera and eight families was recorded within these transects (Table 1).  No caecilian was observed in Meghamalai during this study.  The transect Mavadihad the highest record of 19 species and the least in Suruli(15 species).  Thirteen species were observed in all transects, whereas three species were found only in two transects.  Five species were recorded only in one transect; three species in Mavadi and two in Vellimalai(Table 1).  Indirana beddomii (731 individuals) is the most common species observed followed by Hylaranatemporalis (647) in all transects sampled.

Mavadi and Vellimalai transects had a higher number of anuran species and exclusive species (herein referred as restricted to one transect).  Higher anuran species richness in the above transects could be due to the presence of wet forests (tropical evergreen forest) and many streams.  Suruli area is relatively dry and has a few seasonal streams (Srinivasunpublished data).  Vasudevan et al. (2001) reported that amphibian distribution in the Western Ghats is largely restricted to forests adjoining streams.

In the present study, 19 species were recorded in TCVES, 14 in Quadrats, 26 in opportunistic observations (during random walks, night surveys) and six species during monitoring of roads for assessing herpetofaunal mortality due to vehicular traffic.  These findings show that adoption of various sampling methods is required to make a reasonable inventory of anurans.

Including a past record (1 species), a total of 35 anuran species are known to occur in the Meghamalailandscape, among them 23 (65.7%) are endemic to the Western Ghats.  Boulenger(1891) described Ixalus travancoricusbased on a specimen collected from Bodanayakkanur by Ferguson during 1891, deposited at the British Museum Natural History (now Natural History Museum, London). This species is currently known as Raorchestes travancoricus (Dinesh et al. 2012), which has not been recorded during the present study, and no report on its occurrence till the report by Biju & Bossyut(2009) from Vandiperiyar and Vagaman.  However, this species is still categorized under ‘Extinct’ category in IUCN Red List (2013).

Four recently described species namely, Raorchestes griet, R.ponmudi, Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus and Fejervarya mudduraja were recorded the landscape (Srinivas 2011). Raorchestes ponmudiwas described from Ponmudi Hills, Kerala by Biju & Bossuyt (2005).  Raorchestes griet was described by Bossuyt (2002) from Munnar, Kerala.  Subsequently, Biju & Bossyut (2009) reported both Raorchestes ponmudi and Raorchestes griet from Valparai, Anamalai Hills, Tamil Nadu.  Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus was described by Vasudevan & Dutta(2000) from Anamalai Hills, Tamil Nadu. This species was recorded in Sakkulathumedu, Kerala, which is about 60km from Valparai (Srinivaset al. 2009).  Kuramotoet al. (2007) described Fajervarya mudduraja based on specimens collected from Coorg, Karnataka. Srinivas (2011) reported this species as common in the landscape.

Meghamalai landscape with 35 species of anurans is comparable with the richness of other localities of the Western Ghats such as NilgiriBiosphere Reserve (29 species; Easa 1998), Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary (32 species; Cherianet al. 2000), and Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (29 species; Vasudevan et al. 2001) and Anamalai Hills (40 species; Kumar et al. 2001).  Naniwadekar& Vasudevan (2007) reported that intensive surveys in any hill range of the Western Ghats documented only 30–50 amphibian species.  The species richness of Meghamalai landscape is on par with the other sites in the Western Ghats, thus the landscape is equally important for the anurans and its conservation. High richness of various biota including anurans in Meghamalaiarea is due to availability of various forest types and wider elevation gradient (Bhupathy et al. 2012).

In Meghamalai, the highest number (18 species) of anurans was recorded from dry deciduous forests, followed by evergreen (15), and shola and grassland and moist deciduous forests (each 13 species). the lowest of six species were recorded in riverine forests.  Dry deciduous forests in the landscape are contiguous with human habitations and agricultural fields.  Greater habitat diversity has resulted in high species richness. Species inhabiting plains such as Duttaphrynus melanostictus, D. scaber, Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis, E. hexadactylus, Microhyla ornata, M. rubra, Sphaerotheca breviceps, Kaloula taprobanica, Uperodon systoma andPolypedates maculates were found in the area (Srinivas  2011 pers.obser.). Though, the species richness was high in dry deciduous forests, a higher number of endemics was observed in wet forests such as evergreen forests and montane shola-grasslands.

Of the 35 species recorded from the landscape, threat status assessment is available for only 31 species (Table 2).  Fajervarya mudduraja is a recently described species, and one species of the genus Raorchestes and Indirana could not be identified up to species level.  Threat status of anurans recorded from Meghamalai landscape is given in Table 2.  R. travancoricus is listed as ‘Extinct’, despite the report of this species by Biju & Bossyut (2009) in recent years.  Several anurans of the area are listed under ‘Critically Endangered’ (Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus, Raorchestes griet, R. ponmudi) and ‘Endangered’ (Nyctibatrachus aliciae, N. beddomii, Indirana leptodactyla,Pseudophilautus wynaadensis,Ghatixalus variabilis).  The actual threat status of recently described species (see above), and Fejervarya brevipalmata evaluatedas ‘Data Deficient’ will be known only after further studies.

 

 

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