Additional
record of Resplendent Bush Frog Raorchestes resplendens (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India
Jobin Joseph 1, K.M. Jobin 2 & P.O. Nameer3
1,2,3 Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala
Agricultural University, Thrissur. 680 656. Kerala.
India.
Email: 1 jjnjoseph10@gmail.com,2 jobinmathew00@gmail.com, 3 nameerpo@gmail.com
(corresponding author)
Date of publication
(online): 26 September 2012
Date of publication (print):
26 September 2012
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Sanjay Molur
Manuscript details:
Ms # o3214
Received 21 May 2012
Finally accepted 11
September 2012
Citation: Joseph,
J., K.M. Jobin & P.O. Nameer (2012). Additional record
of Resplendent Bush Frog Raorchestes resplendens (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(11): 3082–3084.
Copyright: © Jobin Joseph, K.M. Jobin &
P.O. Nameer 2012. Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium
for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate
credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: We thank
the Warden and the Assistant Wildlife Warden, EravikulamNational Park for permission to enter the core zone of the EravikulamNational Park. We thank M. Pradeepkumar, for
providing the map of Eravikulam National Park. Our
thanks are due to Sachin K Aravindfor his support. We are grateful to the Associate Dean, College of Forestry for
the encouragement and support.
Raorchestes resplendens Biju, Souche, Dubois, Dutta & Bossuyt, is an endemic and Critically Endangered (IUCN SSC
Amphibian Specialist Group 2011) species of rhacophoridthat was described in the year 2010 from Anamudisummit of Eravikulam National Park, in the Western
Ghats (Biju et al. 2010). As of today, the species is known only
from the type locality, the Anamudi summit, which is
the highest point in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 2695m. According to Bijuet al. (2010) R. resplendens is highly
restricted in its distribution, less than 3km2 around the summit of Anamudi.
On 3 May
2012, during the course of the Nilgiri Tahr Nilgiritragus hylocrius survey at EravikulamNational Park, we spotted and photographed one R. resplendensfrom the Poovar region of EravikulamNational Park. Poovaris about 20km (on ground) north east of Anamudisummit (Images 1 & 2). The GPS
location of the present sighting is 10017’07.04”N
and 77006’10.8”E, at an altitude of 2522m. The macro habitat of the Poovar is grassland-shola forests, while the R. resplendens was sighted in the grassland (Image 3) and
was seen within the grass clump. The nearby shola patch from the current sighting is at least 1km away.
Raorchestes resplendens is a brightly colouredfrog (Images 4 & 5), with reddish-orange upper side, including the dorsal
parts of limbs, fingers and toes. The groin and inner side of the thighs are black, ventral side pale
yellow, with irregular oval top hexagonal granulation, and bright red iris.
Biju et al. (2010) did not sight any
individual of R. resplendens outside the type
locality. Thus, the present
sighting of R. resplensens from Poovar region within EravikulamNational Park, ~20km north-east off the type locality,
could be the first site record of the R. resplensensoutside the type locality. It is
likely that R. resplensens may be more
widespread in the high altitude primary grasslands of EravikulamNational Park and surrounding areas of the Western Ghats, than it was earlier
thought. The tiny size snout-vent
length of 22.7–24.5 mm, (Biju et al. 2010), the
cryptic behaviour and specialised micro-habitat requirement such as the grassy clump
among the high altitude grasslands, all put together make R. resplensens an elusive frog.
Reference
Biju, S.D., Y. Shouche, A. Dubois, S.K. Dutta& F. Bossuyt (2010). A ground-dwelling rhacophoridfrog from the highest mountain peak of the Western Ghats of India. Current Science98(8): 1119–1125.
IUCN
SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2011). Raorchestes resplendens.
In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.Version 2012.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>.
Downloaded on 15 September 2012.