Catalogue of herpetological specimens from Meghalaya, India at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History

Main Article Content

S.R. Chandramouli
R.S. Naveen
S. Sureshmarimuthu
S. Babu
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4112-6331
P.V. Karunakaran
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4376-6068
Honnavalli N. Kumara

Abstract

We present a catalogue of herpetological specimens collected from select community reserves of Meghalaya, northeastern India. The collection comprises a total of 75 species of the herpetofauna, including 29 species of amphibians from 20 genera in seven families and 46 species of reptiles from 30 genera, in 10 families. We provide the details on number of examples, sex, museum numbers, and collection details including location and collector along with the relevant remarks where applicable. A total of five species of amphibians and four species of reptiles remain to be resolved systematically since no precise name could be attributed to them.

Article Details

Section
Short Communications

References

Agarwal, I. & V.K. Mistry (2008). Bufo stuarti from western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology 15: 166–168.

Al-Razi, H., M. Maria & N. Poyarkov (2021). Integrative taxonomic analysis reveals a new species of Leptobrachium Tschudi, 1838 (Anura, Megophryidae) from Bangladesh. Journal of Natural History 55(1–2): 85–114.

Boruah, B., P. Raj, S.K. Dutta & A. Das (2018). Redescription and geographic distribution of Raorchestes shillongensis (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from Meghalaya, Northeast India. Phyllomedusa 17: 3–20.

Ceríaco, L.M.P. & M.M. Pimentel (2019). New Uses for an Old and Abandoned Colonial Collection: The herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (Lisbon, Portugal). Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 3: e37268.

Chanda, S.K., I. Das & A. Dubois (2000). Catalogue of amphibian types in the collection of the zoological survey of India. Hamadryad 25: 100–128.

Chandramouli, S.R., D. Ankaiah, V. Arul, S.K. Dutt & S.R. Ganesh (2019). On the taxonomic status of Minervarya granosa (Kuramoto, Joshy, Kurabayashi & Sumida, 2008) and the distribution of M. agricola (Jerdon, 1853) Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology 8: 84–87.

Chandramouli, S.R., P. Karthik, R.S. Naveen, S. Babu, P.V. Karunakaran & H.N. Kumara (2021). A two-colored forestsnake, Smithophis bicolor (Blyth 1855) (Reptilia: Natricidae), from the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 28(1): 24–25.

Da Silva, F.R., D.B. Provete, L.K. Gerassi & R.P. Bovo (2017). What do Data from Fieldwork and Scientific Collections Tell us about Species Richness and Composition of Amphibians and Reptiles? South American Journal of Herpetology 12: 99–106.

Das, A., M. Chetia, S.K. Dutta & S. Sengupta (2013). A new species of Duttaphrynus (Anura: Bufonidae) from northeast India. Zootaxa 3646(4): 336–348.

Das, I. & N. Chaturvedi (1998). Catalogue of the herpetological types in the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society. Hamadryad 23(2): 150–156.

Das, I., B. Dattagupta & N.C. Gayen (1998). History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History 3(2): 121–172.

Dutta, D., A. Das, A. Dutta, J. Gogoi & S. Sengupta (2013). Taxonomic status and distribution of Leptobrachium smithi Matsui, Nabhitabhata & Panha, 1999 (Anura: Megophryidae) in India with new locality records. Tropical Natural History 13: 87–95.

Frost, D.R. (2021). Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.1 (Date of access). Electronic Database accessible at https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. https://doi.org/10.5531/db.vz.0001

Ganesh, S.R (2010). Catalogue of herpetological specimens in the Chennai Snake Park. Cobra 4: 1–22.

Ganesh, S.R. & J.R. Asokan (2010). Catalogue of Indian herpetological specimens in the collection of the Government Museum Chennai, India. Hamadryad 35: 46–63.

Ganesh, S.R., S. Bhupathy, P. Karthik, B. Rao & S. Babu (2020). Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(9): 16123–16135. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6036.12.9.16123-16135

Hakim, J., S.J. Trageser, A. Ghose, K. Das, S.M.A. Rashid & S.C. Rahman (2020). Amphibians and reptiles from Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh. Check List 16 (5): 1239–1268. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.5.1239

Hasan, M.K., M.M. Islam, M. Kuramoto, A. Kurabayashi & M. Sumida (2014). Description of two new species of Microhyla (Anura: Microhylidae) from Bangladesh. Zootaxa 3755: 401–408.

Hill, J.E. (2017). Museum specimens answer question of historic occurrence of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Florida (USA). BioInvasions Records 6: 383–391.

Kamei, R.G. & Biju S.D (2016). On the taxonomic status of Ichthyophis husaini Pillai & Ravichandran, 1999 (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae). Zootaxa 4079(1): 140–150. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4079.1.10

Köhler, G., L. Mogk, K.P.P. Khaing & N.L. Than (2019). The genera Fejervarya and Minervarya in Myanmar: Description of a new species, new country records, and taxonomic notes (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae. Vertebrate Zoology 69: 183–226.

Lalronunga, S., Vanramliana, Lalramliana & E. Lalhmingliani (2021). A new country record of Raorchestes cangyuanensis Wu, Suwannapoom, Xu, Murphy & Che, 2019 and additional record of Kurixalus yangi Yu, Hui, Rao & Yang, 2018 (Anura: Rhacophoridae: Rhacophorinae) from India. Zootaxa 4974: 383–390. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4974.2.7

Lane, M. (1996). Roles of Natural History Collections. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 83(4): 536–545. https://doi.org/10.2307/2399994

Lyu, Z.-T., Z. Zeng, J. Wang, Z.-Y. Liu, Y.-Q. Huang, W.-Z. Li & Y.-Y. Wang (2021). Four new species of Panophrys (Anura, Megophryidae) from eastern China, with discussion on the recognition of Panophrys as a distinct genus. Zootaxa 4927: 9–40. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4927.1.2.

Mahony, S., E.C. Teeling & S.D. Biju (2013). Three new species of horned frogs, Megophrys (Amphibia: Megophryidae), from northeast India, with a resolution to the identity of Megophrys boettgeri populations reported from the region. Zootaxa 3722: 143–169.

Ohler, A. & K. Deuti (2013). Pyxicephalus khasianus Anderson, 1871 and Rana laticeps Boulenger, 1882 (Dicroglossidae, Anura, Amphibia) are synonyms. Zoosystema 35(3): 415–424.

Phuge, S., A.B. Patil, R. Pandit, N.U. Kulkarni, B.H. Chennakeshavamurthy, P. Deepak & K.P. Dinesh (2020). Importance of genetic data in resolving cryptic species: a century old problem of understanding the distribution of Minervarya syhadrensis Annandale 1919, (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zootaxa 4869: 451–492. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4869.4.1

Purkayastha, J. & M. Matsui (2012). A new species of Fejervarya (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Mawphlang, northeastern India. Asian Herpetological Research 2, 3: 31–37.

Purkayastha, J., J. Kalita, R.K. Brahma, R. Doley & M. Das (2018). A review of the relationships of Xenochrophis cerasogaster Cantor, 1839 (Serpentes: Colubridae) to its congeners. Zootaxa 4514 (1): 126-136. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4514.1.10

Purkayastha, J., S.C. Bohra & M. Das (2020). First Record of the Urban Bent-toed Gecko, Cyrtodactylus urbanus Purkayastha, Das, Bohra, Bauer, and Agarwal 2018 (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from Meghalaya, India. Reptiles and Amphibians 27(3):512–513.

Purkayastha, J., H.T. Lalremsanga, S.C. Bohra, L. Biakzuala, H.T. Decemson, L. Muansanga, M. Vabeiryureilai, S. Chauhan & Y.S. Rathee (2021). Four new Bent-toed geckos (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India. Zootaxa 4980 (1): 451–489. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4980.3.2

Rocha, L.A., A. Aleixo, G. Allen, F. Almeda, C.C. Baldwin, M.V.L. Barclay, J.M. Bates, A.M. Bauer, F., Benzoni, C.M. Berns, M.L. Berumen, D.C. Blackburn, S. Blum, F. Bolaños, R.C.K. Bowie, R. Britz, R.M. Brown, C.D. Cadena, K. Carpenter, L.M. Ceríaco, P. Chakrabarty, G. Chaves, J.H. Choat, K.D. Clements, B.B. Collette, A. Collins, J. Coyne, J. Cracraft, T. Daniel, M.R. de Carvalho, K. de Queiroz, F. di Dario, R. Drewes, J.P. Dumbacher, A. Engilis JR., M.V. Erdmann, W. Eschmeyer, C.R. Feldman, B.L. Fisher, J. Fjeldså, P.W. Fritsch, J. Fuchs, A. Getahun, A. Gill, M. Gomon, T. Gosliner, G.R. Graves, C.E. Griswold, R. Guralnick, K. Hartel, K.M. Helgen, H. Ho, D.T. Iskandar, T. Iwamoto, Z. Jaafar, H.F. James, D. Johnson, D. Kavanaugh, N. Knowlton, E. Lacey, H. K. Larson, P. Last, J. M. Leis, H. Lessios, J. Liebherr, M. Lowman, D.L. Mahler, V. Mamonekene, K. Matsuura, G.C. Mayer, H. Mays Jr., J. Mccosker, R.W. Mcdiarmid, J. McGuire, M.J. Miller, R. Mooi, R.D. Mooi, C. Moritz, P. Myers, M.W. Nachman, R.A. Nussbaum, D.O. Foighil, L.R. Parenti, J.F. Parham, E. Paul, G. Paulay, J. Pérez-emán, A. Pérez-matus, S. Poe, J. Pogonoski, D.L. Rabosky, J.E. Randall, J.D. Reimer, D.R. Robertson, M.O. Rödel, M.T. Rodrigues, P. Roopnarine, L. Rüber, M.J. Ryan, F. Sheldon, G. Shinohara, A. Short, W.B. Simison, W. F. Smith-vaniz, V.G. Springer, M. Stiassny, J.G. Tello, C.W. Thompson, T. Trnski, P. Tucker, T. Valqui, M. Vecchione, E. Verheyen, P.C. Wainwright, T.A. Wheeler, W.T. White, K. Will, J.T. Williams, G. Williams, E.O. Wilson, K. Winker, R. Winterbottom & C.C. Witt (2014). Specimen collection: An essential tool. Science 344(6186): 814–816.

Shaffer, H.B., R.N. Fisher & C. Davidson (1998). The role of natural history collections in documenting species declines. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 13: 27–30.

Turney, S., E.R. Cameron, C.A. Cloutier & C.M. Buddle (2015). Non-repeatable science: assessing the frequency of voucher specimen deposition reveals that most arthropod research cannot be verified. PeerJ 3: e1168. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1168

Uetz, P., P. Freed, R. Aguilar & J. Hošek (eds.) (2021). The Reptile Database, http://www.reptile-database.org, accessed on 04 July 2021.

Vogel, G. & J. van Rooijen (2011). Contributions to a review of the Dendrelaphis pictus (Gmelin, 1789) complex (Serpentes: Colubridae)—3. The Indian forms, with the description of a new species from the Western Ghats. Journal of Herpetology 45(1): 100–110.

Yeates, D.K., A. Zwick & A.S. Mikheyev (2016). Museums are biobanks: unlocking the genetic potential of the three billion specimens in the world’s biological collections. Current Opinion in Insect Science 18: 83–88.

Zacharias, V.J. & B. Jose (2020). An account of snake specimens in St. Joseph’s College Museum Kozhikode, India, with data on species diversity. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(11): 16622–16627. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4995.12.11.16622-16627

Zug, G.R., H.H.K. Brown, J.A. Schulte II & J.V. Vindum (2006). Systematics of the Garden Lizards, Calotes versicolor Group (Reptilia, Squamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: Central Dry Zone Populations. Proceedings of the Caifornia Academy of Sciences 57(2): 35–68.

Most read articles by the same author(s)