The Fungoid Frog, More Cryptic Species?

Hylarana malabarica. Vagator,
Goa, India. Photo credit: Rakeshb
The Fungoid Frog,  Hylarana malabarica,  is widely distributed in peninsular India, Assam, and Meghalaya and because of its wide distribution the species is categorized under Least Concern in the IUCN Red Listof Threatened Species. But, despite its widespread distribution, H. malabarica shows a patchy distribution in the northern Western Ghats. Padhye et al. noted variation among the individuals from different populations the northern Western Ghats, and examined morphological and genetic variation in six populations collected from six isolated locations. Their analysis used morphology and genetics suggests the six populations of H. malabarica form at least four separate clusters, raising the possibility that H. malabarica could be a species complex. This has become a common situation with amphibians and reptiles, and suggests the diversity of both groups has been greatly understimated worldwide. The entire article can be found on-line.

CitationPadhye, A., A. Jadhav, M. Diwekar & N. Dahanukar (2012). Population variations in the Fungoid Frog Hylarana malabarica (Anura: Ranidae) from northern Western Ghats of India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(2): 2343–2352.

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