Micrixalus fuscus (Boulenger, 1882)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Micrixalidae > Genus: Micrixalus > Species: Micrixalus fuscus

Ixalus fuscus Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 96. Syntypes: Many specimens in BMNH including animal figured in pl. 10, fig. 3 in the original publication; syntypes are BMNH 72.4.12.256, 74.4.29.258–265, 74.4.29.927–930, 74.4.29.1401–1404, 74.4.29.1459–64, 74.4.29.1506–08 according Dutta, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 461. Syntypes considered to be BMNH 1874.4.29–1506–1508 by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 53. BMNH 74.4.29.258 designated lectotype by Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 31. Type localities: "Travancore"; "Torocata"; "Anamallays"; "Sevagherry"; "Malabar"; "N. Canara" (all localities in India). Lectotype is from "Travancore", India. 

Micrixalus fuscusBoulenger, 1888, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1888: 205.

Micrixalus herrei Myers, 1942, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 55: 71. Holotype: CAS-SU 7265, by original designation. Type locality: "Kallar, 30 miles northeast of Trivandrum, Travancore, South India". Synonymy by Inger, Shaffer, Koshy, and Bakde, 1984, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 81: 410.

Staurois fuscusForcart, 1946, Verh. Naturforsch. Ges. Basel, 57: 130.

English Names

Brown Tropical Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 102).

Dusky Torrent Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 211; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 46; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 6).

Kalakkad Dancing Frog (Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 31). 

Distribution

Western Ghats in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with its distribution restricted to south of Shencottah Gap; reported specifically in Kakkachi and Sengaltheri (Tirunelveli District) in Tamil Nadu state, and Athirimala and Pandipath (Thiruvananthapuram District) in Kerala state. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

See brief accounts by Inger, Shaffer, Koshy, and Bakde, 1984, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 81: 410–412, and Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 57–58 (who, page 58, also recognized Micrixalus herrei as distinct, without discussion). Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 139–140, provided range, systematic comments, and partial taxonomic bibliography. Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 211–212, provided an account. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 630, who suggested that this taxon is a species complex. A very brief characterization, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 59. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted no larval descriptions. Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 1–87, revised and redlimited the species to exclude a number of other new and revived species in the Micrixalus fuscus group; earlier literature therefore addresses composites of species in the Micrixalus fuscus group. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 66–67, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India. 

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