Uperodon anamalaiensis (Rao, 1937)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Microhylidae > Subfamily: Microhylinae > Genus: Uperodon > Species: Uperodon anamalaiensis

Ramanella anamalaiensis Rao, 1937, Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., Ser. B, 6: 420. Holotype: CCB; lost according to Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 157; ZSI/WGRC/V/A 956 designated neotype by Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018, Zootaxa, 4384: 23. Type locality: "Base of Anamallai Hills, Coimbatore District", Tamil Nadu, South India. Neotype from "Sakleshpur, Karnataka state, India". 

Ramanella minor Rao, 1937, Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., Ser. B, 6: 417. Holotype: CCB; lost according to Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 157; ZSI/WGRC/V/A 957 designated neotype by Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018, Zootaxa, 4384: 23.  Type locality: "Saklespur, Hassan [District]", South India; neotype from "Saklespur", Karnataka, India. Synonymy by Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018, Zootaxa, 4384: 24. 

Uperodon minor — Peloso, Frost, Richards, Rodrigues, Donnellan, Matsui, Raxworthy, Biju, Lemmon, Lemmon, and Wheeler, 2016, Cladistics, 32: 140. 

Uperodon anamalaiensis — Peloso, Frost, Richards, Rodrigues, Donnellan, Matsui, Raxworthy, Biju, Lemmon, Lemmon, and Wheeler, 2016, Cladistics, 32: 140. 

English Names

Anamalai Dot Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 92).

Anamalai Ramanella (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 64; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 57).

Reddish-brown Microhylid Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 43).

Anamalai Globular Frog (Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018, Zootaxa, 4384: 23). 

Hassan Dot Frog (Uperodon minor [Nno longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 92).

Small Ramanella (Uperodon minor [no longer recognized]: Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 64; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 57).

Olive Banded Frog (Uperodon minor [no longer recognized]: Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 43).

Anamalai Balloon Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 8).

Distribution

Known with assuredness only Kerala (Parambikulam, Chathankod, and Methooty) and Karnataka (Sakleshpur) although presumably extneding into the Anamalai region of Tamil Nadu, 100–650 m elevation. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lankaezembed: 63, and Biju, 2001, Occas. Publ. Indian Soc. Conserv. Biol., 1: 9, noted that the status of this species is problematic as the type specimen is lost and not collected subsequently. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 43, provided a brief account and noted that the species is known only from the type, now lost. A very brief characterization, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 71. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 92–93, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India, which showed records for the districts of Palakkad and Thrissur in Kerala, India. See account and discussion of systematics by Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018, Zootaxa, 4384: 23–27, and who also charaacterized tadpole morphology and the advertisement call. Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 63-64, and Biju, 2001, Occas. Publ. Indian Soc. Conserv. Biol., 1: 9, regarded the status of Ramanella minor as problematic as the type is lost and not recollected since its original publication. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 43-44, provided a brief account as Ramanella minorDas and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted no larval descriptions in the literature. A very brief characterization, as Ramanella minor, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 72. See account by Garg, Senevirathne, Wijayathilaka, Phuge, Deuti, Manamendra-Arachchi, Meegaskumbura, and Biju, 2018, Zootaxa, 4384: 1–88, who reported the advertisement call, adult morphology, and phylogenetic position, as well as advertisement call, and range and who noted that earlier records of Uperodon triangularis from Ponmudi Hills and Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala, apply to this species, and that a record from Munnar in Kerala, India, likely refers to Uperodon montanus.  

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