Micrixalus saxicola (Jerdon, 1853)

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

Polypedates saxicola Jerdon, 1853, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 22: 533. Type(s): Not stated although presumably originally in ZSIC; reported as lost by Jerdon, 1870, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1870: 67; syntypes are in ZSIC according to Bossuyt and Dubois, 2001, Zeylanica, 6: 16, but not mentioned in type list by Chanda, Das, and Dubois, 2001 "2000", Hamadryad, 25. The specimens from Malabar purchased from Jerdon and reported by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 97, apparently including some syntypes as BMNH 72.4.17.203, was designated lectotype by Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 55. Type locality: "on rocks in shady mountain streams in Malabar and Wynaad", South India. Lectotype from "Malabar", India. 

Ixalus saxicolaBoulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 97.

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

English Names

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

Small Torrent Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 65; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 48).

Jerdon's Olive-brown Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 62; Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 217).

Black Torrent Frog (Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 217).

Wayanad Dancing Frog (Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 53). 

Wayanad Torrent Frog (Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 7).

Distribution

Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka, South India, 400 to 1400 m elevation.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

See brief account by Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 62, and account by Daniels, 2005, Amph. Peninsular India: 217-218. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 486. A very brief characterization, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 65. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted no larval descriptions in the literature. Biju, Garg, Gururaja, Shouche, and Walujkar, 2014, Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci., 43: 1-87, revised the species, provided a range map, and placed it in their Micrixalus saxicola group. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 74–75, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India.  

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