Walkerana leptodactyla (Boulenger, 1882)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ranixalidae > Genus: Walkerana > Species: Walkerana leptodactyla

Polypedates brevipalmatus Günther, 1876 "1875", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875: 572. Syntypes: BMNH (several specimens), by original designation, these being BMNH 1874.4.29.503–509, 1874.4.29.592–595, and 1874.4.29.597 (now renumbered 1947.2.8.16) by museum records. BMNH 1947.2.29.39 (former number unknown) designated lectotype by Dahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye, and Molur, 2016, J. Threatened Taxa, 8: 9239. Type locality: "Malabar" and "Anamallays" (= Anamallais), India. Lectotype from "Malabar", India; considered to be "Eravikulam National Park (10.145° N, & 77.038° E, elevation 1940 m" by Dahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye, and Molur, 2016, J. Threatened Taxa, 8: 9239. Secondary homonym of Rana brevipalmata Peters, 1871.

Rana leptodactyla Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 57. Replacement name for Polypedates brevipalmatus Günther, 1987 "1875". Subsequently confused by Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 118.

Rana (Discodeles) leptodactylaBoulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 98; Daniel and Sekar, 1989, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 86: 194.

Indirana leptodactylaLaurent, 1986, in Grassé and Delsol (eds.), Traite de Zool., 14: 761.

Ranixalus leptodactylusDubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 69.

Indirana leptodactylaDubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 175–176.

Walkerana leptodactylaDahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye, and Molur, 2016, J. Threatened Taxa, 8: 9239; Dubois, 2017, Zootaxa, 4237: 1–16.  

Sallywalkerana leptodactyla — Dahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye, and Molur, 2016, J. Threatened Taxa, 8: 9381.

English Names

Boulenger's Indian Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 99; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Gururaja, and Bhatta, 2009, Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occas. Pap., 302: 86).

Long-toed Frog (Das and Dutta, 1998, Hamadryad, 23: 64).

Thin-limbed Frog (Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 120).

Slender-toed Leaping Frog (Dahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye, and Molur, 2016, J. Threatened Taxa, 8: 9239; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 11).

Distribution

Southern Western Ghats of southern India; known from Agasthyamala Hills, Kalakkad-Mundanthuai, Athirimala, Periyar Tiger Reserve, and Eravikulam National Park in Kerala, and the Anamalai Hills of Parambikulam and Indira Gandi National Park in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, above 800 m elevation.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: India

Endemic: India

Comment

See account by Boulenger, 1920, Rec. Indian Mus., 20: 118. Biju, 2001, Occas. Publ. Indian Soc. Conserv. Biol., 1: 15, suggested that that at least one undescribed species in the Western Ghats had been referred to this taxon. Chanda, 2002, Handb. Indian Amph.: 120–121, provided a brief account (as Rana leptodactyla). Dutta, 1997, Amph. India Sri Lanka: 123–124, provided range, systematic comments, and a taxonomic bibliography. 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: 480. A very brief characterization, photograph, and dot map provided by Subramanian, Dinesh, and Radhakrishnan, 2013, Atlas of Endemic Amph. W. Ghats: 110. Sivaprasad, 2013, Common Amph. Kerala: 136–137, provided a brief account, photograph, and dot map for Kerala, India. Das and Dutta, 2007, Hamadryad, 31: 154–181, noted a few larval descriptions in the literature, of varying completeness. Dahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye, and Molur, 2016, J. Threatened Taxa, 8: 9239–9243, provided an extensive account. See brief account by Garg and Biju, 2016, PLoS One, 11(11:e0166326): 27–28.  

External links:

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.