''Indirana leithii'' (Leith's leaping frog, Leith's frog, Boulenger's brown frog, Matheran leaping frog, or Matheran Indian frog) is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

in the family

Ranixalidae Ranixalidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the leaping frogs or Indian frogs. They are endemic to central and southern India. Genera There are two genera with a total 18 species: *''Indirana ''Indirana'' is a genus of frogs in t ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the northern Western Ghats of India. As currently defined, its range is restricted to the states of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and southern

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

; earlier records elsewhere refer to other species.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''leithii'' honours Andrew Henderson Leith, a physician who worked as Sanitary Commissioner in Bombay.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The tympanum is two-thirds of the eye diameter; a strong supra-tympanic fold runs from the eye to the shoulder. The fingers and toes bear enlarged discs; the toes are two-thirds webbed. Dorsal skin is rough with number of folds. Colouration is brownish with many, closely set black spots. The limbs are cross-barred. The venter is white while the throat is finely mottled with brown. The following description is adopted from

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

's "Fauna of British India":

Vomer The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...
ine teeth in two oblique groups are set just behind the level of the
choanae The choanae (singular choana), posterior nasal apertures or internal nostrils are two openings found at the back of the nasal passage between the nasal cavity and the throat in tetrapods, including humans and other mammals (as well as crocodilia ...
. A free, pointed
papilla Papilla (Latin, 'nipple') or papillae may refer to: In animals * Papilla (fish anatomy), in the mouth of fish * Basilar papilla, a sensory organ of lizards, amphibians and fish * Dental papilla, in a developing tooth * Dermal papillae, part of ...
sits on the middle of the tongue. The head is moderate; the snout is obtuse, with obtuse canthus rostralis and concave loreal region; the nostril is nearer to the end of the snout than to the eye; the interorbital space is a little narrower than the upper eyelid; the tympanum is distinct, two thirds the diameter of the eye. The fingers are moderate, the first extending not quite as for as second; the toes are two-thirds webbed, the web reaching the disks of the third and fifth toes; tips of fingers and toes dilated into small but well-developed disks; subarticular tubercles moderate; a single, small, oval inner metatarsal tubercle; no tarsal fold is present. The tibio-tarsal articulation reaches halfway between the eye and the end of the snout. The skin of the back has small scattered longitudinal warts; a strong fold runs from the eye to the shoulder. It is brown above, with small dark spots; limbs with dark transverse bands; lower parts white, throat mottled with brown. From snout to vent 1.25 inches.

Habitat

''Indirana leithii'' is a terrestrial species associated with leaf-litter of moist, tropical, semi-evergreen forest, including degraded forests. It occurs at elevations between

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Breeding takes place on wet rocks. The

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

s can be found on moist surfaces next to streams. This species was included as " vulnerable" in the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

in 2004. It is primarily threatened by the conversion of forested land to intensive agricultural use, but also by harvesting of wood for subsistence, road construction, and tourism are threats.

References

{{Taxonbar , from=Q3060845 leithii Frogs of India Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats Amphibians described in 1888 Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger