''Pseudophilautus pardus'' is an extinct species of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n shrub frogs in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly ...

. Despite extensive surveys in recent years, the species is known only from a collection made prior to 1858. The reason for its extinction is unknown but probably relates loss of forests.

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 ...

''pardus'' is the Latinized form of ''pardos'', the Greek word for

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

, in allusion to the leopard-like colouration of this species.

Description

This species was described based on a single specimen (

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

), an adult female that was a

paralectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

of '' Ixalus variabilis'' Günther, 1858. No other specimens are known. Prior to its naming in 2007, the specimen had also been confused with '' Pseudophilautus viridis'' and '' Pseudophilautus stuarti''. The holotype measures in snout–vent length. The body is stout. The tympanum is oval in shape. The toes are webbed. The dorsum is yellowish brown in preservative and has many dark-brown spots, some of them joining to form larger blotches. The underside is uniform in colour.

Habitat and distribution

The type locality is unspecific "Ceylon". Its habitat is likely to have been forest.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3409805 pardus Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Frogs of Sri Lanka Amphibians described in 2007 Amphibian extinctions since 1500