''Walkerana muduga'', also known as the Muduga mountain leaping frog or Muduga leaping 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 Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and known from the Elivai Malai range, north of the

Palghat Gap Palakkad Gap or Palghat Gap is a low mountain pass in the Western Ghats between Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Palakkad in Kerala. It has an average elevation of with a width of . The pass is located between the Nilgiri Hills to the north and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. All other known species of ''

Walkerana ''Walkerana'' is a genus of frogs in the family Ranixalidae. The genus is endemic to the Western Ghats in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India. It was erected in 2016 to host three species of ''Indirana'' that represented a genetically a ...

'' occur south of the Palghat Gap, and molecular data suggest that ''Walkerana muduga'' is deeply divergent from the more southern species. However, there is another, as yet undescribed lineage from north of the Palghat Gap that is known from a single, poorly preserve specimen.

Etymology

''Walkerana muduga'' is named after the

Mudugar Mudugar indigenous people live mainly in the Attappadi valley in Palakkad district of Kerala, South India.It was also reported that Some Mudugar also live in Cuddalore district, Nilgiri District and Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu. Disambigua ...

indigenous community of

Palghat district Palakkad District () is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It was carved out from the southeastern region of the former Malabar District on 1 January 1957. ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Description

Two male specimens measure in snout–vent length, whereas an adult female specimen is much larger, in SVL. The body is squat and raised. The snout is bluntly pointed. The tympanum is distinct but partly concealed by the supratympanic fold. The finger and the toe tips have truncated, enlarged discs. The fingers have no webbing while the toes have reduced webbing. Skin is dorsally smooth, but there are some small, longitudinal glandular skin folds. The dorsum is light fleshy brown. The bases of the raised folds are dark brown. The inter-orbital space has light brown blotches. The lower lip is barred. A dark brown streak runs from the tip of snout till the end of the supratympanic fold. The flanks are uniform light brown without any markings. The limbs are barred. The region of throat is yellowish brown while the belly is whitish grey.

Habitat and conservation

The

type series 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 the ...

was collected at

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 ...

. Dinesh and colleagues report having observed multiple populations of ''Walkerana'' north of the Palghat Gap, but give no ecological information. As of early 2020, this newly described species had not been included in the

IUCN Red List 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 biol ...

. General threats in the area include deforestation, forest degradation, and climate change.

Notes

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q96096729 muduga Frogs of India Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats Amphibians described in 2020