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Abstract
Indirana chiravasi, a new species of leaping frog is described from the northern Western Ghats around Amboli, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India. It differs from all its congeners based on a combination of characters including presence of median single internal vocal sac, head longer than wide, distinct canthus rostralis, tympanum 2/3rd to 3/4th the diameter of eye, vomerine teeth in two oblique series at the posterior border of choanae, long midventral lingual papilla, first finger longer than or equal to second, presence of double outer palmer tubercle, thin and elongated inner metatarsal tubercle, absence of outer metatarsal tubercle, webbing moderate, dorsal skin with glandular folds but without warts, ventral skin smooth without mottling and palms and soles dark brown. Molecular analysis based on mitochondrial 12S and 16S genes and nuclear rhodopsin and rag1 genes suggests that the species is genetically distinct from other species for which genetic data is available. Preliminary observations on the development of the species are also provided. We also provide genetic data and images for Indirana gundia collected from the type locality.
Highlights
The genus Indirana Laurent, 1986, is one of the 10 endemic anuran genera of the Western Ghats of India and the sole member of the family Ranixalidae Dubois, 1987
Phylogenetic analysis of Indirana species based on two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes suggests that, I. chiravasi forms a monophyletic group with topotypic I. gundia and five specimens (IND/AA/DD/CC 200, 220, 227, 230 and 231) of I. beddomii species complex
Based on the suggestions of Vences et al (2005) the high genetic divergence in 16S gene validates that I. chiravasi is a distinct species
Summary
The genus Indirana Laurent, 1986, is one of the 10 endemic anuran genera of the Western Ghats of India and the sole member of the family Ranixalidae Dubois, 1987. The true species diversity of Indirana within the Western Ghats, is poorly understood as several species are suggested to be in species complexes (Nair et al 2012a,b; Modak et al 2014). With the presence of undescribed species (Nair et al 2012a,b; Modak et al 2014) and poor knowledge on the distribution of known species (Modak et al 2014), the knowledge on Indirana is plagued by both Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls (Bini et al 2006). Because several species of Indirana are under threatened category (Stuart et al 2008), taxonomic studies on this group are of immediate concern
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