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Type: Articles
Published: 2012-03-09
Page range: 58–68
Abstract views: 33
PDF downloaded: 1

Rediscovery of Pseudophilautus semiruber, a diminutive shrub frog (Rhacophoridae: Pseudophilautus) from Sri Lanka

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, 407 Bauddhaloka Mawatha Colombo 07, Sri Lanka; Wildlife Heritage Trust, 1 Lake Crescent, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Amphibia conservation phylogenetics Rhacophorinae taxonomy

Abstract

Ixalus semiruber Annandale, a diminutive (12-mm snout-vent length) frog originally described from the highlands of Sri Lankain 1913, has not been recorded in the succeeding century and is treated as Data Deficient for conservation purposes. Here wereport its rediscovery in Agra-Bopath, a sub-montane forest reserve. Pseudophilautus semiruber is distinguished by a combina-tion of the following characters: size 12.0–13.4 mm SVL; canthal edges rounded; tympanum distinct; vomerine ridge absent;supratympanic fold feebly defined; throat, chest, belly and underside of thigh smooth. It is a high-elevation (1,750 m a.s.l.) diurnal species that inhabits heavily-shaded leaf litter.

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