The Western Ghats of India harbors a rich diversity of amphibians with more than 77% species endemic to this region. At least 42% of the endemic species are threatened due to several anthropogenic stressors. However, information on amphibian diseases and their impacts on amphibian populations in this region are scarce. We report the occurrence of Batrachochytridium dendrobatidis (Bd), an epidermal aquatic fungal pathogen that causes chytridiomycosis in amphibians, from the Western Ghats. In the current study we detected the occurrence of a native Asian Bd strain from three endemic and threatened species of anurans, Bombay Night Frog Nyctibatrachus humayuni, Leith's Leaping Frog Indirana leithii and Bombay Bubble Nest Frog Raorchestes bombayensis, for the first time from the northern Western Ghats of India based on diagnostic nested PCR, quantitative PCR, DNA sequencing and histopathology. While, the Bd infected I. leithii and R. bombayensis did not show any external symptoms, N. humayuni showed lesions on the skin, browning of skin and sloughing. Sequencing of Bd 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene, and the ITS1 and ITS2 regions, revealed that the current Bd strain is related to a haplotype endemic to Asia. Our findings confirm the presence of Bd in northern Western Ghats and the affected amphibians may or may not show detectable clinical symptoms. We suggest that the significance of diseases as potential threat to amphibian populations of the Western Ghats needs to be highlighted from the conservation point of view.

Leaping frogs of the family Ranixalidae are endemic to the Western Ghats of India and are currently placed in a single genus, Indirana.  Based on specimens collected from their entire range and a comprehensive study of type material defining all known species, we propose a revised taxonomy for the leaping frogs using an integrative approach including an analysis of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and nuclear rhodopsin genes, as well as multivariate morphometrics. Both genetic and morphological analyses suggest that the genus Indirana is paraphyletic and a distinct monophyletic group, Walkerana gen. nov is described herein.  The new genus is separated from Indirana sensu stricto by an apomorphic character state of reduced webbing, with one phalange free on the first and second toe (vs. no free phalanges), two phalanges free on the third and fifth toe (vs. one free phalange), and three phalanges free on the fourth toe (vs. 2–2½ phalanges free).  This review includes (i) identification of lectotypes and redescription of three species of the genus Walkerana; (ii) identification of lectotypes for Indirana beddomii and I. semipalmata and their redescription; (iii) redescription of I. brachytarsus and I. gundia; and (iv) descriptions of four new species, namely, I. duboisi and I. tysoni from north of the Palghat gap, and I. yadera and I. sarojamma from south of the Palghat gap; and (iv) a key to the genera and species in the family Ranixalidae.

We investigated the distribution of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) fungal infections in amphibians of the Western Ghats mountain range in India, based on data from 497 samples. Eight individuals were positive, with genomic equivalents ranging from 2 to 785 zoospores. A single widespread Bd strain identical to the haplotype endemic to Asia was isolated. Our findings suggest that chytridiomycosis is widespread among the endemic and threatened amphibians of the entire stretch of the Western Ghats. An ecological niche-based prediction model based on all Bd-positive reports from the Western Ghats to date suggested a higher probability of infection in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka and northern Kerala states, which host a rich diversity of endemic and threatened amphibians. KEY WORDS: Endemic amphibians · Threatened amphibians · Conservation · Niche modeling Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherDis Aquat Org 112: [251][252][253][254][255] 2015 absolute alcohol, including museum specimens, collected between 2005 and 2013 were also tested. Additional data on Bd-positive amphibians from the Western Ghats were retrieved from Nair et al. (2011) and Dahanukar et al. (2013).We extracted fungal DNA from swabs following Goka et al. (2009) with modifications (Dahanukar et al. 2013, and skin and toe samples following Padhye et al. (2013). We used nested PCR technique for Bdspecific ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 ribosomal gene sequences for PCR amplification and tested each sample twice. The first PCR was performed simultaneously, once using the primer pair ITS1f and ITS4 and once using Bd18S and Bd28S (Goka et al. 2009, Bai et al. 2010. Products of the first PCR were used for the nested PCR using the primer pair Bd1a and Bd2a (Goka et al. 2009). A 4TOPO plasmid containing a Bd insert of 231 bp was used as a positive control for the second PCR. Four positive PCR products were purified and sequenced using a BigDye Terminator sequencing kit and ABI prism 3730 sequencer (Applied Biosystems). These sequences have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers KJ533316 to KJ533319. Sequences were analyzed by BLAST (Altschul et al. 1990). Quantitative PCR based on the SYBR Green method was carried out using the primer pair ITS1-3 Chytr and 5.8S Chytr (Boyle et al. 2004) following the protocol described by Dahanukar et al. (2013). All samples were run in duplicate. Species identification of the host amphibian of the Bdpositive samples was confirmed using 16S rDNA sequencing (Padhye et al. 2013) from buccal swabs collected alongside skin swabs.Based on the Bd-positive samples in the present study and earlier reports by Dahanukar et al. (2013) and Nair et al. (2011), we performed predictive nichebased distribution modeling to understand the possible regions within the Western Ghats for high Bd prevalence. Predictive modeling was performed in DIVA-GIS (www.diva-gis.org/) using 30 arc-second data for altitude and 19 bioclimatic parameters (Hijmans et al. 2005). RESULTS AND DISC...

Scorpions of the family Buthidae are widespread species in India. While studies are available on diversity and distribution of Indian buthid scorpions, no information is available on the phylogenetic relationships among the members of the family, within India and Asia in general. In the current study, we provide the first molecular phylogeny of buthid scorpions from central western India based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Our analysis confirms the current placement of the species, previously assigned to Mesobuthus in the genus Hottentotta. However, the analysis also suggests that the member of this genus from India form a monophyletic group distinct from the members of Hottentotta from Africa. Species of Lychas formed a monophyletic group. Although Orthochirus was nested within the larger clade of buthidae comprising genera such as Androctonus, Buthacus, Buthus and Odontobuthus, the exact phylogenetic placement will require more taxonomic sampling of the known genera of Buthidae. We also show that there is a substantial genetic variation among the populations of medically important scorpion species Hottentotta tamulus, and the genetic distance is linearly correlated with the geographical distance between the populations.

Dahanukar et al. (2016: pp. 9234) made available the genus name Walkerana (type species: Ixalus diplostictus Günther, 1876: 574, Pl. 63 fig. C) within family Ranixalidae for the monophyletic group with reduced webbing endemic to the Western Ghats of India south of Palghat gap. We were unaware that this name was preoccupied by Walkerana Otte and Perez-Gelabert in Otte 2009, in Insecta: Orthoptera: Gryllidae. As a result, a replacement name for this genus of frogs becomes necessary. Here we propose Sallywalkerana gen. nov. as the replacement name for Walkerana Dahanukar, Modak, Krutha, Nameer, Padhye & Molur, 2016.

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