New regional record and notes on historical specimens of Günther’s Toad Duttaphrynus hololius with comments on other southeastern Indian congeners

Records of two toads Duttaphrynus scaber and D. stomaticus (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae) from southeastern India

“…Toads including species from the Indian peninsula were subjected to both morphological (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda 1998;Dubois & Ohler 1999) and molecular (Bocxlaer et al 2009) reviews. But much of the above-mentioned studies better represent material from the Western Ghats and studies on toad species from southeastern India are largely lacking (Srinivasulu et al 2013). Apart from the better-known, Common Indian Toad D. melanostictus (Schneider, 1799), two other species-the Dwarf Toad D. scaber (Schneider, 1799) and the Marbled Toad D. stomaticus (Lütken, 1864)have been reported from the Coromandel Coastal Plains (Dutta 1997;Daniel 2002;Daniels 2005;Srinivasulu et al 2013).…”

“…But much of the above-mentioned studies better represent material from the Western Ghats and studies on toad species from southeastern India are largely lacking (Srinivasulu et al 2013). Apart from the better-known, Common Indian Toad D. melanostictus (Schneider, 1799), two other species-the Dwarf Toad D. scaber (Schneider, 1799) and the Marbled Toad D. stomaticus (Lütken, 1864)have been reported from the Coromandel Coastal Plains (Dutta 1997;Daniel 2002;Daniels 2005;Srinivasulu et al 2013). Both morphological (Dubois & Ohler 1999) and molecular (Bocxlaer et al 2009) studies revealed that D. scaber, D. stomaticus, and D. melanostictus all fall into different species groups of their own.…”

“…Further south, reports based on old museum collections (Dutta 1997) and a recent field sighting (Sondhi 2009) exist. Recently, Srinivasulu et al (2013) recommended further studies on southern Indian D. stomaticus populations due to conflicting views about its presence there and some misidentified reports that were later falsified. They even mentioned the population referred to by Dutta (1997) from Tirunelveli Plains as Duttaphrynus cf.…”

“…Adding on to this, some works have, sadly, confused the identities of D. scaber and D. stomaticus, again from the Coromandel Coastal Plains (Seshadri et al 2012). All these factors, cumulatively, led Srinivasulu et al (2013) to revisit such reports that were not based on collected voucher specimens accompanied with ample morphological description notes as well as recent field sightings in situ. The problem is further confounded by reports based on misidentifications (see Srinivasulu et al 2013).…”

“…All these factors, cumulatively, led Srinivasulu et al (2013) to revisit such reports that were not based on collected voucher specimens accompanied with ample morphological description notes as well as recent field sightings in situ. The problem is further confounded by reports based on misidentifications (see Srinivasulu et al 2013). In this paper, we present further records of D. scaber and D. stomaticus from southeastern India.…”