Phenotypic divergence in large sized cricket frog species that crossed the geographical barriers within peninsular India

Abstract

A good number of new species are being described and included in the genus Fejervarya / Minervarya from South Asia and Southeast Asia in the recent past. But, the classification or consideration of the genus Fejervarya / Minervarya is only phylogenetic, where it is difficult to morphologically identify the genus in the overlapping range of geographical distribution. Recently a large sized new species of cricket frog Fejervarya kalinga has been described, which is thought to be endemic to the Eastern Ghats (a unique geographical landscape running parallel to the East Coast of India). Here we report a morphologically variable and distinct population of F. kalinga from the Western Ghats (an amphibian diversity hotspot running parallel to the West Coast of India). We discuss the importance of genetic studies in handling such morphologically highly variable populations of the species and their adaptation to different habitats and their implications in taxonomic identity.

Can’t see the wood for the trees? Canopy physiognomy influences the distribution of peninsular Indian flying lizards

“…While such forest fragmentation resulted in climate‐induced vicariance of many faunal groups (Biswas & Karanth, 2021), there is sufficient evidence to suggest continued dispersal in some of these organisms well into the Pliocene (5.33–2.58 mya) and into the Quaternary (<2.58 mya) (Vijayakumar et al, 2014). Therefore, many biogeographers argue that the valleys in the Western Ghats, and the intervening arid plains that separate the Western and Eastern Ghats, retained permeable causeways until very recently (Chaitanya et al, 2019; Hegde et al, 2020; Vijayakumar et al, 2014). Since Draco can subsist in drier vegetation with tall trees such as the dry deciduous forest types in the Western Ghats, we posit that they would have been able to use these Pliocene–Quaternary vegetation corridors to traverse these disjunct habitats.…”

Bioacoustics, breeding ecology and range of the Kerala warty frog Minervarya cf. keralensis from north of the Palghat gap, central Western Ghats

“…regions of the central Western Ghats, we have undertaken regular visual encounter and acoustics surveys (Rödel & Ernst, 2004) throughout the year. Frogs were identified to species level by observing morphological characters based on the available taxonomic descriptions and literature (Garg & Biju, 2021;Hegde et al, 2020;Raj et al, 2018).…”

“…Based on the above morphological characteristics, individuals in the population were identified as M. cf. keralensis (Garg & Biju, 2021;Hegde et al, 2020)(Fig. 2).…”

“…Frogs of the genus Minervarya have received more attention from taxonomists than other anurans (Garg & Biju, 2021;Dinesh et al, 2015). Several attempts have been made to classify minevaryans into different groups based on morphological traits, size and phylogenetic analyses (Garg & Biju, 2017;Phuge et al, 2019;Hegde et al, 2020). In peninsular India, the genus Minervarya is currently classified into eight groups (Garg & Biju, 2021).…”

“…The Minervarya nilagirica group is endemic to peninsular India and currently contains three species -M. nilgarica, M. kalinga and M. keralensis which all occur in the Western Ghats. This group is known to show complex distributional patterns (Hegde et al, 2020;Garg & Biju, 2021) where M. keralensis has been reported from the southern portion of the Western Ghats with a northern limit at Poomala (Biju & Garg 2021).…”