Bicolored frog

Bicolored frog
Male in breeding colours
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Ranidae
Genus:	Clinotarsus
Species:	C. curtipes
Binomial name
Clinotarsus curtipes (Jerdon, 1854)
Synonyms
Rana curtipes Jerdon, 1854

The bicolored frog or Malabar frog (Clinotarsus curtipes) is a species of frog found in the Western Ghats of India.^[2] The tadpoles of the species are black and form dense and compact schools in slow moving streams in forested areas.

Description

The bicolored frog's vomerine teeth scarcely developed, sometimes indistinct. The teeth are in two slightly oblique series on a level with the hind edge of the choanae. Its head large; snout short, rounded, with well-marked canthus rostralis and concave loreal region ; nostril nearer to the end of the snout than to the eye; interorbital space broader than the upper eyelid; tympanum distinct, nearly as large as the eye. Fingers moderate, first extending beyond second; toes short, nearly entirely webbed; tips of fingers and toes swollen or dilated into very small disks; subarticular tubercles much developed; inner metatarsal tubercle small, oval, blunt; a rather large, flat tubercle at the base of the fourth toe; no tarsal fold. The tibio-tarsal articulation reaches the eye. Skin finely granular above; a moderately prominent, rather narrow glandular lateral fold; another told behind the tympanum down to the shoulder. Clinotarsus curtipes is greyish or brown above, with or without blackish dots; lateral fold lighter, edged with black; a blackish oblique spot or band below the eye; upper lip with a blackish margin; limbs dark purplish brown, without cross bands; light brown beneath, the throat sometimes dark brown. Male with an internal subgular vocal sac.^[3][4]

The spot patterns on the backs are often distinctive enough to use for population estimation using capture and recapture techniques. Use of this technique in the Bisale Reserve Forest in Kodagu during January 1999 – July 2001 gave a population density estimate of 0.08–0.1 frogs per square metre.^[5]

Adults may occasionally feign death to escape predators.^[6]

The tadpoles are large (more than 9 cm (3.5 in) in total length) and form shoals in slow moving streams.^[7] They are collected for local consumption.^[1]

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  Underside of a breeding male

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  Upperside of a breeding male

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  Shoals of tadpoles in a stream

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  A pair in amplexus

References

1. Biju, S.D.; Dutta, Sushil and Inger, Robert (2004). "Clinotarsus curtipes". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
2. Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Clinotarsus curtipes (Jerdon, 1853)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
3. Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Reptilia and Batrachia.
4. Desai R.N. and Pancharatna K. (2003). "Rana curtipes coloration". Herpetological Review 34 (1): 53–54.
5. Krishna, S. N., Krishna S. B. and Vijaylaxmi, K. K. (2005). "Dorsal spot pattern as unique markers to estimate the population size of Rana curtipes". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 102 (1): 16–18. ISSN 0006-6982.
6. Gramapurohit, N. P.; Shanbhag, B. A. and Saidapur, S. K. (2001). "Rana curtipes (bicolored frog). Death feigning". Herpetological Review 32 (2): 103.
7. Hiragond, Ningappa C.; Shanbhag, Bhagyashri A. and Saidapur, Srinivas K. (2001). "Description of the tadpole of a stream breeding frog, Rana curtipes". Journal of Herpetology 35 (1): 166–168. doi:10.2307/1566044. JSTOR 1566044.

External links