Indirana

"Indian frog" redirects here. For all of the frogs that are found in the country of India, see Frogs of India.
"Leaping frog" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Leapfrog or Leapfrogging.
Indirana
Adult Indirana semipalmata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Superfamily: Ranoidea
Family: Ranixalidae
Genus: Indirana
Laurent, 1986
Type species
Polypedates beddomii
Günther, 1876
Diversity
12 species (see text)
Tadpole of I. cf semipalmata

Indirana is a genus of frogs, the sole member of the Ranixalidae family.[1][2] These frogs are endemic to the Western Ghats of India. They are sometimes known under the common name Indian frogs,[3] whereas the family may go under the name leaping frogs.[1][4]

Indirana represent an ancient radiation of frogs that diverged from all other frogs almost 50 million years ago. This has credited Indirana gundia as a status of one of the "Top 100 Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered Amphibians".[5]

Description

Indirana species are small and slender-bodied frogs. They are typically found in leaf litter or near streams.[4] The tadpoles have hind limbs and finless tails, and are able to leap away to escape threats.[6][5]

A frog from the Indirana genus

Taxonomy

The taxonomical position of the Ranixalidae, with Indirana as the only genus, is now well established,[1][2][4][7] but this has not always been the case. Traditional classifications place it within the subfamily Ranixalinae of the family Ranidae, along with the genera Nannophrys and Nyctibatrachus.[8] The Ranixalinae have also been placed under the Nyctibatrachidae family.[9] Darrel R. Frost et al. (2006) placed them within the family Petropedetidae.[10][11]

Species

New species are still being discovered: Indirana salelkari was discovered in the Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary in the Indian state of Goa and described in late July 2015.[12] Species included in the genus are:[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Ranixalidae Dubois, 1987". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Ranixalidae". AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. Berkeley, California: AmphibiaWeb. 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  3. 1 2 Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Indirana Laurent, 1986". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Vitt, Laurie J.; Caldwell, Janalee P. (2014). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (4th ed.). Academic Press. p. 503.
  5. 1 2 "Gundia Indian Frog (Indirana gundia)". EDGE of Existence programme. Zoological Society of London. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Veeranagoudar, D. K.; Radder, R. S.; Shanbhag, B. A.; Saidapur, S. K. (2009). "Jumping behavior of semiterrestrial tadpoles of Indirana beddomii (Günth.): relative importance of tail and body size". Journal of Herpetology 43 (4): 680–684. doi:10.1670/08-158.1.
  7. ↑ Blackburn, D.C.; Wake, D.B. (2011). "Class Amphibia Gray, 1825. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness" (PDF). Zootaxa 3148: 39–55.
  8. ↑ George R. Zug, Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell (2001). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles. Academic Press. p. 430. ISBN 978-0-12-782622-6.
  9. ↑ "Ranixalinae". ZipCodeZoo, BayScience Foundation, Inc. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  10. ↑ Frost, D. R.; Grant, T.; Faivovich, J. N.; Bain, R. H.; Haas, A.; Haddad, C. L. F. B.; De Sá, R. O.; Channing, A.; Wilkinson, M.; Donnellan, S. C.; Raxworthy, C. J.; Campbell, J. A.; Blotto, B. L.; Moler, P.; Drewes, R. C.; Nussbaum, R. A.; Lynch, J. D.; Green, D. M.; Wheeler, W. C. (2006). "The Amphibian Tree of Life". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297: 1–291. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5781.
  11. ↑ Michael F. Barej, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Legrand Nono Gonwouo, Olivier S.G. Pauwels, Wolfgang Böhme, & Andreas Schmitz (2010). "Review of the genus Petropedetes Reichenow, 1874 in Central Africa with the description of three new species (Amphibia: Anura: Petropedetidae)". Zootaxa (2340): 1–49.
  12. ↑ "Newly discovered frog species named after Goan forest officer". Business Standard. 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2015-08-02.

External links

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