Philautus nerostagona
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F5945F-FF9D-1E77-FF5D-FC8FFC76C2AE |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Philautus nerostagona |
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PHILAUTUS NEROSTAGONA View in CoL BIJU & BOSSUYT, 2005
( FIGS 2 View Figure 2 , 46D View Figure 46 , 51A, B; TABLE View Figure 51 2)
Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4244 View Materials , an adult male, SVL 34.0 mm, from Kalpetta , Wayanad, Kerala, India; paratypes, BNHS 4245 View Materials and BNHS 4246 View Materials , two adult males, from Kalpetta.
Other material studied: none.
Diagnosis: Philautus nerostagona can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) medium male adult snout–vent length (SVL 32.2 ± 2.0 mm, N = 3); (2) moderately webbed fingers; (3) almost completely webbed toes; (4) dermal fringe along the outer margin of the forelimbs and hindlimbs; (5) shortly spinular projections on upper eyelids; (6) tongue with a pointed papilla; (7) strongly adapted to life in the upper layers of the forest canopy.
Philautus nerostagona cannot be confused with any of the known Philautus from the Western Ghats because of its unique dermal ornamentation and extended webbing between fingers and toes ( Biju & Bossuyt, 2005a).
Description of the holotype: A detailed description and illustrations were published in Biju & Bossuyt (2005a). Measurements are given in the Table 2.
Variation: Measurements of the type series are given in Table 2. In general, the dorsum and dorsal side of the forelimbs and hindlimbs light brown with darkgreen and reddish brown irregular patches of varying size, laterally bluish black vermiculated with brown patches, loreal and tympanic regions light brown with irregular light-green patches (Fig. 68B), iris reddish grey with a dark-brown ring; hands and feet grey, posterior margins of femur and tibia chocolate brown; ventral side off-white with various numbers of brown, light-grey and light-yellow spots forming a vermiculated pattern, throat grey, lips white with dark bands. The colour pattern of BNHS 4245 closely resembles the lichen-covered tree bark on which it was perched ( Fig. 51A View Figure 51 ).
Distribution and natural history: Mananthavady, Sulthanbathery, and Kalpetta ( Fig. 46D View Figure 46 , Table 1). Philautus nerostagona is strongly adapted to life in the upper layers of the rainforest, and lives almost exclusively in the highest canopy layers between 10 and 20 m above the ground. We located a clutch of P. nerostagona eggs in a 10-cm-deep tree hole at about 10-m height at Kalpetta (for details, see Biju & Bossuyt, 2005a).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.