Microhyla ornata, Duméril and Bibron, 1841

O, Kyle A., Connell, Aryal, Prakash C., Sherchan, Adarsh M., Dhakal, Bimala, Chaudhary, Hemanta Kumari, Ranabhat, Rishi & Karmacharya, Dibesh, 2019, A herpetological survey of the Kathmandu Valleyı Nepalı and phylogenetic identification of Megophrys (Xenophrys) zhangi, Journal of Natural History 53 (23), pp. 1421-1437 : 1431

Microhyla ornata

Figures 1 and 3 (h); Table 2

specimens examined: CMDN-A 47, 138 – 139, 149 – 150.

Distribution in the KTM Valley: Encountered in Lalitpur and Shreshnaryan, although Aryal et al. (2013) also encountered the species in north-western KTM Valley.

Remarks: Microhyla were found at four sites around ponds or wetlands ( Figure 1 ). Males were always encountered while calling, usually from under grass, about onehalf metre from the water ( Figure 3 (h)). Larvae were usually present in large numbers in the water sources around which adults were calling. Recent work suggests that Nepal contains multiple species of Microhyla , and that the specimens encountered around KTM may belong to a related species, rather than M. ornata ( Khatiwada et al. 2017) . Molecular sequencing or in-depth morphological analysis would help resolve the taxonomic position of KTM Microhyla . Because we only encountered this species outside of national parks, we were unable to conduct further analyses ( Figure 1 ).

Figures

Figure 1. Map showing distributions of species surveyed in the Kathmandu Valley: circles = amphibians, squares = reptiles. Colours are defined as follows, amphibians: dark blue = Duttaphrynus melanostictus, purple = Nanorana liebigii, yellow = Fejervarya syhadrensis, light green = Hoplobatrachus tigerinus, dark green = Euphlyctis cyanophylyctis, orange = Megophrys (Xenophrys) zhangi, red = Microhyla ornata. Reptiles: light purple = Calotes versicolor, light blue = Hemidactylus platyurus, dark blue = Hemidactylus frenatus, dark purple = Herpetoreas platyceps.

Figure 3. Additional amphibian species observed during this survey. (a) Hoplobatrachus tigerinus, (b) Hoplobatrachus tigerinus, (c) Euphlyctis cyanophylyctis, (d) male Megophrys zhangi, (e) female (left) and male (right) of Megophrys zhangi, (f) tadpole of Megophrys zhangi, (g) male Megophrys zhangi calling on artificial substrate near water feature, (h) Microhyla ornata.