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| Nyctibatrachus minimus
Biju, Van Bocxlaer, Giri, Roelants, Nagaraju & Bossuyt, 2007
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Abstract
A new nightfrog, Nyctibatrachus minimus sp. nov.(Anura: Nyctibatrachidae) is described from Kurichiyarmala in the Western Ghats, India. Its most distinctive feature is the small adult snout-vent length,averaging only 12.3 mm in adult males (N = 15), makingit the smallest known frog from India. Analyses of afragment of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase1 gene indicate a minimum divergence of 22% withknown small-sized congeners. Miniaturization in Nyctibatrachus sp. seems to be associated with absence of webbing on toes and fingers, which may have resultedfrom evolutionary specialization to life in terrestrial habitats.
Keywords: NADH dehydrogenase 1, Nyctibatrachus minimus sp. nov., smallest Indian frog, Western Ghats.
Biju, S. D., Ines Van Bocxlaer, Varad B. Giri, Kim Roelants, J. Nagaraju and Franky Bossuyt (2007) A new nightfrog, Nyctibatrachus minimus sp. nov. (Anura: Nyctibatrachidae): The smallest frog from India. Current Science. Vol. 93, No. 6: 854-858 PDF | http://varadgiri.com/Nyctibatrachus minimus.pdf
