Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi, a new species of night frog (Amphibia: Nyctibatrachidae) from Western Ghats of Kerala, India

Abstract

A new species Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi is described from the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary of Western Ghats of Kozhikode District, Kerala. The new species can be distinguished from known congeners based on small adult size, head equal to or slightly wider than long, less wrinkled dorsal skin with prominent granular projections, absence of dorso-lateral glandular folds, a ridge extending from the lip over the tip of the snout to between the nostrils bifurcate posteriorly producing an inverted ‘Y’, finger and toe discs well developed with dorso-terminal groove, cover rounded distally, third finger disc slightly wider than finger width and fourth toe disc almost equal to or slightly wider than toe width, presence of two palmar tubercles, moderate webbing and thigh, shank and foot almost of equal length. Molecular phylogeny based on two mitochondrial genes (ND1 and 16S rRNA) reveals that the species is genetically distinct from others within the genus, and is a sister taxon to N. athirappillyensis and N. kempholeyensis. Multivariate morphometric analysis clearly distinguishes the new night frog species Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi from N. athirappillyensis and N. kempholeyensis.