Travancore frog back from the brink?

Giji K. Raman

The Hindu, September 13, 2014 

Travancore Bush Frog (Raorchestes travancoricus), classified as extinct by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board and on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was found last month by Mumbai-based researchers David V. Raju and Saurab Sawanth in the grasslands of Wagamon, believed to be their habitat. The other habitats are the Periyar Valley (Kerala), Meghamala and Bodinayakanur (Tamil Nadu), and Coorg (Karnataka) in Western Ghats.
The animal, in the family of Rhaorpherdae, was not recorded for long since its first description by George Albert Boulenger in 1891. In 2009, S.D. Biju and Franky Bossuyt, two Delhi University researchers, had announced its rediscovery in the Western Ghats, as part of the first amphibian survey of the Western Ghats, conducted by the School of Environment Studies, University of Delhi. The duo had detailed their discovery, along with 11 other species, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in 2009. A single male was spotted in 2004 from Vandiperiyar, near Thekkady, in Kerala.
The Travancore Bush Frog, also known as Travancore bubble-nest frog, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats. The tropical moist evergreen forest and tea plantations are its natural habitat. The male measures 23 to 25 mm and the female, 30 mm in length. Mr. Raju told The Hindu that its discovery in Uluppuni, in the sensitive Wagamon grassland, a biological hotspot, was a good sign. However, uncontrolled human intervention in Wagamon could pose problems for the species. He said he was planning to carry out a survey in the area for their clusters.
The new discovery opens up a window for more chances of their fragmented habitats in an intensive survey, Mr. Raju said.
 

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