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OPEN ACCESS The Journal of Threatened Taxa is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use of artcles in any medium, reproducton, and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Amphibians of the Dibang River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh: an annotated checklist with distribution records Jayanta K. Roy, Ramie H. Begum & M. Firoz Ahmed 26 December 2018 | Vol. 10 | No. 15 | Pages: 12940–12952 10.11609/jot.4249.10.15.12940-12952 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints contact <[email protected]> Publisher & Host Partners Member Threatened Taxa Amphibians of Dibang River Basin, JournalArunachal of Pradesh Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2018 | 10(15): 12940–12952Roy et al. Amphibians of the Dibang River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh: Communication an annotated checklist with distribution records. ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) Jayanta K. Roy 1 , Ramie H. Begum 2 & M. Firoz Ahmed 3 ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 1,2 Department of Life Science and Bioinformatcs, Assam University, Diphu Campus, Karbi Anglong, OPEN ACCESS Assam 782460, India 1,3 Herpetofauna Research and Conservaton Division, Aaranyak, 13 Tayab Ali Byelane, Bishnu Rabha Path, Beltola Tinali, Beltola, Guwahat, Assam 781028, India 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] (corresponding author) Abstract: The present study across the Dibang River Basin is being presented as an annotated checklist from Arunachal Pradesh. A systematc survey was conducted during 2014–2017 by visual encounter surveys, as well as opportunistc records across the basin. Thirty- eight species of amphibians belonging to 17 genera in six families were recorded. Five new distributon records for Arunachal Pradesh, and one genus Oreolalax was recorded for the frst tme from India. Further, a rare report on Theloderma moloch and Rhacophorus tuberculatus from northeastern India provided signifcant informaton on species microhabitat and updated the amphibian distributon records from Arunachal Pradesh. Keywords: Five new state records, microhabitat, one new genus record for India, Oreolalax, Rhacophorus tuberculatus, Theloderma moloch. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4249.10.15.12940-12952 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0D3499C5-AEDA-4987-A8BF-E5C287F89C09 Editor: S.K. Duta, Retred Professor of Zoology, Bhubaneswar, India. Date of publicaton: 26 December 2018 (online & print) Manuscript details: Ms # 4249 | Received 13 May 2018 | Final received 23 July 2018 | Finally accepted 04 December 2018 Citaton: Roy, J.K., R.H. Begum & M.F. Ahmed (2018). Amphibians of the Dibang River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh: an annotated checklist with distributon records. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(15): 12940–12952; htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4249.10.15.12940-12952 Copyright: © Roy et al. 2018. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this artcle in any medium, reproducton and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton. Funding: Aaranyak, Ruford Small Grant Foundaton (RSGF), KWEF (Kurita Water and Environment Foundaton), and the Science and Engineering Research Board of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author Details: Jayanta Kumar Roy is a biologist with Herpetological Research and Conservaton Division of Aaranyak and has been working on amphibians of northeast India for last seven years. Currently he is focusing on ecology of amphibians of Dibang River Basin in the Eastern Himalaya and completed his PhD research from Assam University, Diphu Campus. He has recorded several rare and threatened amphibian species from the region. Ramie H, Begum is a Biomedical Scientst working in the feld of animal disease monitoring and surveillance for more than 14 years. A DBT overseas associate and a visitng professor at University of California, USA, she currently Heads the Department of Life Science and Bioinformatcs at Assam University Diphu Campus. M Firoz Ahmed has been involved in conservaton research on herpetofauna and tgers in India since 1998. He has been working on herpetofauna and reported new species to science. He has carried out herpetofaunal inventory and taxonomy work in northeast India with specializaton in Rhacophorids. He currently heads the Herpetological Research and Conservaton Division of Aaranyak. Author Contributon: JKR - study design, feld data collecton, analysis and manuscript writng. RHB - manuscript writng and guided JKR. MFA - study design and manuscript writng. Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Aaranyak, Ruford Small Grant Foundaton (RSGF), and KWEF (Kurita Water and Environment Foundaton) for fnancial assistance to conduct the study. We sincerely thank Science and Engineering Research Board, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for its grant to Aaranyak that helped carry out additonal feld surveys in 2017. We are thankful to the Department of Environment and Forests, Arunachal Pradesh for providing necessary permission. We thank Prof. S.K. Duta, Annemarie Ohler and Dr. Saibal Sengupta for help in species identfcaton. We are thankful to Dr. Karthikeyan Vasudevan, Dr. Kanto Nishikawa and Dr. Abhijit Das for their advice and providing key literature. Our thanks to Naba Jibi Pulu for local guidance and logistcs help. We thank Gapo Miuli, Rigon Menda, Ahi Mihu, Emkey Tayu, Naba Durga Tayu, Nabaliya Rasup Tayu for their support in the feld. 12940 Amphibians of Dibang River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh Roy et al. INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS Arunachal Pradesh, a part of the eastern Himalayan The Dibang River Basin (Fig. 1) is situated in the Biodiversity Hotspot is stll poorly inventoried for fora foothills fanked by the eastern Himalaya. It covers and fauna. Studies carried out in the state tll now two districts of Arunachal Pradesh: the Lower Dibang have reported 39 amphibians species from Arunachal Valley and Dibang Valley with a total geographic area Pradesh (Sarkar & Ray 2006). Although, the frst and of 13,029km2 are situated between 27.99–28.98 0N and most extensive survey on amphibians was carried out by 95.78–95.81 0E. The Dibang River fows from the southern Annandale (1912), where 25 species were documented fank of the eastern Himalaya and joins the Brahmaputra during the Abor Hill expediton. Subsequently, 22 River in eastern Assam near Tinsukia Town. The entre species from Arunachal Pradesh were reported by basin is a mountainous tract and alttude ranges from Chanda (1994), 28 species from East Kameng (Pakhui 200m to 4900m; the annual rainfall varies from 3500– Tiger Reserve), Changlang (Namdapha Natonal Park) & 5000 mm (CGWB 2013). The rocky headwater streams Upper Siang (Mouling Natonal Park) District by Pawar & with thick canopy cover is the characteristc habitat Birand (2001), 50 species from Dihang–Dibang Biosphere features of the study area that provide a suitable habitat Reserve by Borah & Bordoloi (2003), and 35 species from for rare and range restricted amphibian species (Morse Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary by Athreya (2006). et al. 1993; Meyer & Wallace 2001). Systematc studies and empirical observatons on We conducted an extensive survey across the Dibang amphibian species distributon in northeastern region River Basin covering alttude from 200m to 3500m from was found to be seriously lacking, although several 2014–2017. Systematc surveys were conducted along studies recorded amphibian species from the region diferent stream and in forested habitat. The amphibian (Annandale 1912; Chanda 1994; Pawar & Birand 2001; survey includes two hour (1830–2030 h) visual Bordoloi et al. 2002; Athreya 2006; Sarkar & Ray 2006; encounter survey (VES) (Crump & Scot 1994) followed Ahmed et al. 2009; Mathew & Sen 2010). In the present by opportunistc observatons during the study period. study, we presented an updated amphibian species We monitored amphibian breeding pools located in very distributon and detailed microhabitat characteristcs remote places in the valley in deep forest during short from Arunachal Pradesh. expeditons of 10–15 days. All amphibian encounters Figure 1. Map of the study area showing sampling sites for amphibian species distributon across the Dibang River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh, India during 2014–2017. Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2018 | 10(15): 12940–12952 12941 Amphibians of Dibang River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh Roy et al. were marked using Garmin GPS map 62s and recorded Table 1. Number of amphibian species recorded from the Dibang on a standard data sheet. When possible, amphibians River Basin, Arunachal Pradesh, India. were measured on the spot (SVL: snout vent length) Genus No. of