Asiatic Herpetological Research Volume 7 Published Volume 2
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Volume 7 • 1997 tailor Ermi Zhao Sichuan, China Chengdu Institute of Biology, Academia Sinica, Chengdu. Associate Editors Theodore J. J. Robert Maeey Papenfuss St. Louis. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. University of California. Department of Bioloev. Washington University. California. USA Missouri, USA Berkeley. Managing Editor Valeurie E. Friedman Berkeley, California, USA Editorial Board Robert F. Inger kraig Adler Field Museum. Chicago. Illinois. USA Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA M.ihiiicniil Latifi Natalia B. Ananjeva Ra/i. Teheran. Iran Russia Institut d'Etat des serums el vacuus Zoological Institute. St. Petersburg. Lue Steven C. Anderson kuangyang National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei. Taiwan, China University of the Pacific. Stockton, California, USA Ronald Marlow Ki ll.ii Autumn of Nevada. Las Vegas. Nevada. USA Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Universitj of California, University Robert W. Murphy Berkeley. USA Museum. Toronto. Ontario, Canada Aaron Bauer Royal Ontario Goren Nilson Villanova University. Villanova. Pennsylvania. USA Sweden Leo Borkin University of Goteborg. Goteborg. Russia Nikolai Orlov Zoological Institute. St. Petersburg. St. Russia Bihui Chen Zoological Institute, Petersburg. Hidetoshi Ota Anhui Normal University. Wuhu, Annul. China Okinawa. Department of Biology, University of the Ryukyus. Ilya Darevsky Russia Japan Zoological Institute. St. Petersburg. Pan Indraneil Das Jiong-hua China Post No. 4, South China Normal University. Guangzhou. Guangdong. Centre for Herpetology. Madras Crocodile Bank. Bag Yun-xu Mamallapuram-603 104, Tamilnadu, S. India Tong Lanzhou Lanzhou. Gansu. China William E. Duellman University. Yehudah Werner University of Kansas. Lawrence, Kansas, USA Hebrew Jerusalem. Israel Hajime Fukada University. ke-ming Xu Sennyuji Sannaicho. Higashiyamaku. Kyoto. Japan Normal Dalian. Liaoning. China Carl Gans Liaoning University. Yu-hua Yang University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan. USA Sichuan Chengdu. Sichuan. China Hui-qingGu University. Zhao Teacher's College. Hangzhou. Zhejiang. China ken-tang Hangzhou China Suzhou Railway Teacher's College, Suzhou, Jiangsu. Research Society (AHRS) and the Chinese So- Asiatic Herpetologkal Research is published by the Asiatic Herpetological of California. and at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. University ciety for the Study of Amphibians Reptiles (CSSAR) All cor- submit articles but not limited to Asian herpetology. The editors encourage authors from all countries to concerning should be sent to AHR. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Univer- respondence outside of China and requests for subscription All USA 94720, or email to asiaherptfluclink.berkeley.edu. correspondence sity of California Berkeley. California, by of P.O. Box 416, Sichuan Province, within China should be sent to Ermi Zhao. Editor. Chengdu Institute Biology, Chengdu. and Submission at the end of this issue. Subscription China Authors should consult Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation outside of the USA and China, please add $5 per issue for and membership are $25 per year ($45 for libraries). Postage If do not checks or orders in US currency to AHRS. you surface mail or $ 10 per issue for air mail. Make money payable will make other have access to US currency, please notify us. and we arrangements. Volume 4 succeeds Volume 6 in 1995. Volume 5 published in 1993. Asiatic Herpetological Research Volume 7 published Volume 2. which was at 3 in 1990 and Chinese Research published published in 199^ Volume published Herpetological for the Chinese for the Study of Amphibians and Rep- the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1988-1989 as the journal Society the 1987. for the Chengdu Institute of Biology by tiles Volume 2 succeeded Chinese Herpetological Research published Sichuan. China. Acta Herpetologica Sinica Chongqing Branch Scientific and Technological Literature Press, Chongqing, ceased publication in June, 1988. Photo Nikolai Orlov. Cover: Bungarus multicinctus. Tarn Dao, northemVietnam. by 1997 Asiatic Herperological Research Vol. 7, pp. 1-5 Anurans Collected in West Malaysia TOMAS CEDHAGEN Department ofEcology and Genetics, Institute ofBiological Sciences, University of'Aarlius, N\ Munkegade, Building 540, DK-Aarhus C, Denmark - Abstract. Distributional records and natural history notes are given for anurans collected in West Malaysia 1976. Rana baramica was observed when it was caught by an Aliaetulla nasuta (Serpentes: Colubridae). Rhacophorus leucomystax, Limnonectes limnocharis and Microhyla heymonsi were all found at night on September 16-17, when they were spawning in shallow ditches, formed by the wheels of a truck. Amolops larutensis were day active and occurred in the shadow, among stones in a forest stream, particularly close to water falls and rapids. Several white foam nests with a diameter of 5-7 cm were deposited on the same stones just above the water surface on August 27. Other species observed were Bufo melanostictus, Bufo asper, Leptobrachium hasseltii, Kaloula pulchra, Limnonectes laticeps, Limnonectes macrodon, Rana erythraea, Rana glandulosa, Rana nicobariensis, and Rhacophorus prominanus. Key words: Amphibia, Anura, West Malaysia. and Rhacophorus tunkui Kiew, 1987. which indicates that much more work still remains to be done. Most of the existing publications deal with systematics. The fauna is rich and contains many interesting species, however, most of them are not studied in detail according to aspects of their distribution, natural his- tory and ecology. The nature in Malaysia is now undergoing radical and large-scale changes. Most of them are effects of an increasing human population, industrialization, changes of the vegetation over large areas, and the massive use of biocides (Aiken and Leigh 1992: Cran- brook 1988; Cubitt and Payne 1990; Yussof 1987). These factors probably threaten the amphibians (Kiew 1984a) in similar ways as, e.g., the fish fauna (M. Zakaria-Ismail 1994: Ng et al. 1994; Rosier 1988). An increased field work is therefore motivated, so that the degree of habitat destruction is documented and nec- essary conservation measures can be done. This con- tribution contains some notes on the geographical distribution and natural history of several amphibians Figure 1 . West Malaysia: The collecting sites are collected in Malaysia 1976. marked with a dot (•). Scale bar = 100 km. Material and Methods Introduction sites 1 Collecting are listed in Table , and marked on The fauna of is cov- 1 amphibian peninsular Malaysia the map (Fig. ). The positions were plotted from the ered by some books (Berry 1975; Boulenger 1912: map of Malaysia, published by the Director of Smith and articles 1930) published thereafter (e.g., National Mapping. Malaysia, 1976, series 1307, edi- Arak 1984; Dring 1979: Kiew 1979; Inger 1980a, b; tion 5-PPNM, sheet 1. scale 1:760.000. The speci- Lim 1990). New species have been described in the mens were preserved in formalin, identified by the use area during the last decades, e.g., Kalophrynus palma- of Berry (1975). verified by Dr. Lim Boo-Liat. and tissimus Kiew, 1984b, Rana malesiana Kiew, 1984c deposited at Department of Medical Ecology. Institute Vol. 7. p. 2 Asiatic Herpetological Research 1997 Table 1. Sampling stations. Field Study Center. University of Malaysia. Ulu Gombak, Selangor 101°45'E;3°17'N Biological Field Station, Kota Tinggi. Johore 103°50'E; 1°50'N Kuala Brang. Trengganu 103°0rE;5°04'N o Kuin. about 4 miles SW of Marang, Trengganu 103 10'E;5°09'N o Bukit Besar, Kuala Trengganu, Trengganu 103°07'E;5 20'N Malacca Youth Hostel. 9 miles north of Malacca city 102°10'E;2°14'N o Portugese settlement. Malacca 102°17'E;2 10'N o Kuala Lumpur Youth Hostel. Jalan Ipoh. Kuala Lumpur, Selangor 101°44'E;3 09'N for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. September 17, 1976 (6 specimens). The specimen The nomenclature follows Frost (1986) and later from Kuala Brang was jumping in the leaf litter of an changes summarized by Duellman ( 1993). open secondary forest. The specimens from Gombak were 3 pairs in amplexus found in shallow ditches Results between 8.30 and 10.30 p.m. Bufo melanostictus Schneider, 1799 Amolops larutensis (Boulenger, 1899) Kuala 27. 1976 The Malacca Youth Hostel, July 29, 1976 (3 specimens); Brang. August (13 specimens). were active in the in the shadow Portugese settlement, Malacca, July 29, 1976 (1 spec- frogs day, jumping between the stones 2) in a stream imen); Kuala Lumpur Youth Hostel, August 5, 1976 ( 1 (Fig. rapid particu- close to waterfalls and in specimen), and September 29, 1976 (4 specimens). larly (Fig. 4), disappeared All specimens were found in urban areas or other the water when disturbed. Several white foam nests with a of were found on the same environments affected by human activities. diameter 5-7 cm stones, just above the water level (Fig. 3). Bufo asper Gravenhorst, 1829 Limnonectes laticeps (Boulenger, 1882) Kuala Brang. August 27. 1976 ( 1 adult specimen), and Field Center of the of August 28, 1976. (1 juvenile specimen); Field Study Study University Malaysia. Gombak. 17, 1976 (1 It was Center of the University of Malaysia. Gombak, Sep- September specimen). found in the in the leaf litter in a tember 14, 1976 (1 juvenile specimen). Several other day. jumping primary forest not far from a stream. adult specimens, except the collected one, were observed in the day, sitting on rocks 2-3 m above a Limnonectes limnocharis (Boie, 1835) small river. They were very shy and jumped into the water when disturbed, but returned to their rocks, Portugese Settlement, Malacca, July 30. 1976 (5 spec- within 10-30 minutes. The juvenile specimens were imens); Kuin, August 23, 1976 (3 specimens); Kuala 1976 1 and collected on the ground at night. Brang, August 25, ( specimen) August 28. 1976 (3 specimens); Bukit Besar. Kuala Trengganu. Leptobrachium ftasse/f/Tschudi, 1838 September 27. 1976 (1 specimens); Field Study Cen- ter of the of Gombak. Kuin. August 24, 1976 ( 1 specimen). It was found on University Malaysia, September 1976 Field the ground close to a stream in a primary forest. 17, (8 specimens); Biological Station, Kota Tinggi, September 20. 1976 ( 1 specimens). They Kaloula pulchra Gray, 1831 were all found in areas affected by human activities.