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Journal of Threatened Taxa PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles OPEN ACCESS 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, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) 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 Records of two toads Duttaphrynus scaber and D. stomaticus (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae) from southeastern India S.R. Ganesh, M. Rameshwaran, Naveen A. Joseph, Ahamed M. Jerith & Sushil K. Duta 26 July 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 10 | Pages: 16272–16278 DOI: 10.11609/jot.6110.12.10.16272-16278 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]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2020 | 12(10): 16272–16278 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.6110.12.10.16272-16278 #6110 | Received 07 May 2020 | Final received 30 June 2020 | Finally accepted 06 July 2020 C o m m Records of two toads Dutaphrynus scaber and D. stomatcus u n i (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae) from southeastern India c a 1 2 3# 4 5 t S.R. Ganesh , M. Rameshwaran , Naveen A. Joseph , Ahamed M. Jerith & Sushil K. Duta i o 1 Chennai Snake Park, Rajbhavan Post, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600022, India. n 2 Reptle Conservaton of India (RCI), No: 9/98, Dr. Chelladurai Nagar, Krishnapuram Post, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu 627011, India. 3 Natonal Troopers for Conservaton of Nature (NTCN), 3/79 C, East Street, Mudivaithanenthal, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu 628102, India. 4 M.Sc Wildlife Biology, Govt. Arts College, Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu 643001, India. 5 Assam Don Bosco University,Tapesia Gardens, Kamarkuchi, Sonapur, Tepesia, Assam 782402, India. # - deceased 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected], 5 [email protected] Abstract: We document two toad species Dutaphrynus scaber and D. stomatcus from southeastern India, in the Coromandel Coastal Plains. Owing to incorrect data presented in previous reports denotng the occurrence of these toad species, their occurrence in the said region has remained obscure. Our results, presented here, on both the species are based on morphological data from 15 preserved voucher specimens and direct feld observatons made by the authors in situ. In this work, we report D. scaber from Chengelpet and D. stomatcus from Thoothukudi. We revisited these places afer studying the labeled specimens in Chennai Snake Park Trust Museum, to confrm their occurrences in the respectve region and provide natural history notes based on our feld observatons. Keywords: Chengelpet, Coromandel Coast, feld sightng, India, morphology, toad, Thoothukudi (Tutcorin). Editor: Neelesh Dahanukar, IISER, Pune, India. Date of publicaton: 26 July 2020 (online & print) Citaton: Ganesh, S.R., M. Rameshwaran, N.A. Joseph, A.M. Jerith & S.K. Duta (2020). Records of two toads Dutaphrynus scaber and D. stomatcus (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae) from southeastern Indiat. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(10): 16272–16278. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.6110.12.10.16272-16278 Copyright: © Ganesh et al. 2020. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: None. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. For Author details see end of this artcle. Author contributon: SRG and SKD conceived the work. SRG collected data for both the species dealt with; while MR, NAJ and AMJ collected data for one species. MR, NAJ and AMJ did most of the feldwork, while SRG partcipated in some feld tours. SRG studied the voucher materials, at least some of which were also perused by MR, NAJ and AMJ. SKD provided previous records from European and American museums and provided historical literature, besides advising this work overall. SRG and SKD led the writng in consultaton with MR, NAJ and AMJ. All the authors equally partcipated in fnalizing the write-up and read and approved the fnal version. Acknowledgements: We thank our respectve organisatons for encouraging our research actvites. SRG thanks the Executve Chairman and Trustees of the Chennai Snake Park for the encouragement and facilites provided. We thank the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Tutcorin, for supportng and facilitatng the feldwork; Mr. S. Mohammed Zakkaria and Mr. C. Eswara Pandi for helping us during feld trips; the local people for informaton on these species. SRG thanks S.P. Vijayakumar, P.S. Siva Prasad, Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi and Dinal Samarasinghe for their kind informaton on these toads. SKD acknowledges the help rendered by staf of the Assam Don Bosco University. This paper is dedicated to our coauthor–late Mr. Naveen A. Joseph who parted from us in a tragic, untmely accident. Thanks are due to Jayaditya Purkayastha for sharing photos and details of D. stomatcus from Assam; and to anonymous referees for their constructve critcism on this manuscript. 16272 J TT Records of Dutaphrynus scaber & D. stomatcus from southeastern India Ganesh et al. INTRODUCTION (Bogert & Senanayake 1966; Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda 1998; Jayawardena et al. 2017), compared In amphibians, much of the diversity in the Indian to India. Recently, Padhye et al. (2013) reported it from peninsula is concentrated in the Western Ghats hill range northern Western Ghats, based on both morphological (Biju 2001; Dinesh et al. 2009; Gururaja 2012), a global and molecular data. But unfortunately, past reports of biodiversity hotspot covered with evergreen forests this species from Kadayam in southern Western Ghats (Bossuyt et al. 2004). Other ecoregions in peninsular foothills (Vijayakumar 2002), Chengelpet (Das & Martn India are either under-surveyed or are depauperate in 1998), and Mayiladuthurai (Ganesh & Chandramouli amphibian diversity (Duta 1997; Daniels 2005; Gururaja 2007; Nath et al. 2012) in Coromandel Coastal Plains 2012). Toads including species from the Indian peninsula were missed, although historical reports from nearby were subjected to both morphological (Manamendra- localites were mentoned (Boulenger 1892; Rao 1915). Arachchi & Pethiyagoda 1998; Dubois & Ohler 1999) and Puducherry was also added as another coastal plains molecular (Bocxlaer et al. 2009) reviews. But much of site record for D. scaber (Seshadri et al. 2012 read with the above-mentoned studies beter represent material Srinivasulu et al. 2013). from the Western Ghats and studies on toad species from Thus, reports from southeastern India of D. scaber southeastern India are largely lacking (Srinivasulu et al. fall short due to lack of voucher material (see Ganesh 2013). Apart from the beter-known, Common Indian & Chandramouli 2007; Nath et al. 2012) while that of D. Toad D. melanostctus (Schneider, 1799), two other stomatcus falls short due to lack of recent feld sightngs species—the Dwarf Toad D. scaber (Schneider, 1799) with ample morphological descriptons (see Duta 1997; and the Marbled Toad D. stomatcus (Lütken, 1864)— Sondhi 2009). Adding on to this, some works have, sadly, have been reported from the Coromandel Coastal Plains confused the identtes of D. scaber and D. stomatcus, (Duta 1997; Daniel 2002; Daniels 2005; Srinivasulu et al. again from the Coromandel Coastal Plains (Seshadri et al. 2013). Both morphological (Dubois & Ohler 1999) and 2012). All these factors, cumulatvely, led Srinivasulu et molecular (Bocxlaer et al. 2009) studies revealed that D. al. (2013) to revisit such reports that were not based on scaber, D. stomatcus, and D. melanostctus all fall into collected voucher specimens accompanied with ample diferent species groups of their own. morphological descripton notes as well as recent feld The type locality of Dutaphrynus stomatcus is sightngs in situ. The problem is further confounded Assam (Boulenger 1891; Duta 1997). It is also known by reports based on misidentfcatons (see Srinivasulu throughout the Indo-Gangetc foodplains from Aravallis et al. 2013). In this paper, we present further records up to Bengal, through the Terai belts of Nepal and of D. scaber and D. stomatcus from southeastern India. Siwalik foothills and on to other places in northeastern Thus, though described in the 19th century, and ofen India. South of this vast area, D. stomatcus is known reported in many studies across the country (Duta
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