. Asiatic herpetological research. Reptiles -- Asia Periodicals; Amphibians -- Asia Periodicals. IJune 1995 Asiatic Herpetological Research Vol. 6, pp. 36-37 j' The Ceylonese Tree Frog Polypedates cruciger Blyth, a New Record for India R. J. Ranjit Daniels1 and m. S. Ravichandran2 'M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, 3rd Cross Gtreet, Taramani Institutional Area, Madras, India 600113 Zoological Survey of India, 100 Santhome High Road, Madras, India 600028 Abstract. -The Ceylonese tree frog Polypedates cruciger was considered endemic to the island of Sri Lanka. However, recent surveys in the
. Asiatic herpetological research. Reptiles -- Asia Periodicals; Amphibians -- Asia Periodicals. IJune 1995 Asiatic Herpetological Research Vol. 6, pp. 36-37 j' The Ceylonese Tree Frog Polypedates cruciger Blyth, a New Record for India R. J. Ranjit Daniels1 and m. S. Ravichandran2 'M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, 3rd Cross Gtreet, Taramani Institutional Area, Madras, India 600113 Zoological Survey of India, 100 Santhome High Road, Madras, India 600028 Abstract. -The Ceylonese tree frog Polypedates cruciger was considered endemic to the island of Sri Lanka. However, recent surveys in the Western Ghats, India has revealed that the species is widespread outside its originally reported range. P. cruciger differs from both the Indian species P. maculatus and P. leucomystax in morphology and ecology. P. cruciger is an addition to the amphibian fauna of India. Key words: Amphibia, Anura, Polypedates cruciger, India, Western Ghats, FIG. 1. Polypedates cruciger from the Western Ghats of India. Introduction During a recent survey of amphibians in the Western Ghats and southwestern India, three specimens of tree frogs were obtained in June 1990 from a private estate in the hills of Kanyakumari district (c. 8° 15' N; 77°25' E). Later in the year, two more specimens of the same species were observed in parts of Karnataka State around 14" N; 75° E. The specimens have been deposited in the ZSI (Madras) and BNHS (Bombay) museums. Discussion Based on the extent of webbing between the toes and fingers, the specimens were assigned to the genus Polypedates (Liem, 1970; Daniel and Sekar, 1989). In India, only two specimens of Polypedates have been hitherto reported. These are P. leucomystax (Gravenhorst) and P. maculatus (Gray) (Inger and Dutta, 1986). The examples from the Western Ghats differed from both leucomystax and maculatus in the skin of the head adhering to the nasal and frontoparietal bones, the tympanum being two-thirds the diameter of the orbit
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