Description of two new species of Amolops (Anura: Ranidae) from Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India under the morphological 'Viridimaculatus species group'

Authors

  • Bhaskar Saikia
     Zoological Survey of India, North Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong - 793003, Meghalaya
  • Mostaque A. Laskar
     Department of Biotechnology, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong - 793001, Meghalaya
  • K. P. Dinesh
     Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Vidyanagar, Pune - 411044, Maharashtra
  • A. Shabnam
     Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Vidyanagar, Pune - 411044, Maharashtra
  • Bikramjit Sinha
     Zoological Survey of India, North Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong - 793003, Meghalaya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v122/i3/2022/169417

Keywords:

Amolops chanakya sp. nov., Amolops tawang sp. nov., Cascade Frogs, Chanakya, Cryptic Species, Dirang, Eastern Himalaya, Tawang

Abstract

With the descriptions of a large number of Amolops species in the last two decades, the historical reports of Amolops species from India are in a state of flux, resulting in doubts regarding the specific identities of many species of this genus from the country. Due to their morphological crypticity, species belonging to Amolops are most often difficult to identify based only on morphological characters and colour alone. In the recent years, a number of species of this genus have either been described or reported from India, based on both morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies, like Amolops aniqiaoensis, A. adicola, A. indoburmanensis, etc. Herein, we are describing two new species of Amolops, namely Amolops chanakya sp. nov. and Amolops tawang sp. nov. from western Arunachal Pradesh that belong to the morphological ‘Viridimaculatus species group’ based on a combination of morphological character data sets, genetic studies, and geographical distribution.

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Published

2022-09-02

How to Cite

Saikia, B., Laskar, M. A., Dinesh, K. P., Shabnam, A., & Sinha, B. (2022). Description of two new species of <i>Amolops</i> (Anura: Ranidae) from Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India under the morphological <i>’Viridimaculatus</i> species group’. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 122(3), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v122/i3/2022/169417

Issue

Volume 122, Issue 3, 2022

Section

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