Philautus tinniens, (JERDON, 1853)

Biju, S. D. & Bossuyt, Franky, 2009, Systematics and phylogeny of Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Anura, Rhacophoridae) in the Western Ghats of India, with descriptions of 12 new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155 (2), pp. 374-444 : 434-436

PHILAUTUS TINNIENS ( JERDON, 1853)

( FIGS 2, 58, 59A; TABLE 2)

Type material: Neotype, MNHN 1985.0527 , an adult female, SVL 25.0 mm, from ‘the South-East of the Ooty Lake , Udhagamangalam [“Ootacamund”, “Ooty”]’, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India.

Other material studied: BNHS 4497, an adult female, from Avalanche; BNHS 4548, an adult female, and BNHS 4495, an adult male, from Udhagamandalam; BNHS 4494, an adult male, from Coonoor; BNHS 4496, an adult male, from Naduvattam ( Table 2).

Identity: Presently, Ixalus punctatus Anderson, 1871 , Ixalus montanus Günther, 1876 , and Philautus melanensis Rao, 1937 are considered synonyms of P. tinniens ( Bossuyt & Dubois, 2001) .

As already noted by Bossuyt & Dubois (2001), specimens at the Natural History Museum, London, from Kudremukh under the nomen I. montanus are different from P. tinniens from the Nilgiri Hills. We made a detailed examination of the 14 specimens at the Natural History Museum, London, from Kudremukh under the nomen I. montanus , and revealed that they are different in identity from P. tinniens and other species described from this region. Philautus montanus ( Günther, 1876) chiefly differs from P. tinniens by its longer snout–vent length, male SVL 29.0 ± 2.3 mm, N = 5; female SVL 35.6 ± 2.6 mm, N = 9 (vs. male SVL 20.5 ± 1.8, N = 3; female SVL 26.8 ± 1.6 mm, N = 3), and by flanks and groin yellowish brown (vs. dark brown), apart from other morphometric characters. However, we await fresh collections and DNA analyses before taking a taxonomic decision.

Diagnosis: Philautus tinniens can be easily distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) small adult size (male SVL 20.5 ± 1.8 mm, N = 3; female SVL 26.8 mm ± 1.6 mm, N = 3); (2) shank very short; (3) lateral side coarsely granular; (4) flanks and groin dark-brownish black; (5) first two fingers yellow in life, and light-yellowish white in preservation; (6) tibiotarsal articulation reaches below the level of the eye.

Description of the neotype: A detailed description of the neotype was published in Bossuyt & Dubois (2001).

direct development and hatching of froglets took place after 19 days.

Remarks: This species was incorrectly identified as I. variabilis (BMNH 74.4.29.625, SVL 16.0 mm, and BMNH 74.4.29.652, SVL 16.1 mm) from ‘Malabar’ by Boulenger (1882).