Philautus jayarami Biju & Bossuyt 2009, SP. NOV.

PHILAUTUS JAYARAMI SP. NOV.

(FIGS 2, 5, 19, 38B, 39A–F, 40A, B; TABLE 2)

Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4459, an adult male (SVL 26.0 mm), collected by SDB on 3 August 1998 from Valparai, Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India; paratypes, BNHS 4460–4462 and BNHS 4543, four adult males collected along with the holotype.

Other material studied: SDB 40273, an adult male, collected along with the holotype (Table 2).

Diagnosis: Philautus jayarami sp. nov. can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) medium adult size; (2) pointed snout; (3) subarticular tubercles double in fingers III1 and IV1; (4) lateral region and thigh margin white, occasionally with bluish black spots; (5) elongated granulation on the ventral side (Fig. 39B).

Philautus jayarami sp. nov. can be distinguished from all green Philautus in the study area by its relatively large snout–vent length (largest green Philautus from the Western Ghats), in combination with a unique white lateral side and thigh margin in life, turning to ash grey in preservation, and yellowish upper arm and hands. Because of the overall green coloration, P. jayarami sp. nov. could be confused with four other green species from the Western Ghats (Figs 5, 19): P. akroparallagi sp. nov., P. beddomii, P. bobingeri, and P. glandulosus. However, P. jayarami sp. nov. is distinct from P. beddomii by the relatively larger male snout–vent length, 26.3 ± 2.0 mm, N = 6 (vs. SVL 19.0 ± 2.8 mm, N = 11) and yellowish upper arm and hand (vs. forearm completely green in P. beddomii); P. jayarami sp. nov. is clearly distinguishable from P. glandulosus by its extension of dorsal green coloration only to the lower arm of forelimb (vs. dorsal coloration not extending to lower arm, forelimb completely yellow; Figs 31C, 34, 35), extension of dorsal colour on lateral side of head (vs. dorsal colour does not extend to lateral side of head, lateral side of head yellow; Figs 19, 31C, 35), lateral side, and anterior and posterior surface of thighs white in life and ash grey in preservation (vs. anterior and posterior surface of thighs yellow in life and creamy white or light yellowish in preservation). For differences with P. akroparallagi sp. nov., and P. bobingeri, see ‘comparison’ of those species.

Description of the holotype (all measurements in mm): Medium-sized frog (SVL 26.0) with a slender body (Figs 39A, 40A, B); head length (HL 10.0) shorter than width (HW 11.0; MN 8.2; MFE 6.1; MBE 3.6); outline of snout in dorsal and ventral views pointed, snout length (SL 4.1) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 3.2); canthus rostralis rounded, loreal region acutely concave; distance between posterior margins of eyes (IBE 9.8) about 1.7 times the distance between anterior margins of eyes (IFE 5.8); tympanum (TYD 1.2) rather indistinct (Fig. 39C); supratympanic fold indistinct; tongue without lingual papilla, and with a round depression towards the base.

Forelimb (FLL 5.7) shorter than hand (HAL 8.0; TFL 4.1); fingers without lateral dermal fringe, webbing absent; subarticular tubercles prominent, rounded, single on I1 and II1, double on III1 and IV1, absent on IV2 (Fig. 39D); prepollex distinct; palmar tubercle distinct, oval; supernumerary tubercles present on fingers II, III, and IV (Fig. 39D); nuptial pad weakly developed, creamy white.

Hindlimbs moderately long, shank (ShL 13.3) slightly longer than thigh (TL 13.0), and longer than distance from base of inner metatarsal tubercles to tip of toe IV (FOL 11.2); distance from heel to tip of toe IV (TFOL 18.7); webbing moderate (Figs 19, 39E); reaching almost up to first subarticular tubercle on either side of toe IV; dermal fringe along toe V present (Fig. 39E); subarticular tubercles rather prominent, rounded, simple, III2 and IV3 weakly developed, V2 absent; supernumerary tubercles present (Fig. 39E).

In preservation: dorsum uniform ash blue, lateral side ash white, loreal and tympanic regions ash blue, lateral region ash white; anterior and posterior surface of thighs ash white with dark blotches (Fig. 39A); limbs without cross bands; ventral side uniform white.

Variation: Measurements of five individuals from the type series are given in Table 2. BNHS 4460, dark green with a purplish streak from snout, along the side of head to near the vent in life, turns to dark purplish dorsum and light-purple streak in preservation; BNHS 4462, blue marking on the thigh is absent.

Etymology: The species is named after K. Jayaram, as a token of appreciation of him as a constant source of inspiration, and for his field support of SDB’s research.

Distribution and natural history: Andiparai shola (Valparai), and several localities within a 10-km radius in and around the type locality (Fig. 38B, Table 1). All individuals were collected around 20:00 h after heavy rain, from forest undergrowth about 2 m above the ground.

Skin of snout, between eyes, upper eyelids, side of head shagreened to sparsely granular, anterior and posterior parts of back sparsely granular; lateral region shagreened, flank sparsely granular; dorsal part of forelimb, thigh, tibia, and tarsus shagreened to sparsely granular; throat shagreened to granular, chest, belly, and posterior surface of thigh granular (Fig. 39B).

Colour of holotype: In life: dorsum uniform light green, without markings, lateral side white with bluish black blotches, loreal and tympanic regions light green, iris golden yellow with brown spots, encircled by light-bluish outer ring, lower arm light green, upper arm and hand yellowish, thigh with a green line extending from dorsum to knee, anterior and posterior margins white with bluish black blotches, shank almost completely light green, tarsus with an extremely thin light green line, forelimbs and hindlimbs without cross bands; throat light-yellowish white, belly white, hands and feet light yellowish.