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Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 10, pp. 245-246

Leptobrachium smithi Matsui, Nabitabhata, and Panha, 1999 (Anura:Megophryidae), an Addition to the Fauna of Myanmar (Burma)
INDRANEIL DAS1 AND SHYAMAL KUMAR CHANDA2
1Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300,

Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia; E-mail: idas@ibec.unimas.my2Amphibia Section, Zoological Survey of India, Fire-Proof Spirit Building,27, J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700 019, India
Abstract. - Three specimens of Leptobrachium from the collections of the Zoological Survey of India are identified
as Leptobrachium smithi. These specimens were collected by Limborg in 1877. These are the first confirmed recordsof Leptobrachium smithi for Myanmar.
Key words. - Anura, Leptobrachium, Myanmar, Burma.
Leptobrachium smithi Matsui et al. (1999) wasdescribed from peninsular Thailand, based on populations that were formerly referred to L. hasseltii Tschudi,
1838 (see Frost, 1985). This species was recently reported from Chandubi in the Mayeng Hill Reserve Forestand Garbhanga Reserve Forest, Kamrup District, AssamState, north-eastern India by Sengupta et al. (2001). We
here report specimens from Myanmar in the collectionof the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) that are allocated to L. smithi.
Three specimens of Leptobrachium smithii were
examined: ZSI 10439-40, from "Ahsoon" (unlocated), in
Tenasserim, Myanmar, altitude "2,000 feet", collectedby the Swedish journalist, novelist, poet and ship captain, Gustaf Arthur Ossian Limborg (1849-1908) in
1877. Limborg's expedition to what was then Burma wassponsored by Lord Tweeddale (Kjellgren, 1983) and hiscollections are distributed in Sweden and the US). Also
examined was ZSI 11841, from Lampi Island, Mergui,
collected by John Anderson, in 1882 (referred to byAnderson, 1889, as from "Sullivan Island", an older
name for Lampi, 10° 50' N; 98° 15' E).
The material from Myanmar match the descriptionof original description of Leptobrachium smithi, in addition to additional specimens examined from Assam State(see Sengupta et al., 2001), in showing the following
characteristics: moderate body size (snout-vent length22.4-43.4 mm; head width 6.6-18.1 mm; n = 3); small
inner metatarsal tubercle; dorsum smooth; and absenceof rows of dermal ridges on dorsal surface of limbs. Allspecimens referred to here are discolored, hence othercharacters used in separating L. smithi from L. hasseltii,
such as absence of white spots on sides of body and on
thigh; absence of dark spots on ventrum; and absence ofdark markings on dorsum, that differentiates the north-© 2004 by Asiatic Herpetological Research

ern L. smithi from the southern L. hasseltii, are indiscernable.
The known distribution of Leptobrachium smithi isthus north-eastern India, Myanmar (first country recordon the basis of ZSI specimens reported here) andThailand. Matsui et al. (1999) suspected the occurrenceof the species in southern Myanmar, based of the larval
description of L. hassseltii by Annandale (1917:153157, as Megalophrys hasseltii), from the Dawna Hills ofthe Tenasserim. We have examined these specimens(ZSI 16735-43) that carry the following locality "Misty
Hollow, w side of Dawna Hills, L. Burma". Surprisingly,Annandale, neither in his 1917 monograph, nor in any
other works, have referred to the specimens from Burma
mentioned earlier, although all of these were available tohim (see Sclater, 1892).

Acknowledgments
We thank J. R. B. Alfred, Director, Zoological Survey ofIndia, Kolkata and Colin J. McCarthy, The Natural
History Museum, London, for permission and facilities
at their respective institutions. Saibal Sengupta, Arya
Vidyapeeth College, made comparative material available to us, and Erik Åhlander, Swedish Museum ofNatural History, Stockholm, provided details on the lifeof Ossian Limborg.

Literature CitedAnderson, J. 1889. Report on the mammals, reptiles, andbatrachians, chiefly from the Mergui Archipelago,collected for the Trustees of the Indian Museum.
Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 21:331350.

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Annandale, N. 1917. Zoological results of a tour in theFar East. Batrachia. Memoirs of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal 6:119-155; Pl. V-VI.
Frost, D. R. (Ed). 1985. Amphibian species of the world.
A taxonomic and geographical reference. Allen
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Collections, Lawrence. (iv) + v + 732 pp.
Kjellgren, L. 1983. En prästson som älskade havets våg.
Om kaptenen och litteratären Ossian Limborg.
Sumlen (Svenskt Visarkiv) 1983:57-74.
Matsui, M., J. Nabhitabhata, and S. Panha. 1999. On
Leptobrachium from Thailand with a description ofa new species (Anura: Pelobatidae). Japanese
Journal of Herpetology 18(1):19-29.
Sclater, W. L. 1892. List of the Batrachia in the IndianMuseum.
IndianMuseum,Calcutta.
viii + 43 pp.
Sengupta, S., N. K. Choudhury, and I. Das. 2001.
Leptobrachium smithi Matsui, Nabhitabhata andPanha, 1999 (Anura: Megophryidae), a new recordfor India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History
Society 98(2):289-291.

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