1997

Asiatic Herperological ResearchVol. 7, pp. 1-5

Anurans Collected in West Malaysia

TOMAS CEDHAGEN
Department of Ecology and Genetics, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of'Aarlius, N\ Munkegade,
Building 540, DK-Aarhus C, Denmark

Abstract.

1976.

-

Distributional records and natural history notes are given for anurans collected in West Malaysia

Rana baramica was observed when it was caught by an Aliaetulla nasuta (Serpentes:Colubridae).

Rhacophorus leucomystax, Limnonectes limnocharis and Microhyla heymonsi were all found at night on
September 16-17, when they were spawning in shallow ditches, formed by the wheels of a truck. Amolops
larutensis were day active and occurred in the shadow, among stones in a forest stream, particularly close towater falls and rapids. Several white foam nests with a diameter of 5-7 cm were deposited on the same stones justabove the water surface on August 27. Other species observed were Bufo melanostictus, Bufo asper,
Leptobrachium hasseltii, Kaloula pulchra, Limnonectes laticeps, Limnonectes macrodon, Rana erythraea, Ranaglandulosa, Rana nicobariensis, and Rhacophorus prominanus.

Key words: Amphibia, Anura, West Malaysia.

and Rhacophorus tunkui Kiew, 1987. which indicatesthat much more work still remains to be done. Most of

the existing publications deal with systematics.

Theand contains many interesting species,
however, most of them are not studied in detail
fauna

is

rich

according to aspects of their distribution, natural history and ecology.

The nature in Malaysia is now undergoing radical
and large-scale changes. Most of them are effects of
an

human

increasing

industrialization,

population,changes of the vegetation over large areas, and themassive use of biocides (Aiken and Leigh 1992: Cranbrook 1988; Cubitt and Payne 1990; Yussof 1987).
These factors probably threaten the amphibians (Kiew1984a)

in similar

ways as, e.g., the fish fauna (M.

Zakaria-Ismail 1994: Ng et al. 1994; Rosier 1988). An
increased field work is therefore motivated, so that thedegree of habitat destruction is documented and necessary conservation measures can be done. This contribution contains

some notes on

the geographicaldistribution and natural history of several amphibians

West Malaysia: The collecting sites aremarked with a dot (•). Scale bar = 100 km.
Figure 1.

collected in Malaysia 1976.

Material and Methods

Introduction
and marked on
The positions were plotted from theCollecting sites are listed in Table

The amphibian fauna of peninsular Malaysia is covered bysome books (Berry 1975; Boulenger 1912:

the map (Fig.

1).

1,Arak 1984; Dring 1979: Kiew 1979; Inger 1980a, b;of Malaysia, published by the Director ofNational Mapping. Malaysia, 1976, series 1307, edition 5-PPNM, sheet 1. scale 1:760.000. The speci-Lim

1990). New species have been described in thearea during the last decades, e.g., Kalophrynus palma-mens were preserved in formalin, identified by the useof Berry (1975). verified by Dr. Lim Boo-Liat. andtissimus Kiew, 1984b, Rana malesiana Kiew, 1984cdeposited at Department of Medical Ecology. InstituteSmith 1930) andarticles

published thereafter (e.g.,mapAsiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 7. p. 2

1997

Table 1. Sampling stations.
Field Study Center. University of Malaysia. Ulu Gombak, Selangor

101°45'E;3°17'N

Biological Field Station, Kota Tinggi. Johore

103°50'E; 1°50'N

Kuala Brang. Trengganu

103°0rE;5°04'N

Kuin. about 4 milesSW of Marang, Trengganuo103 10'E;5°09'N
oBukit Besar, Kuala Trengganu, Trengganu

103°07'E;5 20'N

Malacca Youth Hostel. 9 miles north of Malacca city

102°10'E;2°14'N

Portugese settlement. Malacca

102°17'E;2 10'N

Kuala Lumpur Youth Hostel. Jalan Ipoh. Kuala Lumpur, Selangor

101°44'E;3 09'N

ofor Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The nomenclature follows Frost (1986) and laterchanges summarized by Duellman 1993).
(oSeptember 17, 1976 (6 specimens). The specimen
from Kuala Brang was jumping in the leaf litter of anopen secondary forest. The specimens from Gombak
were 3 pairs in amplexus found in shallow ditches

Results

between 8.30 and 10.30 p.m.

Bufo melanostictus Schneider, 1799

Amolops larutensis (Boulenger, 1899)

Malacca Youth Hostel, July 29, 1976 (3 specimens);

Kuala Brang. August 27. 1976 (13 specimens). The

Portugese settlement, Malacca, July 29, 1976 (1 specimen); Kuala Lumpur Youth Hostel, August 5, 1976 1

frogs were active in the day, jumping in the shadow
between the stones (Fig. 2) in a rapid stream particu-(specimen), and September 29, 1976 (4 specimens).
All specimens were found in urban areas or otherand disappeared inlarly close to waterfalls (Fig. 4),

the waterwhen disturbed. Several white foam nests

with a diameter of 5-7 cm were found on the sameenvironments affected by human activities.

stones, just above the water level (Fig. 3).

Bufo asper Gravenhorst, 1829
Kuala Brang. August 27. 1976

(1adult specimen), andLimnonectes laticeps (Boulenger, 1882)
Field Study Center of the University of Malaysia.

August 28, 1976. (1 juvenile specimen); Field Study
Center of the University of Malaysia. Gombak, Sep-Gombak. September

tember 14, 1976 (1 juvenile specimen). Several otherfound in the day. jumping in the leaf litter in a primary

specimens, except the collected one, wereobserved in the day, sitting on rocks 2-3
above aforest not far from a stream.

adult17,

1976 (1 specimen).

Itwasmsmall river. They were very shy and jumped into thewater

when disturbed, but returned to their rocks,
The juvenile specimens were

within 10-30 minutes.

(Leptobrachium ftasse/f/Tschudi, 1838(1specimen).

Portugese Settlement, Malacca, July 30. 1976 (5 specimens); Kuin, August 23, 1976 (3 specimens); Kuala

Brang, August 25, 1976 1 specimen) and August 28.
1976 (3 specimens); Bukit Besar. Kuala Trengganu.

collected on the ground at night.

Kuin. August 24, 1976

Limnonectes limnocharis (Boie, 1835)

It

September 27. 1976 (1 specimens); Field Study Cen-was found on

ter of the University of Malaysia, Gombak. September17,

the ground close to a stream in a primary forest.

1976 (8 specimens); Biological Field Station,Kota Tinggi, September 20. 1976

Kuala Lumpur Youth Hostel. August 6, 1976.

(1specimens). They

were all found in areas affected by human activities.

Kaloula pulchra Gray, 1831
(1spec-imen).

Microhyla heymonsiWogt, 1911
Kuala Brang, August 26, 1976 (l specimen); Field
Study Center of the University of Malaysia, Gombak,

The 8 specimens from Gombak were males, actively
croaking in water filled ditches.

1997

Figure 2.

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 7. p. 3

Amolops larutensis, Kuala Brang. Treng-ganu. The day active frog jumped in the shadow
among the stones in a stream.

Figure 4. Habitat for Amolops larutensis. Kuala Brang,Trengganu.

Figure 3. Egg mass of Amolops larutensis, Kuala

Brang, Trengganu

Figure 5.

Ranamacrodon, dorsal view, Treng-ganu, Kuin.

Figure 6.
I

Rana macrodon. lateral view, the same indi-vidual as in Fig. 5

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 7, p. 4

1997

Limnonectes macrodon (Dumeril and Bibron,closely related species.

1841)

nonectes malesianus according to Duellman 1993)
earlier confused with L. macrodon. The species foundKuin. August 23. 1976 (2 specimens). They were
found at night, sitting on stones in a small stream in a

Rana malesiana (now Lim-by me is L. macrodon (Kiew 1984c; Frost 1985) (Fig.
5-6).

primary forest (Figs. 5-6).

Some

Rana baramica Boettger, 1901

aspects on the reproduction

inAmolops

larutensis are mentioned, seemingly for the first time,Kuin. August 24, 1976 (1 specimen). The specimen
was observed when it was caught by the colubrid

snake Ahaetulla nasuta (Lacepede, 1789).

ina pri-since no information was found in the literature. The

reproduction in Microhyla heymonsi is studied byBerry 1964) in Singapore and occurs during all times(of the year. Additional Information

mary forest close to a stream.

(Rana erythraea (Schlegel, 1837)
Bukit Besar, Kuala Trengganu. August 29. 1976

(1is given by Pope1931 ). The reproductive pattern of Rhacophorus leu-

comystax varies within its large distributional area.
Berry (1964) and Flower (1899) note that they seem

Biological Field Station, Kota Tinggi, September 20,

almost all times of the year in Singapore
and Malaysia, but Zeller (1960) reported a synchro-1976 (4 specimens). All specimens were found in thedense vegetation in shallow lakes, some of them also

nous periodicity in the reproduction in Java, andKiyasetuo and Khare (1986) found it to have anpopulated with fish.

annual breeding cycle, with spawning in June, in
northeastern India. The reproduction has also been

Rana glandulosa Boulenger, 1882

reported by Yorke (1983), Arak (1984), Feng andBiological Field Station, Kota Tinggi. September 20.

Narins(1991).

specimen), and September 27,

1976(11976 (2 specimens). They were foundspecimen);in ato breed atlogged,

Acknowledgments

swampy area with a dense, secondary vegetation.

would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Kiew
Bong-Heang and Dr. Lim Boo-Liat, Kuala Lumpur,
I

Rana nicobariensis (Stoliczka, 1870)
Biological Field Station. Kota Tinggi, September 20,

for valuable help and advice.

1976 (2 specimens). They were found croaking atnight, in a logged, swampy area with dense, second-to Mr. Mohammad Zaharan bin Razak, B.Sc, Kuala

ary vegetation.
0.5-1

They climbed up

in thevegetation.

m above the ground.

Iam also most grateful

we spent together in thenature. Professor Immanuel Vigeland invited me toTrengganu, for the time

the Biological Field Station, Kota Tinggi. Mr. Ragnar

Rhacophorus leucomystax (Boie, 1829)

Cedhagen kindly lent me a camera and provided film.
Dr. Mats Olsson, Goteborg. critically commented onField Study Center of the University of Malaysia,

an earlier version of this manuscript.

Gombak. September

16,1976 (29 specimens), andSeptember 17, 1976 (34 specimens); Biological Field
Station, Kota Tinggi. September 21. 1976 (3 speci-Literature Citedmens), and September 22. 1976 (1 specimen). Thespecimens from Gombak were found in small water-Aiken, S. R. and C. H. Leigh. 1992. Vanishing Rainfilled pits

or wheel tracks, or in the vegetation above

Forests. The Ecological Transition in Malaysia. Clar-endon Press, Oxford, 194 pp.

them. Several pairs were found in amplexus, and yel-Arak, A. 1984. Sex and song in Malaysian frogs andlow foam nests with whitish eggs were found on thetoads. Malayan Naturalist 38( 1 ):20-24.

water surface, or on the vegetation about 10 cm above

Berry, P. Y. 1964. The breeding patterns of seven spe-the surface (Fig. 7).

cies of Singapore Anura. Journal of Animal Ecology

33:227-243.

Rhacophorus prominanus Smith, 1924
Kuala Brang, August 27, 1976 (1 specimen). It was
found in primary forest, close to a little river.

Discussion
The

identityof Limnonectes

uncertain (Kiew1978).

macrodon has been

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