Philautus coonoorensis Biju & Bossuyt 2009, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Biju, S. D.
name: Bossuyt, Franky
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Rhacophoridae
Philautus
Philautus coonoorensis

description: PHILAUTUS COONOORENSIS SP. NOV.  (FIGS 2, 23D, 28A–D, 29; TABLE 2)  
 Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4444, an adult male, SVL 22.4 mm, collected by SDB on 15 July 2005 from Coonoor, Sims Park, Tamil Nadu, India; paratypes, BNHS 4445–4447, three adult males, collected along with the holotype.   
 Other material studied: SDB 0003, an adult male, from Coonoor (Table 2).   
 Diagnosis: Philautus coonoorensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) medium male adult size; (2) dorsum with spinular projections; (3) flanks and groins deep-brown patches; (4) posterior surface of thighs dark brown with variable grey patches. See also ‘Diagnosis’ section of P. charius.   
 Description of the holotype (all measurements in mm): Small-sized frog (SVL 22.4), with a slender to slightly elongate body (Fig. 28A); head length (HL 7.9) almost equal to width (HW 8.0; MN 6.6; MFE 5.5; MBE 2.3); outline of snout in dorsal view oval (Fig. 28A), snout length (SL 3.5) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 2.8); canthus rostralis rounded, loreal region acutely flat; distance between posterior margins of eyes (IBE 7.4) 1.7 times the distance between anterior margins of eyes (IFE 4.4); tympanum (TYD 1.4) rather distinct (Fig. 28B), rounded; supratympanic fold distinct, from back of eye to shoulder (Fig. 28B); lingual papilla absent.   
Forelimb (FLL 4.9) shorter than hand (HAL 6.5; TFL 3.8); all fingers with lateral dermal fringe on both edges, webbing absent; subarticular tubercles prominent, rounded, single, III2 double, IV2 weakly developed (Fig. 28C); prepollex rather distinct, oval; single palmar tubercle, oval, distinct; supernumerary tubercles present on fingers III and IV (Fig. 28C); nuptial pad absent.  
Hindlimbs moderately long, shank (ShL 11.9) longer than femur (TL 11.6), longer than distance from base of internal metatarsal tubercle to tip of toe IV (FOL 9.4); webbing reduced (Fig. 28D); reaching just above the third subarticular tubercle on the inside, and reaching the second subarticular tubercle on the outside of toe IV; dermal fringe along toe V present; subarticular tubercles rather prominent, rounded, simple, IV3 and V2 weakly developed; supernumerary tubercles present on toes II–V (Fig. 28D).  
Skin of snout and between eyes shagreened with a few tubercles, upper eyelids shagreened with some prominent horny spinules, side of head shagreened with prominent tubercles, anterior and posterior parts of back with horny spinules; upper part of flank shagreened with some granular projections, lower part of flank granular, dorsal part of forelimb, femur, shank, and tarsus shagreened with granular projections; throat shagreened to granular, chest, belly, and posterior surface of thighs granular.  
 Colour of holotype: In life: dorsum light-reddish brown, a light black stripe between the eyes forming a triangular grey-coloured snout with blackish spots, a pair of brown concave stripes running from behind the eye to the vent, sparsely uniting at the top, a light-brown inverted triangular marking between the eyes (Fig. 29), upper eyelids grey, loreal and tympanic regions dark-brownish black; upper and lower jaws with brownish bands alternated with light grey (Fig. 29); lateral side of abdomen with dark-brown blotches alternated with light-grey patches, iris light brown, encircled by a thin bluish grey outer ring; groin light-brownish black, limbs light-brown dorsally, forelimbs and hindlimbs with dark-brownish cross bands, fingers and toes with dark cross bands, posterior surface of thighs with light chocolate-brown blotches, alternated with variable size of grey patches; ventral side grey with variable sized darkbrown specks, hands and feet greyish.   
In preservation: dorsal markings almost as in life, but faded, upper eyelid blackish, loreal and tympanic regions light-grey–brown, lateral abdominal area light brown with light-grey patches; forelimbs and hindlimbs light brown with strong dark-brown cross bands, posterior surface of thighs with light-brown patches, alternated with light grey; ventral side uniform grey with dark-brownish irregular spots.  
 Variation: Measurements of five specimens are given in Table 2. The colour and markings are slightly variable: BNHS 4446, with a light-grey dorsum and a light-brown inverted triangular marking between the eyes; BNHS 4447, with a light-grey dorsum and a faint and broken concave line; SDB 0003, with a grey dorsum and a black triangular patch between the eyes, and a dark concave line.   
 Etymology: The species is named after Coonoor, where the type series was collected. The specific name is considered an invariable noun in the nominative singular, standing in apposition to the generic name.   
 Distribution and natural history: Philautus coonoorensis sp. nov. is known only from the type locality, Coonoor (Fig. 23D, Table 1). The holotype and three paratypes were collected from leaves, between 1- and 1.5-m high, near an abandoned eucalyptus plantation adjacent to Coonoor Sims Park. All specimens were collected during rain in the late evening.
description: Published as part of 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, pp. 374-444 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155 (2) on pages 409-411, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5445358