Philautus sushili 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 sushili

description: PHILAUTUS SUSHILI SP. NOV.  (FIGS 2, 53D, 56A–D, 57A, B; TABLE 2)  
 Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4544, an adult male, SVL 25.0 mm, collected by SDB on 13 August 1999 from Andiparai Shola, Valparai, Tamil Nadu, India; Description of the holotype (all measurements in mm): Medium frog (SVL 25.0), with slender to elongate body (Fig. 56A); head length (HL 9.5) shorter than width (HW 10.3; MN 8.0; MFE 6.1; MBE 3.2); outline of snout in dorsal view oval (Fig. 56A), snout length (SL 4.0) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 3.7); canthus rostralis rounded to sharp, loreal region acute to obtuse, concave; distance between anterior margins of eyes (IFE 5.5) 1.7 times the distance between posterior margins of eyes (IBE 9.5); tympanum (TYD 1.1) rather distinct, rounded, 3.4 times smaller than eye diameter (Fig. 56B); supratympanic fold rather distinct, from posterior corner of upper eyelid to near shoulder; tongue without lingual papilla.   
Forelimb (FLL 5.1) shorter than hand (HAL 7.3; TFL 4.5); finger with lateral dermal fringe, webbing absent; subarticular tubercles prominent, rounded, single, II2 and III2 weakly developed, IV2 absent (Fig. 56C); prepollex rather distinct; palmar tubercle distinct, rounded; supernumerary tubercles (smaller) weakly present on fingers; nuptial pad absent.  
Hindlimbs moderately long, shank (ShL 14.0) shorter than thigh (TL 13.4), longer than distance from base of inner metatarsal tubercle to tip of toe IV (FOL 10.1); distance from heel to tip of toe IV (TFOL 17.1); webbing reduced (Fig. 56D); reaching up to penultimate subarticular tubercle on either side of toe IV; dermal fringe along toe V present; subarticular tubercles rather prominent, rounded, simple; supernumerary tubercles weakly present (Fig. 56D).  
Skin of snout shagreened to slightly granular, between eyes shagreened, upper eyelids, side of head sparsely granular, anterior part of back shagreened to granular, posterior part of back granular, lateral side shagreened to granular, vent granular, upper and lower parts of flank sparsely granular, dorsal part of forelimb and hindlimb shagreened to granular; throat shagreened to granular, chest, belly, and posterior surface of thighs granular; limbs coarsely granular.  
 Colour of holotype: In life: dorsum brown with various numbers of deep-brown irregular spots, a dark-grey stripe between the eyes forming a triangular grey snout, loreal and tympanic regions blackish brown, a broad dark-brown inverted ‘V’ on the back, from the level of the forelimb, reaching to the level of the hindlimb, numerous minute blackish brown spots throughout the dorsum, lateral side of abdomen light grey with white spots; iris golden brown, encircled by a dark bluish grey outer ring; limbs light-brown dorsally, forelimbs and hindlimbs with brownish black cross bands, anterior surface of thighs and inner side of shanks dark brown; ventrally greyish white.   
In preservation: dorsum uniform light brown with a few scattered dark spots, a greyish stripe between the eyes forming a triangular grey snout; loreal and tympanic region light brown, a broad brown inverted ‘V’ on the back (Fig. 56A); lateral region light grey with white spots; anterior surface of thighs and inner side of shanks brownish; ventral side grey; limbs with faint brownish grey cross bands.  
 Variation: Measurements of the type series are given in Table 2. Dorsal colour and pattern slightly variable from light greyish brown to dark brown; SDB 016 B, light-greyish brown dorsum with dark-grey marking (Fig. 57A); paratype (BNHS 4450, Fig. 57B), darkbrown dorsum with light-grey stripe in between the eyes, faint dorsal black concave line (instead of an inverted ‘V’).   
 Etymology: This species is named after S. K. Dutta of the Utkal University, Orissa, for his encouragement of SDB in his early period of frog research.   
 Distribution and natural history: Philautus sushili sp. nov. is known only from Valparai and its vicinity (Fig. 53D, Table 1). This species is restricted to elevations above 600 m a.s.l., and all individuals were caught either from leaves or stems of undergrowth, between 1 and 2-m high. All were collected during rainy evenings after 19:00 h. Five juveniles (SVL 7.6 ± 0.3, N = 5) were located by the end of September from the ground under the litter, away from any permanent water sources.
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 433-434, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5445358