Philautus kani 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 kani

description: PHILAUTUS KANI SP. NOV.  (FIGS 2, 9, 38D, 43A–D, 44A, B; TABLE 2)  
 Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4467, an adult male, SVL 20.0 mm, collected by SDB on 12 July 2000 from Chathankod, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India; paratypes, BNHS 4468–4472, five adult males collected along with the holotype; BNHS 4473, an adult male collected by SDB on 10 June 2001 from Palode, Thiruvananthapuram; BNHS 4474, an adult female collected by SDB on 15 June 2002 from the same locality as the holotype.   
 Other material studied: none.   
 Diagnosis: Philautus kani sp. nov. can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) small adult size; (2) body slender; (3) snout pointed; (4) upper two-thirds of tympanum dark black; (5) dorsum with spinular projections.   
 Philautus kani sp. nov. is similar to P. amboli sp. nov. and P. wynaadensis from the Western Ghats (Fig. 9). For differences with P. amboli sp. nov., see the ‘comparison’ of that species. Philautus kani sp. nov. differs from P. wynaadensis by its short male snout–vent length, SVL 20.6 ± 1.5 mm, N = 7 (vs. medium, SVL 25.7 ± 1.5 mm, N = 7), snout sharply pointed in ventral view (vs. snout subelliptical), canthus rostralis rounded to sharp (vs. indistinct), shank almost equal to thigh, ShL 10.5 ± 0.6 mm vs. TL 10.3 ± 0.5 mm, N = 7, male (vs. shank longer than thigh, ShL 13.4 ± 0.7 mm vs. TL 12.6 ± 0.7 mm, N = 7). Comparison of members of the Sri Lankan Philautus radiation with Western Ghats species is provided under P. amboli sp. nov.   
 Description of the holotype (all measurements in mm): Small frog (SVL 20.0) with a slender body (Fig. 43A); head length (HL 8.1) longer than width (HW 7.6; MN 7.1; MFE 5.4; MBE 2.5); snout sharply pointed in dorsal (Fig. 43A) and ventral views, snout length (SL 4.0) longer than horizontal diameter of eye (EL 3.0); canthus rostralis rounded to sharp, loreal region acutely concave; distance between posterior margins of eyes (IBE 7.1) 1.6 times the distance between anterior margins of eyes (IFE 4.3); tympanum (TYD 1.4) distinct, rounded (Fig. 43B), supratympanic fold distinct, from posterior corner of upper eyelid to base of forelimb; tongue without lingual papilla.   
Forelimb (FLL 4.7) shorter than hand (HAL 5.8); fingers without lateral dermal fringe, webbing absent; subarticular tubercles rather prominent, rounded, single, IV2 weakly developed (43C); supernumerary tubercles present on finger III; nuptial pad present (Fig. 43C), prominent, shortly spinular.  
Hindlimbs moderately long, shank (ShL 10.6) as long as thigh (TL 10.6), longer than distance from base of internal metatarsal tubercle to tip of toe IV (FOL 8.0); distance from base of tarsus to tip of toe IV (TFOL 14.1); webbing rudimentary (Fig. 43D); subarticular tubercles prominent, rounded, simple, IV3 absent and V2 weakly developed; supernumerary tubercles weakly present on all toes (Fig. 43D).  
Skin of snout and between eyes shagreened, upper eyelids shagreened with prominent spinular projections, side of heads shagreened, anterior and posterior parts of back shagreened with spinular projections; upper and lower parts shagreened with sharp spinules; weakly developed horny ridge extends from snout halfway to vent; dorsal parts of forelimb, thigh, leg, and tarsus shagreened and sparsely granular; throat shagreened, chest shagreened to granular, belly and thigh granular.  
 Colour of holotype: In life: dorsally light-brownish grey, a pair of dark-brown concave stripes from behind the eye to the level of the hindlimb, an inverted triangular dark-brown patch in between the eyes, loreal and tympanic regions light brown, upper two-thirds of tympanum dark black (Fig. 44A); iris golden brown, limbs dorsally grey with light-grey cross bands; throat grey, belly light grey with dark spots, side of limbs light grey with variable size of brownish grey specks, hands and feet greyish.   
In preservation: dorsally grey with a dark concave stripe and a triangular patch in between the eyes; ventrally uniform greyish with dark brownish irregular spots united into patches.  
 Variation: The type series is homogeneous in external morphology, and measurements of the type series are given in Table 2. The dorsal coloration has considerable variation in comparison with the holotype. BNHS 4470 – 4472, with almost similar colour patterns, and with the latter having less granular projections on the dorsum when compared with the holotype; BNHS 4473, uniform reddish grey dorsum with a dark-grey stripe in between the eyes, (Fig. 44B); BNHS 4469, uniform light grey with a thin median whitish line extending from the tip of the snout to the vent; BNHS 4468, dark-grey dorsum without prominent markings.   
 Etymology: The species is named after the Kani tribe of Chathankod of Kerala who live where the type series was collected. SDB enjoyed tremendous field support and guidance from the Kani tribes, particularly Mallan and Vijayan, for his field studies of the Western Ghats amphibians.   
 Distribution and natural history: One of the most common species in South Kerala and Mundanthurai (Tamil Nadu). It has been located and /or collected from Bonakkad, Chathankod, Kiriparai, Neyar, Palode, Ponmudi, and the foothills of Agasthyamala (Fig. 38D, Table 1). The type series was collected from about 0.5-m high in the vegetation of secondary forest patches near the Kani tribal settlement at Chathankod.   
 Remarks: This species was identified as P. temporalis (FMNH 218129, an adult female; FMNH 218125 and FMNH 218124, two adult males) from Ponmudi and as P. variabilis (FMNH 212990) (Inger et al., 1984). Six specimens were found in the ZSIM from ‘Kalakkad’ Tamil Nadu, without any number and labelled as P. leucorhinus.
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 421-422, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5445358