Philautus dubois Biju & Bossuyt 2005
Creators: name: Biju, S. D.
name: Bossuyt, Franky
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Rhacophoridae
Philautus
Philautus dubois

description: PHILAUTUS DUBOIS BIJU & BOSSUYT, 2005   
(FIGS 2, 30A, B, 31A; TABLE 2)  
 Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4281, an adult male, SVL 20.5 mm, from Kodaikanal, Dindigal, Tamil Nadu, India; paratypes, BNHS 4282–4285, four adult males, and BNHS 4286 and BNHS 4287, two adult females, from Kodaikanal.   
 Other material studied: BNHS 4448, an adult male, from Eravikulam; BNHS 4449, an adult male, from Konalar (Table 2).   
 Diagnosis: Philautus dubois can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) small adult snout–vent length; (2) body rather robust; (3) supernumerary tubercles welldeveloped on all toes; (4) dorsum and lateral side prominently granular; (5) thigh and shank coffee brown and intermingled with light-grey and yellow blotches; (6) ventral side of forelimb coarsely granular.   
 Because of the overall appearance, P. dubois could be confused with two brown species from the Western Ghats, P. anili and P. tinniens. The new species differs from P. anili by its smaller male snout–vent length, SVL 20.7 ± 1.0 mm, N = 7 (vs. medium male size, SVL 24.6 ± 1.6 mm, N = 13), snout oval (vs. pointed), shank shorter than thigh, ShL 9.1 ± 0.2 mm vs. TL 9.8 ± 0.3 mm, N = 7 (vs. shank longer than thigh, ShL 12.3 ± 0.5 mm vs. TL 11.4 ± 0.8 mm, N = 13), lateral side light yellowish with light-brown spots (vs. lateral side with dark-brown blotches alternated with light-grey patches). Additionally, some colour morphs could be confused with P. tinniens. However, P. dubois differs from P. tinniens by its shank longer than foot length, ShL 9.1 ± 0.2 mm vs. FOL 7.7 ± 0.4 mm, N = 7, male (vs. shank subequal to foot length, ShL 8.5 ± 0.7 mm vs. FOL 8.4 ± 0.6 mm, N = 3), and colour of all fingers being grey (vs. first two fingers yellow).   
 Description of the holotype: A detailed description and illustrations were published in Biju & Bossuyt (2006).   
 Variation: Measurements of nine specimens, including seven type series, are given in Table 2.   
 Colour in life: Philautus dubois is highly variable in dorsal coloration: dorsally greyish white, light green, yellowish green, dark-cobalt green, dark-orange reddish, brown, reddish brown, or brownish green; in all the colour forms, the dorsal markings are either in the form of an inverted ‘V’ or a pair of lateral concave lines/scattered spots extending from the posterior border of eyes to the vent. For a detailed discussion on colour variation, see Biju & Bossuyt (2006).   
The colour during the breeding period is generally brighter than that of the non-breeding period (when the frogs hibernate under stones or in crevices). The skin texture also shows considerable variation, especially in female specimens. One female (BNHS 4286) collected from rock crevices has less granular projections on the lateral side (Fig. 30A).  
 Distribution and natural history: Eravikulam in Kerala, and Kodaikanal and Konalar in Tamil Nadu (Fig. 31A, Table 1). All specimens were collected during a rainy night from leaves, about 1-m high in shrubs.
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 411-413, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5445358