Philautus anili Biju & Bossuyt 2006
Creators: name: Biju, S. D.
name: Bossuyt, Franky
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
Rhacophoridae
Philautus
Philautus anili

description: PHILAUTUS ANILI BIJU & BOSSUYT, 2006   
(FIGS 2, 6C, 10; TABLE 2)  
 Type material: Holotype, BNHS 4276, an adult male, SVL 23.8 mm, collected by SDB on 28 July 1997 from Kalpetta, Wayanad District, Kerala, India; paratypes, BNHS 4277, an adult male, and BNHS 4280, an adult female, collected along with the holotype; BNHS 4278, BNHS 4279, and BNHS 4585 (ex TBGRI 2002.0057), three adult males collected from Sulthanbathery, Wayanad District, Kerala (Biju & Bossuyt, 2006).   
 Other material studied: BNHS 4404 and BNHS 4405, two adult males, from Kalpetta; BNHS 4568–4573, six adult males, from Ponmudi (Table 2).   
 Diagnosis: Philautus anili can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) small to medium male adult size (SVL 24.6 ± 1.6 mm, N = 13), large female adult size (SVL 39.3 mm); (2) canthus rostralis sharp; (3) flanks and groins deep brown with light-grey blotches; (4) anterior surface of thighs and inner side of shanks with light chocolate-brown blotches, alternated with variable sized grey patches.   
 Philautus anili could be confused with P. sushili sp. nov. and P. kaikatti sp. nov. However, P. anili differs from P. sushili sp. nov. by its pointed snout in dorsal view (vs. oval), head almost as wide as long, HW 9.3 ± 0.4 mm, HL 9.4 ± 0.4 mm, N = 13 (vs. head wider than long, HW 10.0 ± 1.0 mm, HL 9.1 ± 1.0 mm, N = 5), subarticular tubercle on finger IV1 is double (vs. single), lateral side of abdomen with dark-brown blotches alternated with light-grey patches (vs. lateral side of abdomen light grey with whitish spots), anterior surface of thighs and inner side of tibia with light chocolate-brown blotches, alternated with variable sized grey patches (vs. anterior surface of thighs and inner side of shanks dark brown); differs from P. kaikatti sp. nov. by its pointed snout in dorsal view (vs. oval), canthus rostralis sharp (vs. rounded), lateral side and posterior part of thighs shagreened and sparsely granular (vs. prominently granular), ventral surface of thighs and inner side of shanks with chocolate-brown bands (vs. ventral side of thighs and inner side of shanks uniform light brown), lateral side with dark-brown blotches alternated with light-grey patches (vs. light grey with white and dark-grey spots).   
 Description of the holotype: A detailed description and illustrations were published in Biju & Bossuyt (2006).   
 Variation: Measurements of 14 specimens, including six from the type series, are given in Table 2. In captivity, the frogs go through a considerable range of colour changes, which is reflected in the preserved specimens (Biju & Bossuyt, 2006).   
 Distribution and natural history: Mananthavady, Sulthanbathery, Kalpetta, and Ponmudi in Kerala (Fig. 6C, Table 1). In Wayanad, P. anili is found in secondary forest, in wayside vegetation, and in coffee plantations. Specimens from the Ponmudi population (about 400 km south of the type locality) were found in secondary moist forest patches. This species starts calling in the late evening, i.e. during or immediately after sunset. The calling height preference in all the populations studied was about 2 m above the ground, usually sitting on leaves.   
 Remarks: This species was previously discussed as Philautus variabilis (Günther, 1858) (FMNH 218134), and P. signatus (FMNH 218133) by Inger et al. (1984). The paratype TBGRI 2002.0057 (Biju & Bossuyt, 2006) was transferred to BNHS as BNHS 4585.
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 page 395, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00466.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5445358