Bicolored Frog
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| Bicolored Frog | ||||||||||||||
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 Male in breeding colours
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| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||
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NT (IUCN3.1[1])
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Clinotarsus curtipes (Jerdon, 1854) |
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| Synonyms | ||||||||||||||
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Rana curtipes Jerdon, 1854 |
The Bicolored Frog (Clinotarsus curtipes) is a species of frog found in the Western Ghats. This frog has a very toad like disposition. The tadpoles of the species are black and form dense and compact schools in slow moving streams in forested areas.
[edit] Description
Vomerine teeth scarcely developed, sometimes indistinct, in two slightly oblique series on a level with the hinder edge of the choanae. Head large; snout short, rounded, with well-marked canthus rostralis and concave loreal region ; nostril nearer to the end of the snout than to the eye; interorbital space broader than the upper eyelid; tympanum distinct, nearly as large as the eye. Fingers moderate, first extending beyond second; toes short, nearly entirely webbed; tips of fingers and toes swollen or dilated into very small disks; subarticular tubercles much developed; inner metatarsal tubercle small, oval, blunt; a rather large, flat tubercle at the base of the fourth toe; no tarsal fold. The tibio-tarsal articulation reaches the eye. Skin finely granular above; a moderately prominent, rather narrow glandular lateral fold ; another told behind the tympanum down to the shoulder. Greyish or brown above, with or without blackish dots; lateral fold lighter, edged with black; a blackish oblique spot or band below the eye; upper lip with a blackish margin; limbs dark purplish brown, without cross bands; light brown beneath, the throat sometimes dark brown. Male with an internal subgular vocal sac.[2][3]
The spot patterns on the backs are often distinctive enough to use for population estimation using capture and recapture techniques. Use of this technique in the Bisale Reserve Forest in Coorg during January 1999-July 2001 gave a population density estimate of 0.08-0.1 frogs per square metre.[4]
Adults may occasionally feign death to escape predators.
The tadpoles are large and form schools in slow moving streams.[5]
 Underside of a breeding male |
 Upperside of a breeding male |
 Schools of tadpoles in a stream |
[edit] References
- ^ Biju et al (2004). Rana curtipes. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is near threatened
- ^ Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The Fauna Of British India: Reptilia and Batrachia.
- ^ Desai R.N. and Pancharatna K. 2003. Rana curtipes coloration Herpetol. Rev 34(1), 53-54.
- ^ Krishna, S. N., Krishna S. B. and K.K. Vijaylaxmi. (2005) Dorsal spot pattern as unique markers to estimate the population size of Rana curtipes. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102(1):16-18
- ^ Ningappa C. Hiragond, Bhagyashri A. Shanbhag, Srinivas K. Saidapur 2001. Description of the Tadpole of a Stream Breeding Frog, Rana curtipes. Journal of Herpetology, 35(1):pp. 166-168 doi:10.2307/1566044
