| Long-legged Cricket frog | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Ranidae |
| Genus: | Fejervarya |
| Species: | F. syhadrensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Fejervarya syhadrensis (Annandale, 1919) |
|
The Long-legged Cricket frog (Fejervarya syhadrensis, syn. Limnonectes syhadrensis), also called the Syhadra frog, is a true frog species of the Ranidae family and native to the Western Ghats, peninsular India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. In view of its wide distribution, IUCN assessors listed it as Least Concern with a stable population trend in 2004.[1]
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The Long-legged Cricket frog is a small-sized frog. Females reach a snout to vent length (svl) of 20.7–22.8 mm. Males are smaller with a svl of 17.5- 19.1 mm.[2]
Long-legged Cricket frogs are widely distributed over much of central northern India and western Peninsular India, Bangladesh, southern Nepal, from lower Punjab to Sindh in Pakistan, and found at elevations below 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).[1] In Nepal's Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, 13 specimen were observed in the summer of 2009 within a distance of 50 metres (160 ft) from water bodies.[3]
During the breeding season, males emit advertisement calls, using a single subgular external vocal sac. They start calling after one or two heavy pre-monsoon or monsoon rains in April to June, and continue up to the end of the rainy season in September to October. They call mainly during the night beginning after dusk and continue until the early morning of the following day, preferably sitting in temporary shallow water pools under partly submerged grass or paddy. They call in chorus but maintain a distance of 0.5 to 1 m to each other. Their calls are antiphonal between the two nearest calling males and consist of a series of pulse groups varying per call between 7 and 28.[2]