Herpetofauna assemblage in two watershed areas of Kumoan Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India

We surveyed herpetofauna along the poorly-explored region of two watersheds of Kumoan Himalaya, Dabka and Khulgarh. Adaptive cluster method was used to collect forest floor reptiles, and stream transect was used for stream reptiles and amphibians. In total, 18 species of reptiles were recorded in two watersheds, with 15 and nine species recorded in Dabka and Khulgarh, respectively. Forest floor density of reptiles was 87.5/ha in Dabka and 77.7/ha in Khulgarh. In terms of species, Asymblepharus ladacensis and Lygosoma punctatus density were highest in Dabka and Khulgarh, respectively. Eight species of amphibians were recorded in Dabka with a density of 9.4/ha and four species in Khulgarh with density of 5.2/ha. In both watersheds, density of Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis was highest. Reptilian and amphibian diversity of Dabka was 1.52 and 1.23, respectively, and in Khulgarh 0.43 and 0.23, respectively. In both watersheds reptile density, diversity and richness decreased with increasing elevation. Reptile density showed a weak correlation with microhabitat features such as litter cover, litter depth, and soil moisture in both watersheds. Amphibian density was positively correlated with soil moisture, litter cover, and litter depth. Comparison showed that Dabka is richer and more diverse than Khulgarh, presumably because of the undisturbed habitat, broad and slow stream, and deeper forest litter of the former.

Temporary Water Holes May Benefit the Breeding of the Common Skipper Frog Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis (Anura: Dicroglossidae)

Seasonal fluctuations in adult Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis density were recorded in two permanent ponds in Southeastern Bangladesh. From a two-year dataset of seven habitat parameters, the seasonal suitability of two different pond habitats was examined to understand these fluctuations of frog density. The combined influence of the parameters on the density was significant in all three seasons. One combination was found to be optimal: water temperature of 24 °C, a pH of approximately 6, and a water depth of 2.29 m. These conditions supported more than 24 frogs per acre in the round pond. In the forestry pond, the optimal parameters were a water temperature of 27 °C and a water depth of less than 1 m, which accommodated 27 frogs per acre. The result indicates that a slight increase in any of these parameters was found to sharply lower the accommodation capacity of the studied ponds to less than half of the aforesaid densities, especially in the rainy season. During this season, the adults were found to breed in the small waterholes adjacent to the ponds. This may be the response of anuran to temporal unsuitability, for example, the depth of water and the pH of the permanent ponds.

Food Habits and Helminth Parasites of Skittering Frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis) in the Lower Dir, Pakistan

A total of 30 specimens of Skittering frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis), (Anura: Dicroglossidae) were captured from seven selected localities in the Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan from April to August 2016. They were euthanized with the help of Chloroform (CHcl3) solution. The biometry each specimen was measured, then dissected to examine for helminth parasites and foodstuff. All helminths were isolated, washed with normal saline at room temperature, and then preserved in 70% GL ethyl alcohol. Later on, the parasites were classified and studied under the electric compound microscope. In a total of 30 specimens, 17(56.66%) were found infected with 62 helminths parasites belongs to four different species. Among four species, one was Cestodes Nematotaenia dispar species and remaining three were Nematodes i.e. Cosmocerca species, Cosmocercoides (Raillietnema species) and Strongyloides species. Cosmocerca with a percentage of 56.45% was the most dominant. In the total of 30 specimens’ alimentary canal, 10 were found empty, containing nothing while in remaining 20 were full of 9 types of food materials which included insects i.e. Ants, Beetles, Wasps, Spiders, Mosquito larvae and cockroaches, and non-living things like stone pebbles and mollusks shells. Among the serial, flies and snails were in the lowest prevalence and ants were recorded the most important component of the frog diet. Among the insects, ants have occurred in higher prevalence 44.50% and flies 1.15% with the lowest prevalence. The results emphasize the significance of further expected studies in the Dir Lower to get a good understanding of the helminth parasites with the ecological relations of their hosts.

Osteological description of Indian Skipper Frog Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the Western Ghats of India

The present study provides description of the osteology of Skipper Frog Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis. Seven adult specimens of E. cyanophlyctis from northern Western Ghats of India were cleared and double stained for studying osteological characteristics. The baseline description of osteological characters of cranial and post-cranial elements (paired nasals, tubular sphenethmoid, well-developed vomerine teeth, arciferal pectoral girdle, fan-shaped omosternum, cartilaginous W-shaped xiphisternum, hind limb with longest cylindrical humerus, V-shaped pectoral girdle and phalangeal appendages) provided in present study will help in further taxonomic investigations of the genus Euphlyctis. Further, the baseline information on osteology of Skipper frog will serve as a reference material for investigations related to malformations, either in this or related species. We also provide first observation on sacro-pelvic malformation in one of the studied specimens.

Does temporal variation in predation risk affect antipredator responses of larval Indian Skipper Frogs (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis)?

Predation risk varies on a moment-to-moment basis, through day and night, lunar and seasonal cycles, and over evolutionary time. Hence, it is adaptive for prey animals to exhibit environment-specific behaviour, morphology, and (or) life-history traits. Herein, the effects of temporally varying predation risk on growth, behaviour, morphology, and life-history traits of larval Indian Skipper Frogs (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis (Schneider, 1799)) were studied by exposing them to no risk, continuous, predictable, and unpredictable risks at different time points. Our results show that larval E. cyanophlyctis could learn the temporal pattern of risk leading to weaker behavioural responses under predictable risk and stronger responses to unpredictable risk. Temporally varying predation risk had a significant impact on tadpole morphology. Tadpoles facing continuous risk had narrow tail muscles. Tadpoles facing predictable risk during the day were heavy with wide and deep tail muscles, whereas those facing predictable risk at night had long tails. Tadpoles facing unpredictable risk were heavy with narrow tail muscles. Metamorphic traits of E. cyanophlyctis were also affected by the temporal variation in predation risk. Tadpoles facing predictable risk during the day emerged at the largest size. However, tadpoles facing predictable risk at night and unpredictable risk metamorphosed earlier, whereas those facing continuous risk metamorphosed later.