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We report the results of a herpetofaunal inventory between July, 2014 and March, 2017 of Parsa National Park that detected 51 herpetofaunal species. Three amphibians (Microhyla nilphamariensis, Sphaerotheca breviceps, and Uperodon taprobanicus), two Gecko species (Hemidactylus flaviviridis and H. frenatus), one Agamid (Sitana fusca), two Skinks (Eu...
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... tigerinus (Daudin 1802): This is the largest frog of Terai region. Yellow colored breeding males were frequently observed in puddles during mon- soon ( Fig. 5). Sphaerotheca breviceps (Schneider 1799): Almost toad- like, stocky with distinct supratympanal fold. We found some specimens in Halkhoria Daha and Amlekhgunj- Hattisar area during June and July and calling males were also observed. This is the first record to Parsa National Park. ...
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The birds and reptiles, collectively known as the sauropsids, can be subdivided phylogenetically into the archosaurs (birds, crocodiles), the testudines (turtles), the squamates (lizards, snakes) and the rhynchocephalia (tuatara). The structural framework of the epidermal appendages from the sauropsids, which include feathers, claws and scales, has...
Citations
... From Nepal two species were described S. swani from eastern Nepal and S. maskeyi from central Nepal (aerially around 300 km apart from the type localities) ( Figure 5) and these two species are resurrected from the synonymy by Dahanukar et al., (2017). With this backdrop the report of S. breviceps and S. rolandae from Nepal by Schleich and Rai (2012); S. breviceps by Bhattarai et al., (2017) from Beeshazar and S. breviceps by Bhattarai et al. (2018) from Parsa National Park could be erroneous (aerially 1800 km away from the type locality of S. breviceps and aerially 2000 km away from the type locality of S. rolandae). Further systematic sampling with genetic studies is warranted for the species of Sphaerotheca from Nepal. ...
Members of the genus Sphaerotheca are known to have the distribution in the low to mid elevation landscapes of South Asia. Most of the descriptions are either from homestead areas or from agro ecosystems except for a couple of species described from the mid elevated forest areas. The taxonomic uncertainties prevalent in the group was attended very recently, limiting the descriptions of five species to India, two species to Nepal and one each to Pakistan and Sri Lanka (one undescribed species from Myanmar). Here a new species assignable to the morphological ‘Breviceps group’ is described from the agro ecosystems of Jharkhand based on a combination of morphological, phylogenetic and geographical studies
using integrated taxonomic approach. Besides, the distribution status of Sphaerotheca pashchima is discussed and the possibility of a new species occurring in Myanmar is pointed out.
The herpetofauna of Nepal have been historically understudied, and although previous studies have reported on bioinventory surveys of the Kathmandu Valley, few have surveyed widely during the peak monsoon season. In addition, past studies largely neglected to survey intact forest habitats. Here we conduct a comprehensive field survey of the herpetofauna of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, with an emphasis on the surrounding foothills containing intact forest habitat. We record natural history and distribution data for seven species of amphibians and four species of reptiles. We also use mitochondrial sequence data to confirm the phylogenetic placement of two frog species, Megophrys (Xenophrys) parva and Duttaphrynus melanostictus. Using phylogenetic and morphological data we assign Megophrys parva from the Kathmandu Valley to Megophrys zhangi. We find that while this species shares a haplotype with its sister species, Megophrys monticola, morphological data align the individuals from the Kathmandu Valley with M. zhangi from Tibet. We find that M. zhangi exhibits no phylogenetic structure within the Kathmandu Valley, and wider sampling is needed throughout the Himalayas to determine its full range. These findings support the hypothesis that molecular sequence data will lead to the discovery of cryptic species in Nepal and facilitate the revision of species taxonomy.
