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339
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005 Supplement No. 12: 339–350
© National University of Singapore
REPRODUCTION AND TERRRESTRIAL DIRECT DEVELOPMENT IN
SRI LANKAN SHRUB FROGS (RANIDAE: RHACOPHORINAE: PHILAUTUS)
Mohomed M. Bahir
Wildlife Heritage Trust, 95 Cotta Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka
Email: bahir@wht .org
Madhava Meegaskumbura
Wildlife Heritage Trust, 95 Cotta Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka
Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
Email: madhava@bu.edu
Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi
Wildlife Heritage Trust, 95 Cotta Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka
Email: kelum@ wht.org
Christopher J. Schneider
Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
Email: cschneid@bu.edu
Rohan Pethiyagoda
Wildlife Heritage Trust, 95 Cotta Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka (author for correspondence)
Email: rohan@ wht.org
ABSTRACT. – Two distinct nesting behaviours are reported from 98 clutches (80 in situ and 18 ex situ) of 17
species of direct-developing Philautus from Sri Lanka. The species examined, belong to three communities
spanning 400–2,200 m elevation. Sixteen species are ‘ground nesters’, depositing 6–155 cream or white eggs in
5–35 mm deep nests excavated by the female in the rainforest floor. This is the first record of terrestrial egg
burying in soil by the direct-developing anurans, a behaviour commonly employed by tetrapod reptiles. A
single species (Philautus femoralis) however, is an arboreal nester, depositing 7–22 green, adhesive eggs in a
disc-like mass on the underside of leaves. Parental care is not provided by any of the species.
Larval development in Philautus differs from the Neotropical direct-developing leptodactylid, Eleutherodactylus
coqui: the former lack external gills and have a rudimentary cement gland, a coiled gut and a larger, spatulate,
heavily vascularized tail. They also lack an egg tooth. The first two of these apparently primitive characters
have so far been observed only in aquatic anuran tadpoles and not in direct-developing larvae. Furthermore, the
Philautus larvae studied possess atrophied internal gills, respiration apparently being facilitated primarily via
the tail.
KEY WORDS. –direct development, Philautus, Rhacophorinae, staging table, ground nesting, conservation
INTRODUCTION
Sri Lanka is considered a global amphibian hotspot
(Meegaskumbura et al., 2002; Manamendra-Arachchi &
Pethiyagoda, 2005). A survey of anurans in about 350 locations
in Sri Lanka during the period 1993–2003 served to uncover a
large number of new species of frogs, the vast majority of
them tree frogs of the genus Philautus (Meegaskumbura et
al., 2002). Recently, a similar diversity of anurans has been
announced also in the Western Ghats of India (Biju, 2001).
Based essentially on indirect evidence—the chance discovery
clutches of large terrestrial eggs containing embryos—rather
than observations of reproductive ethology, it has long been
known that some Sri Lankan rhacophorines now assigned to
Philautus have terrestrial direct-developing eggs (Günther, 1876;
Ferguson, 1876; Kirtisinghe, 1946, 1957; Dutta & Manamendra-
Arachchi, 1996). Dring (1979) showed that the type species of
Philautus,P. aurifasciatus too, is a direct developer (see also
Alcala & Brown, 1982), while Yong & Ramly (1987) described
direct development of Philautus from Malaysia.
340
Bahir et al.: Reproduction in Sri Lankan Philautus
Eleven genera of Ranidae (including Rhacophorinae and
Mantellinae) are known to exhibit direct development of which
however, only Philautus and Taylorana are distributed in
Asia (Thibaudeau & Altig, 1999). Marmayou et al. (2000)
showed that endotrophy had arisen independently in these
two genera, while Bossuyt & Milinkovitch (2000) showed
that direct development, among other remarkable similarities,
between Mantidactylus (Mantellinae, until then considered
a subfamily within Rhacophoridae) and Philautus are in fact
the result of remarkable convergence.
Although about 110 nominal species of Philautus are
recognized as valid (Bossuyt & Dubois, 2001; Manamendra-
Arachchi & Pethiyagoda, 2005), terrestrial direct development
in this genus has been observed in relatively few species.
Dring (1987) observed reproduction in Sunda Shelf species,
while Kanamadi et al. (1996) and Patil & Kanamadi (1997)
observed direct development in an Indian species of
Philautus. Arboreal direct development has also been
observed in the Indian species P. bombayensis (see Bossuyt
et al., 2001), P. tinniens (see Bossuyt & Dubois, 2001) and P.
glandulosus (see Biju, 2003). None of these authors however,
provided data beyond the breeding event itself.
The discoveries of significant hitherto unsuspected species
richness within this genus in Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats,
both of which are generally considered herpetologically ‘well
studied’, suggests that the radiation of Philautus in tropical
Asia could parallel that of the direct-developing
Eleutherodactylus (Leptodactylidae), a remarkably speciose
genus which includes over 600 Neotropical species. While
development in a handful of Eleutherodactylus species,
especially E. coqui, has been well studied (Townsend &
Stewart, 1985, 1994; Ovaska & Rand, 2001; Rogowitz et al.,
2001; see also Callery et al., 2001 and references therein),
hardly any data are available on reproductive ethology and
development in Philautus.
It now seems likely that Thibaudeau & Altig’s (1999) reckoning
that direct developers comprise about 1,000 of the world’s
approximately 5,000 amphibian species (Hanken, 1999; Stuart
et al., 2004) was in fact an underestimate. Despite the frequency
of this developmental mode however, the terrestrial and
arboreal eggs of endotrophic anurans are usually well-
concealed and difficult to find, making direct observation
problematical. Indeed, Thibaudeau & Altig (1999) noted with
some justification that “developmental data on endotrophic
anurans generally are sparse or absent.” Here we attempt to
address this deficiency by presenting data on reproduction
and development in 17 species of Sri Lankan Philautus, which
includes a cloud-forest community of nine species in the
central highlands of the island.
Our study has also been motivated by the need to develop
captive breeding techniques as a tool of last resort for the ex
situ conservation of Critically Endangered species. Given that
a large number of Sri Lankan Philautus species have already
become extinct (Stuart et al., 2004; Manamendra-Arachchi &
Pethiyagoda, 2005), and given population declines or extreme
rarity in others, it is imperative that methods for large scale ex
situ conservation programmes be developed and made
available.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Breeding behaviour (both in captivity and in the wild: see
Table 1) was observed in 17 species of Philautus at the four
sites listed below, principally at Site 1, incidentally at other
sites. Three of the 17 species are as yet undescribed, and are
referred to here by comparison with species they resemble:
Philautus cf. alto, P. cf. silus and P. cf. sordidus.
Site 1. – WHT Field Station (06º50’N, 80º40’E, 1,650 m above
sea level) adjacent to the 61.9 km2 Agra-Bopath Forest Reserve
in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. We selected twelve
species for captive breeding (Philautus alto,P. asankai, P.
caeruleus, P. femoralis,P. frankenbergi, P. microtympanum,
P. schmarda,P. sarasinorum,P. silus,P. cf. silus, P. cf. sordidus
and P. viridis).Nine of these inhabit secondary forest and
scrub in the 25 ha Wildlife Heritage Trust field station site
(06º50’36” N, 80º40’37” E; alt. 1,650 m) and adjacent forest.
The other three species were from Horton Plains (2,135 m alt.,
06º46’ N, 80º47’ E, Philautus frankenbergi), Peak Wilderness
(on the Bogawantalawa-Balangoda road, 1,300 m alt., 06º45’
N, 80º42’ E, P. caeruleus), and Check Polleat Gap (900 m alt.,
06º56’ N, 80º30’ E, Philautus cf. silus).
Temperatures at Site 1 vary from daily minima in the range
12.3–22.1ºC, to maxima in the range 18.9–28.1ºC. Annual rainfall
at the site is approximately 2,000 mm yr-1 (the nearest
meteorological station, at Nuwara Eliya, 06º57’N, 80º47’E, at
an altitude of 1,710 m records an annual average rainfall of
approximately 1,900 mm). Relative humidity is high (>70%)
throughout much of the year, reaching 100% during periods
of mist cover. Wind speeds during the southwest monsoon
(May–September) are typically high (12–20 km hr-1), reaching
a maximum of 86 km hr-1 during the study period.
Site 2. – Peradeniya, near Hantana (07º16’36” N, 80º37’E,
600–1,000 m) and Gannoruwa (07º17’ N, 80º35’ E, altitude 600
m) Forest Reserves, for Philautus hallidayi, P. rus,P.
sarasinorum,P. cf. sordidus and P. zorro.
Site 3. – Eastern Sinharaja (06º24’ N, 80º38’ E, altitude 1,060
m) for P. decoris.
Site 4. – Knuckles mountains (07º24’ N, 80º47’ E, altitude
1,100 m) for Philautus cf. alto and P. femoralis.
Captive breeding. – Mature imagos of the 17 species of
Philautus studied here were maintained in terraria for up to
30 months, fed on wild-collected grasshoppers, crickets and
cultured fruit flies, coated with Sera®Reptimineral C vitamin
powder. The frogs were reared in all-glass terraria, 60×30×30–
75×75×45 cm (l×w×h) in dim light comparable with that of the
forest understorey. No artificial lighting was used. The terraria
were provided with a substratum of humus-rich forest topsoil
about 5–10 cm deep, about 50% of the floor area being covered
with an approximately 3 cm deep layer of leaf litter from the
forest floor. Branches from native local shrubs and potted
341
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005
plants were provided as perches. In-terraria relative humidity
was maintained at > 90% using a hand-operated horticultural
sprayer at least three times daily at approximately 8 h intervals.
A few frogs developed eye infections, which we suspect was
contracted from bacteria in the stream water used for spraying:
given their wholly terrestrial life cycle, these frogs would not
normally come into extended contact with surface water, which
may contain pathogens not found in rain/mist water. Bacterial
cultures showed these infections to be the result of coliform
and beta haemolytic streptococci (Group C) bacteria; these
were treated successfully with ophthalmic chloramphenicol
application.
Climate data (accuracy: rainfall to ±0.2 mm; temperature to
±0.5ºC; wind speed to ±1 km hr-1; and relative humidity to
±5%) at Site 1 were measured and logged on a Davis Weather
Monitor II system using Weatherlink® software. Additionally,
in-terraria temperature and humidity were measured on an
Oregon Scientific® EMR963HG cable-free thermo-hygrometer
(accuracy ±0.1º C). Metric measurements were made using
dial vernier callipers (accuracy ±0.05 mm). Specimens and ova
were weighed on a Acculab® PP-2060D electronic balance
(accuracy ±1 mg).
Abbreviations of larval measurements are as follows: BD
(body depth), maximum depth of head and body; BW (body
width), maximum width of body; HBL (head-body length),
distance from tip of snout to posterior extremity of body; TD
(tail depth), maximum depth of the tail including fin; TL (total
length), distance from tip of snout to tip of tail.
Eggs and embryos were preserved in a solution of equal parts
(by volume) of 10% buffered formalin and 70% ethanol. All
the specimens preserved in this study, mostly embryos, are
in the collection of the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka,
registration numbers WHT 5473–5784. After study, adult frogs
and most froglets were released at the same locations from
which they had originally been collected.
A simple regression analysis was performed for data on the 8
species of ground nesting Philautus,P. alto,P. asankai, P.
microtympanum,P. sarasinorum,P. schmarda,P.silus,P. cf.
sordidus and P. viridis, from the Agra-Bopath community to
investigate the relationships between mean female snout–
vent length and the means of the following variables: male
snout–vent length; number of eggs per clutch; mass of eggs;
egg diameter; egg-mixing duration; nest-covering duration;
and incubation time.
RESULTS
Breeding behaviour. – All 17 species of Philautus bred in
captivity. Observations of breeding in 10 species were also
made in the wild (see Table 1). Despite in-terrarium relative
humidity being maintained > 90% through frequent spraying,
mating always coincided with episodes of heavy rainfall and/
or mist cover, usually accompanied by high (80–100%) ambient
relative humidity (Fig. 1).
The 17 species studied exhibited two distinct reproductive
behaviours: (a) depositing eggs in soil on the forest floor (16
species); and (b) depositing adhesive eggs on the leaves of
understorey shrubs (one species, Philautus femoralis).
Ground nesting. – (see Figs. 2 and 3). Excluding P. femoralis,
Sri Lankan Philautus males perch and vocalize from the
branches of trees and shrubs 0.3–5 m above ground, or in
terrarium, from the leaves of plants (15–40 cm above floor
level). In the forest, males are entirely arboreal, descending to
the forest floor only to nest. Males advertise throughout the
year and during daytime, but more intensively at night,
especially during periods of rainfall and episodes of high
(>80%) relative humidity (Fig. 1). Females usually occupy the
lower branches of understorey shrubs.
In terrarium, courtship commences with the male calling from
his perch (Fig. 2a) and a female advancing towards him (Fig.
2b). Ripe ova are externally visible in females in mating
condition (Fig. 2b) except in P. schmarda, the only species
with heavily tuberculated skin among the species studied;
large eggs are visible in all ripe females however, in ventral
view. Males were never observed to move from their perches
until visual contact was made with the female prior to amplexus
(Fig. 2b). The male then moves towards the female and engages
in axillary amplexus (sensu Duellman & Trueb, 1986) while
still perched on a branch or, in some species, on the ground
(Fig. 2c). The male ceases to call once amplexus commences,
whereupon the pair descends to the forest floor (Figs. 2d;
3a). By this time their dorsal and lateral coloration changes to
match that of leaf litter or soil (Figs. 2j, k; 3a).
Table 1. The number of successful matings observed in captivity
and in the wild for 17 species of Sri Lankan Philautus, including
three undescribed species.
species number of matings
in captivity in the wild
Philautus alto 20 2
Philautus cf. alto 31
Philautus asankai 31
Philautus caeruleus 1–
Philautus decoris 1–
Philautus femoralis 11 2
Philautus frankenbergi 11
Philautus hallidayi 21
Philautus microtympanum 42
Philautus rus 2–
Philautus sarasinorum 31
Philautus schmarda 1–
Philautus silus 5–
Philautus cf. silus 1–
Philautus cf. sordidus 2–
Philautus viridis 19 6
Philautus zorro 11
total 80 18
342
Bahir et al.: Reproduction in Sri Lankan Philautus
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
4/6/2002
4/16/2002
4/26/2002
5/6/2002
5/16/2002
5/26/2002
6/5/2002
6/15/2002
6/25/2002
7/5/2002
7/15/2002
7/25/2002
Date
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
120.0
Total Rain Average Humidity
Rainfall (mm day-1)
Relative humidity (%)
06-Apr-2002
16-Apr-2002
06-May-2002
16-May-2002
26-May-2002
06-Jun-2002
15-Jun-2002
25-Jun-2002
05-Jul-2002
15-Jul-2002
25-Jul-2002
26-Apr-2002
Fig. 1. Relative humidity (percent) and rainfall (mm day-1) from April to July 2002 at the WHT field station, indicating in green the dates on
which Philautus mating occurred (weather data for few days are unavailable), usually at the onset of periods of sustained rainfall and when
relative humidity was 80–100 %.
Fig. 2. Mating behaviour of ground-nesting Philautus. a, a male calls from his perch; b, ripe female approaches male; c, amplexus occurs on
a branch; d, the pair descends to the forest floor, the female locates a suitable nest-site and commences excavation; e, female uses snout and
rear limbs to widen the cavity; f, oviposition occurs within the nest cavity; g, after oviposition, the male departs and the female uses her
hands to mix the eggs with soil; h, after mixing, she uses her hands to cover the nest with soil and then abandons it; i, a pair of Philautus viridis
excavate a nest in soil (a few leaves have been removed to facilitate the photograph); j, a pair of P. viridis excavate a nest in bare soil.
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
343
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005
The female then locates a suitable patch of ground on which
to nest, usually under leaf litter in moist soil (Fig. 3b). There,
with the male still in axillary amplexus, she excavates a cavity
1.5–50 cm3 (Figs. 2, 3c) using primarily her forelimbs and to a
lesser extent her hind limbs and snout (Fig. 2f). Moist soil is
scooped to the sides using both hands sequentially,
completing 3–9 strokes with one hand before changing to the
other. As excavation proceeds, the female slowly revolves
her body clockwise and anti-clockwise, using her hind limbs
and snout to shape and enlarge the excavation. Body rotation
occurs in steps of about 60–180º at a time. From the inception
of nest excavation to oviposition the female keeps her head
depressed against the nest wall. A single pair each of P. alto
and P. cf. sordidus used only their hind limbs and snouts to
excavate the cavity, rotating their bodies as in other species;
but this may have been because the soil was saturated with
water—these species may use burrowing methods similar to
the other species when in unsaturated soil.
Amplexus lasts 1.5–29.5 hr, during which 6–155 eggs, 3.7–5.7
mm in diameter, are laid (Figs. 2f, 3d). After oviposition, the
female begins mixing the eggs with soil and the male
dismounts and returns to a perch. Egg mixing is performed by
the female alone (Figs. 2g, 3e) using her hands and rotating
her body as in nest excavation. Mixing results in the eggs
being mixed with sperm and covered with grains of sand and
decaying leaf matter, while absorbing water from the moist
soil. This action serves also to separate the eggs from one
another, possibly facilitating increased respiration. After mixing
the eggs, the female depresses the clutch into the cavity by
swivelling her body 1–4 rotations in either sense, and then
loosely covers the nest with soil and debris using her hands
(Fig. 2i) and sometimes her snout, employing the same actions
as in nest cavity excavation, following which she abandons
the clutch. We noted also that the eggs absorb water during
the mixing process, resulting in a volume and weight increment
of 165–185% and 90–95% respectively in the case of P. viridis
eggs, the only species for which this was quantified.
Regression analysis shows that for mating pairs, female SVL
is strongly correlated to average number of eggs (R2 = 0.929)
and male snout–vent length (R2 = 0.822) (Fig. 7) but not egg
size or other variables (R2= <0.29). Incubation takes from 24–
68 days, with imagos emerging between stages 12–14 (see
staging table, Fig. 5, Table 2), with or without the tail fully
absorbed but with the yolk sac still visible. All ground-nesting
Philautus froglets show adult colouration.
Leaf nesting.–(see Fig. 4). The breeding sequence of the
arboreal, leaf-nesting Philautus femoralis commences as for
the ground-nesting species, with the male advertising while
perched on a leaf about 0.3–3 m above ground. A gravid female
with ripe eggs (Fig. 4a) approaches the male, whereupon
axillary amplexus occurs (Fig. 4b). The pair in amplexus do
not descend to the ground as in ground-nesting species, but
the female selects a leaf suitable for deposition of eggs, about
0.3–2 m above ground, on which she deposits 7–22 (n = 13)
adhesive, green eggs while the male fertilizes them (Fig. 4c).
Unlike the ground-nesting species, mating P. femoralis do
not appear to alter colour at any stage of the reproductive
process. During egg laying the male places his vent on the
leaf, slightly below the female’s vent, and thrusts each egg
under the female’s body as he fertilizes the clutch. The male
departs soon after the last egg is laid, while the female sits on
the adhesive eggs from 1–3 h, occasionally pressing an egg
down more firmly using her feet (Fig. 4d). When compared
with ground nesters, the females of P. femoralis do not revolve
their bodies on the egg clutch or attempt to camouflage the
a b c
def
Fig. 3. Egg-laying sequence of Philautus alto from Agarapatana. a, the pair in amplexus descend to the ground; b, the female selects a
nesting site and starts excavating a nest pit; c, a further stage of digging the nest pit; d, laying eggs inside the pit, while the male is still
in amplexus; e, the female mixes the eggs and soil together after the male’s departure; and f, the female covers and camouflages the nest
pit, and abandons it.
344
Bahir et al.: Reproduction in Sri Lankan Philautus
nest. The female then abandons the clutch (Fig. 4e). Brown-
black froglets emerge (Fig. 4f) 37–49 (n = 5) days later.
The eggs of both ground- and leaf-nesting species of Philautus
are intolerant of desiccation. Three clutches of P. femoralis were
rendered unviable following a three-day period during which
relative humidity was reduced to < 75%. Similarly, egg clutches
(n = 6) of ground nesting species became unviable following
exposure to air or by failure to moisten the soil for 4–5 days
during periods of low (< 75%) relative humidity.
Juveniles of all ground nesting species were observed on
leaf litter throughout the year, but were more abundant during
periods of havy rainfall. Philautus femoralis juveniles and
clutches, however, were seen only during periods of sustained
rainfall, especially during the May–September southwest
monsoon.
Direct development in Sri Lankan Philautus. – Fourteen
stages (Fig. 5, Table 2) are distinguishable in the development
of the Philautus species reported on here. Post-larval growth
in the first 12 months was recorded for a single species,
Philautus cf. sordidus, at which point the juveniles had
reached, on average, 63% and 68% of adult male and female
SVL, respectively. Males among these began vocalizing at 15
months.
Description of embryos. –Philautus silus. Stages 6–13.
General description: eyes laterally orientated; mouth
subterminal, open, lower and upper lips prominent.
Stage 6 (WHT 5625). BH 3.0 mm, BW 3.4 mm, HBL, 4.5 mm,
TD, 2.0 mm, TL, 6.6 mm. Snout rounded in all aspects; lower
eyelid not visible; endolymphatic calcium deposits visible;
mouth width 0.8 mm; forelimbs concealed under opercular
Fig. 5 (opposite page). Developmental stages 1–14 of P. viridis. Stage 1 (dorsolateral aspect), egg unpigmented, creamy white, no limb-buds
visible, neural groove closed, head and tail ends differentiable; Stage 2, a (lateral aspect), front limb-buds feebly defined; cement gland visible;
b (dorsal aspect), hindlimb-buds distinct, tail bud visible; Stage 3, a, b (lateral aspect), unpigmented subdermal eyes visible; mouth opens; tail
about twice its length at Stage 2, laterally curved left or right; endolymphatic calcium deposits visible; cement gland visible; Stage 4 (lateral
aspect),dorsal and lateral surface of yolk sac pigmented; eyes pigmented, not subdermal; nostrils appear; tail about ¼ diameter of yolk-sac,
almost its maximum length; hind-limb buds elongate; cement gland indistinct; Stage 5 a (posterior aspect); b, hind limb bud of tadpole; notch
separating toes 4 and 5 distinct; Stage 6 a (posterior aspect), toe 3 demarcated; coiled gut forms; b, hind limb, toe 3 demarcated; Stage 7 a
(posterior aspect), toes 1 and 2 demarcated; toes 3, 4 and 5 clearly separated; b, hind limb, toes 3, 4 and 5 clearly separate; c, hind limb, toes
1 and 2 demarcated; toes 3–5 clearly separate; Stage 8 a (lateral aspect), tips of toes enlarged, ‘elbow slit’ appears in forelimbs, still concealed
under opercular fold; lower eyelid appears; b, hind limb, toes 1–5 distinctly separated; Stage 9 (lateral aspect), forelimb elbow emerges; hand
subdermal; Stage 10 (lateral aspect), forelimbs fully emerged; nictitating membrane visible; metatarsal tubercle distinct; subarticular tubercles
visible on toes; tail fin spatulate, fully developed; Stage 11 a (lateral aspect), digits enlarged, rounded; palmar tubercles visible; b (ventral
aspect of hand), enlarged digits rounded; palmar tubercles visible; c (ventral aspect of foot), enlarged digits rounded; subarticular tubercles
visible; Stage 12 (lateral aspect of head), upper eyelid visible; Stage 13 (lateral aspect), tail reduced; gape reaches mid-length of eye; palm and
foot pigmented, more densely dorsally and laterally; Stage 14 a (dorsal aspect at emergence of imago), tail reduced to a small protuberance;
terminal groove visible on discs; yolk sac still present; b (lateral aspect of head), gape reaches beyond mid-length of eye. Scale bar = 1 mm.
Fig. 4. Egg laying sequence of Philatus femoralis from Agarapatana. a, the female in breeding condition approaches a male; b, the pair engage
in amplexus on a leaf; c, the female lays eggs on the underside of the leaf while the male fertilizes the eggs; d, the female sits on the clutch after
the male departs; e, the developing clutch; f, froglets emerge from the nest.
d
cba
ef
345
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005
Fig. 5. (For caption, see opposite page.)
14a 14b
346
Bahir et al.: Reproduction in Sri Lankan Philautus
Table 2. Principal characters used to stage embryonic development in P. viridis (see Fig. 5).
Incubation Stage Developmental characters
period (days)
6 1 Egg unpigmented, creamy white; no limb-buds visible; neural groove closed; head and tail ends
demarcated.
8 2 Hind-limb buds clearly visible; tail bud visible; forelimb buds feebly defined.
10 3 Unpigmented subdermal eyes visible; mouth opens; tail about twice its length at Stage 2, laterally
curved left or right; endolymphatic calcium deposits visible.
13 4 Dorsal and lateral surface of yolk sac pigmented; eyes pigmented, not subdermal; nostrils appear; tail
about ¼ diameter of yolk-sac, almost its maximum length; hind-limb buds elongate.
16 5 Notch separating toes 4 and 5 distinct.
19 6 Toe 3 demarcated.
20 7 Toes 1 and 2 demarcated; toes 3, 4 and 5 clearly separated.
23 8 Tips of toes enlarged; ‘elbow slit’ appears for forelimbs, concealed under opercular fold; lower eyelid
appears; Toes 1–5 distinctly separated.
27 9 Forelimb elbow emerges; hand subdermal.
29 10 Forelimbs fully emerged; nictitating membrane visible; metatarsal tubercle distinct; subarticular tubercles
visible on toes; tail fin fully developed.
31 11 Enlarged digits rounded; palmar tubercles visible.
35 12 Upper eyelid visible.
39 13 Tail reduced; gape reaches mid-length of eye; palm and foot pigmented, more densely dorsally and
laterally.
46 14 Tail reduced to a small protuberance; gape reaches beyond mid-length of eye; terminal groove visible
on discs; yolk sac still present.
ix
i
vii
iii
vi
iv v
iii
ii
viii
ab
cd
Fig. 6. Micrographs of developmental stages of P. sarasinorum and P. hallidayi. a, Stage 3 larvae of P. hallidayi (i, eye, before deposition of
pigments; ii, four internal gill chambers; iii, forelimb bud); b, P. sarasinorum, anterior lateral view of Stage 4 larvae (iv,cement gland; v, eye,
after deposition of pigments); c, P. sarasinorum stage 7 larvae (vi, forelimbs concealed under opercular fold; vii, coiled gut; viii, hind limbs
before disks develop); d, P. hallidayi stage 11 larvae (ix, large, spatulate, heavily-vascularized tail).
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THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005
fold, elbow slit not differentiable; tips of toes not enlarged,
toes 3–5 distinct; tail large, spatulate, curved left, reaching
forelimb, concealed under opercular fold; dorsal and anal fins
deep, vascularized, their tips rounded; head, mid-dorsal and
anterior side of body heavily pigmented; a pigmented mid-
ventral band present; hind limbs unpigmented; coiled gut
visible below forelimbs.
Stage 8 (WHT 5631). BH 3.1 mm, BW 3.5 mm, HBL, 4.6 mm,
TD, 2.6 mm, TL, 9.7 mm. Snout rounded in all aspects; lower
eyelid visible; endolymphatic calcium deposits visible; mouth
width 1.0 mm; elbow slit (see Fig. 5, stage 8a) prominent on
forelimb, concealed under opercular fold; tips of toes enlarged,
toes 1–5 distinctly separated; tail large, spatulate, curved right,
reaching posterior margin of eye; dorsal and anal fins deep,
vascularized, their tips rounded; head, mid-dorsal and anterior
side of body heavily pigmented; hind limbs slightly
pigmented; tail and ventral foot lack pigmentation.
Stage 12 (WHT 5635). BH 3.2 mm, BW 3.9 mm, HBL, 6 mm, TD,
2.4 mm, TL, 11.7 mm. Snout rounded in all aspects; lower and
upper eyelids prominent; endolymphatic calcium deposits
indistinct; mouth width 1.5 mm; forelimbs well developed;
vent slit prominent; tips of toes enlarged; toes 1–5 distinctly
separated; subarticular tubercles visible; tail curved left,
reaching up to forelimb; dorsal and anal fins deep,
vascularized, their tips rounded; body heavily pigmented
except for posterior side of abdomen, and ventral surfaces of
hand and foot; tail lacks pigmentation.
Stage 13 (WHT 5641). BH 3.2 mm, BW 4.2 mm, HBL 5.1 mm,
TD 1.9 mm, TL, 9.1 mm. Snout obtusely pointed in all aspects;
lower and upper eyelids prominent; endolymphatic calcium
deposits indistinct; mouth width 1.8 mm; gape reaches mid-
length of eye; tail reduced, curved right, reaching forelimbs;
dorsal and anal fins not deep, vascularized, their tips rounded;
body heavily pigmented except posterior surface of abdomen,
and ventral surfaces of hand and foot; tail lacks pigmentation.
DISCUSSION
Reproductive behaviour. – Kanamadi et al. (1996) and Patil &
Kanamadi (1997) reported on ethology and development
respectively in an Indian species of Philautus they identified
as P. variabilis. This species, originally described from Sri
Lanka by Günther (1859), was reported extinct by
Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda (2005). It is also likely
that it was, like all other Philautus species occurring on the
island, endemic to Sri Lanka. We suspect therefore that Patil
& Kanamadi (1997) misidentified this species, but cannot
verify this inference as they do not list the preserved material
on which their study was based. Biju (2001) reported the
discovery of more than 100 species of putatively new anuran
species, most of them Philautus, in south-western India—
we presume the species studied by Kanamadi et al. (1996)
and Patil & Kanamadi (1997) was an undescribed one or one
described recently by Kuramoto & Joshy (2004).
Patil & Kanamadi’s (1997) observations are nevertheless of
value in comparing Sri Lankan and south Indian Philautus,
which form a monophyletic group (Meegaskumbura et al.,
2002). Although Patil & Kanamadi report no detailed
ethological observations, larval development in the Indian
species studied by them appears to differ in several respects
from Sri Lankan Philautus reported here—a development
period of 12 days, vs. 24–68 days for Sri Lankan Philautus;
the appearance of external gills (Patil & Kanamadi, 1997: fig.
2i) vs. absence of external gills; and the early, simultaneous
appearance of hind and forelimbs (Patil & Kanamadi, 1997:
Fig. 2d, comparable to Stage 3 in Sri Lankan Philautus) vs.
forelimbs concealed under opercular fold until Stage 10 (Fig.
5.10). We speculate that the much shorter incubation period
recorded by Patil & Kanamadi (1997) is a consequence of the
higher ambient temperature at their study site (Dharwat) than
at the Sri Lankan sites.
Kanamadi et al.’s (1996) behavioural observations too, differ
from ours in several respects: their females attacked the males
after copulation, vs. voluntary departure of the male in our
study; and the female guarded the eggs for 3 h after
oviposition, vs. female abandoned the nest immediately after
she concealed it. We observed neither aggression between
the sexes nor nest guarding by either parent in the 85 clutches
of ground-nesting species we studied. We suspect that
Kanamadi et al.’s (1996) results may have been influenced by
their apparent failure to provide their terrarium with an
adequately deep soil and leaf-litter substrate.
Dring (1987) described the deposition of 6–8 eggs by
Philautus kerangae in the pitcher of Nepenthes bicalcarata
in Sarawak, and deduced the occurrence of male parental care
from the presence of a calling male beside the clutch. He
noted also that embryos of P. kerangae had subdermal
forelimbs (as in the Sri Lankan species studied by us, but not
the Indian one described by Patil & Kanamadi, 1997). In
common with the Sri Lankan embryos reported on here,
Dring’s specimens lacked beaks, labial teeth, expanded lips
and oral suckers. Dring (1987) also noted a snout-tip tubercle
in females of P. petersi, a high-altitude (1,300–1,500 m) Bornean
and Malaysian species, and speculated that this may facilitate
nest excavation. No such character has been observed in any
Sri Lankan Philautus.
Alcala & Brown (1982) recorded arboreal clutches of Philautus
lissobrachius (from leaf axils of Pandanus trees and
Asplenium ferns) and P. schmackeri (from leaf axils of
Asplenium ferns in the Philippines). Brown & Alcala (1994)
also recorded clutches of P. surdus (5–19 eggs) from the leaf
axils of Pandanus and from the “base” of arboreal Asplenium
ferns, together with clutches of a species thought to be P.
acutirostris from leaf axils of wild banana plants and aerial
ferns. We have hitherto failed to find evidence that Sri Lankan
Philautus use leaf axils as nest sites. Further, in their Fig. 5,
Alcala & Brown (1982: 224) note and depict the presence of a
prominent operculum in their embryos, a structure we have
not observed in the embryos of Sri Lankan Philautus.
With more than 600 species, the Neotropical leptodactylid
genus Eleutherodactylus comprises the largest and arguably
the hitherto best studied group of endotrophic anurans
348
Bahir et al.: Reproduction in Sri Lankan Philautus
(Hanken, 1999). Breeding and nesting behaviour of four
species are well studied (Townsend & Stewart, 1994; Bourne,
1997; Rogowitz et. al., 2001; Ovaska & Rand, 2001); parental
care occurs in all but one of these. Oviposition sites are known
for 16 species of Eleutherodactylus (Schwartz & Henderson,
1991; Thibaudeau & Altig, 1999). Fourteen of these deposit
eggs under various objects while E. coqui deposits eggs on
elevated sites (Thibaudeau & Altig, 1999) and E. diastema
deposits its clutch between leaves, plant stems or inside
bromeliads (Ovaska & Rand, 2001). No Eleutherodactylus is
known to excavate a nest in soil as Sri Lankan Philautus do.
All but one of the 44 described extant species of Sri Lankan
Philautus occur in the island’s south-western wet zone,
annual rainfall > 2,000 mm (Manamendra-Arachchi &
Pethiyagoda, 2005; Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-
Arachchi, 2005), a distribution probably determined by the
dependence of these species on loose, moist, shaded soil in
which to deposit their eggs. We note that egg separation has
not been observed in other direct-developing species
(Thibaudeau & Altig, 1999) and conclude that this behaviour
serves to space eggs and increase the effective area available
for aeration, while also facilitating better distribution of sperm.
This is especially relevant given the much larger clutch sizes
observed in Sri Lankan Philautus (6–155 ova) compared to
other South and Southeast Asian Philautus (5–62 ova: Alcala
& Brown, 1994; Patil & Kanamadi, 1997).
Terrestrial nest excavation has evidently not hitherto been
recorded in other direct-developing anurans (Thibaudeau &
Altig, 1999), though it is a behaviour commonplace among
reptiles. While terrestrial nest excavation in Philautus shows
marked similarities to tetrapod reptiles, this behaviour is
different in these frogs in that the pair remain in amplexus
while the female excavates the nest and mixes the eggs, sperm
and soil after oviposition.
Although two Indian Philautus species are arboreal leaf
nesters (Bossuyt et al., 2001; Biju, 2003), the only known Sri
Lankan leaf nester, Philautus femoralis, differs from them by
laying green eggs only on the underside of leaves, whereas
the Indian species lay white or cream-coloured eggs on the
upper surface of leaves (Bossuyt et al., 2001; Biju, 2003). For
P. femoralis, nesting on the underside of leaves, rather than
on upper surfaces, may offer several advantages, such as
preventing predators from locating the clutch; reducing risk
of the eggs being dislodged by rain or other mechanical
damage; and reducing exposure to solar radiation.
The colour change that ground-nesting Philautus undergo
(Fig. 2 and 3) may have an adaptive function through reducing
the risk of predation, especially given that these frogs often
nest in daytime. On the other hand, the bright-green Philautus
femoralis, which deposits its eggs on the underside of leaves,
does not change colour.
The critical humidity dependence of Philautus eggs makes
them vulnerable to even short periods of desiccation. For
example, P. femoralis eggs at Agrapatana incubate for 37–49
days, subjecting the clutch to risk from stochastic climate
events. This danger is underlined by the fact that juveniles of
ground nesters were observed throughout the year and those
of Philautus femoralis, only during periods of sustained
rainfall. Climate warming could therefore place this fauna at
risk, though arboreal nesters would appear to be more
immediately threatened than ground nesters.
The strong correlation between female body size and number
of eggs (though not egg diameter) has been noted also in
other species of frogs (Duellman & Trueb, 1986). The lack of
correlation between female size and egg diameter and mass
however, could be the result of inconsistencies in our
measurements: eggs almost double in volume immediately
after release (through absorption of water from the soil),
rendering repeatable measurement difficult.
Comparative development. – Embryos of Sri Lankan
Philautus show a degree of external morphological
convergence with Eleutherodactylus coqui. Embryos of
Philautus differ from those of E. coqui however, in having a
Fig. 7. a,female snout–vent length (FMSVL) shows a strong positive correlation (R2 = 0.822, n = 8) with male snout–vent length (MSVL)
for mating pairs; b, FMSVL shows a strong positive correlation with number of eggs (R2 = 0.920). Other reproductive variables (egg mass;
egg diameter; egg-mixing duration; nest covering duration; and incubation time) show only weak correlations (R2 = <0.296, n = 8).
D E
0/96
)069/
J
$YJ1R(JJV
J
female snout-vent length
male snout-vent length
female snout-vent length average number of eggs
349
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2005
larger, spatulate, vascularized tail; absence of external gills;
presence of internal gill chambers; presence of a cement gland;
presence of a coiled gut; forelimbs concealed under opercular
fold up to an advanced stage of development (Fig. 5.10); and
the absence of an egg tooth (Fig. 5.13, 5.14) (see Townsend &
Stewart, 1985 for development in Eleutherodactylus coqui).
Philautus species also differ in the tempo and sequence of
development of some characters, such as early enlargement
of the tail (vs. relatively late enlargement in
Eleutherodactylus).
The relatively large (compared to SVL) vascularized tail in
Philautus is evidently important for respiration since the
embryo lacks external gills or well-developed internal gills.
Kirtisinghe (1946) noted the presence of four pairs of atrophied
internal gills and concluded that it was the heavily vascularized
tail and not the gills that facilitated respiration in Philautus
embryos (see Fig. 6d). In Eleutherodactylus, the tail expands
only after the external gills are absorbed (see Fig. 1 in
Townsend & Stewart, 1985), reinforcing the importance of
the respiratory role of the tail in terrestrial direct developers.
The consistent orientation of the tail to the left in
Eleutherodactylus coqui has been remarked on by
Thibaudeau & Altig (1999: 178–179) and Wassersug (2000).
Although the tail in the larval specimens of P. silus described
above happen to be orientated to the left, we note that in
general the larvae of Sri Lankan Philautus have the tail
orientated both left and right, and occasionally even folded
under the body. Mature larvae were also seen to re-orientate
themselves within the egg, moving the tail from left to right
and vice versa. We note also Thibaudeau & Altig’s (1999:
179) questioning of the respiratory function of the vascularized
tail in E. coqui: “Whether or not there is sufficient increase in
vascularity to suggest a specific respiratory function for the
tail is debatable.” We suspect however, that in Philautus the
tail does indeed play an important role in respiration given
that the gills are internal and atrophied in all the Sri Lankan
larvae hitherto studied.
We suspect that the poorly developed cement gland in
Philautus is a primitive character. This ‘gland’, which is a
feature common in the early stages of the exotrophic larvae of
aquatic tadpoles, facilitates attachment to aquatic objects
(Duellman & Trueb,1986; Callery et al., 2001); such a function
is, of course, irrelevant to endotrophic larvae.
A coiled gut has not been observed in other lineages with
direct-developing embryos. In Sri Lankan Philautus, this
persists without degeneration up to stage 14. A coiled gut is
usually associated with aquatic tadpoles that rely on a
herbivorous diet, the elongated gut facilitating digestion and
absorption (Callery et al., 2001). The function of such a gut in
early stages of Philautus is difficult to explain: we suspect it
has a role in the absorption of the yolk associated with rapid
development, although it could simply be a primitive character.
Philautus have, however, lost many other larval characters
associated with aquatic tadpoles, such as keratinized denticles
around the mouth and a lateral-line sensory organ.
Conservation. – Little attention has been paid up to now to
the conservation of Sri Lanka’s Amphibia, despite the island’s
‘hotspot’ status (Myers et al., 2000; Meegaskumbura et al.,
2002) and the listing of some 44 species, including 27
Philautus, in the various ‘threatened’ categories of the IUCN
Red List (see www.globalamphibians.org). More than 95% Sri
Lanka’s original rainforest extent of about 15,000 km2 has
disappeared during the past two centuries: only about 750
km2 now survives, mostly in the form of < 10 km2 fragments
surrounded by tea and rubber plantations, and human
settlements. The attrition caused by island effects (Ferraz et
al., 2003), taken together with edge effects, invasive alien
species, poor land management, industrial emissions,
irresponsible pesticide use, rainwater acidification and global
and local climatic change are likely to result in continued
species loss. This is particularly relevant because several
species are restricted to individual forest fragments. While
Sri Lanka’s human population density (300 km-2) is the highest
among the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots (Cincotta et al.,
2000), human population density in the biodiversity-rich
south-western wet zone (to which all but one species of
Philautus are restricted) is more than twice the national
average. The pressures on forest fragments, in terms of
deforestation and habitat alteration, are therefore immense.
Given Sri Lanka’s extraordinary amphibian species richness, it is
imperative that every effort be made to conserve this remarkable
fauna, especially in view of its still being so poorly known: of the
17 species treated here, eight have been described only recently
(Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda, 2005), while a further
five remain to be described. Philautus shows a high degree of
localized endemism within the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka
biodiversity hotspot. This fauna is gravely at risk, and its security
will depend on the conservation of habitats, a fuller understanding
of the ecology of the species involved and intensive measures,
both in and ex situ, to restore populations of threatened species.
Considering the difficulties associated with addressing many of
these threats, ex situ conservation may, in the short term, provide
the only realistic prospect for many Critically Endangered
species. We hope that the data in this paper will contribute to the
body of knowledge necessary for such conservation efforts,
which are now a matter of overwhelming priority.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the Forest Department and the Department of Wildlife
Conservation for various permissions associated with this study;
Indraneil Das (University Malaysia, Sarawak) and an anonymous
reviewer for providing much valuable comment that helped
improve the manuscript; D. Kandamby (National Museum, Sri
Lanka), S. Nanayakkara (WHT) and Kelvin Lim (National
University of Singapore) for access to material; Tzi Ming Leong
and Donna O’Connell for discussions; Indraneil Das for
literature; S. Kankanam-Gamage, K. Wewelwala, S. Batuwita,
Kalana Maduwage and Anjana Silva for their generous help
caring for frogs at the WHT field station; James Hanken and
Ryan Kerney (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard) for
access to and training in lab techniques; and S. D. Atukorale
(National Hospital, Colombo) for identifying pathogens. M.M.
350
Bahir et al.: Reproduction in Sri Lankan Philautus
acknowledges the Society of Systematic Biologists’ Graduate
Student Award (2002) that facilitated part of this work; and M.M.B.
acknowledges the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for a
fellowship on endangered species management in 2000, and the
Wildlife Trust, USA, for its support of this research; and R. P.
acknowledges the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force
for a grant that supported this work.
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