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Pseudophilautus variabilis

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AMPHIBIA ANURA RHACOPHORIDAE

Scientific Name: Pseudophilautus variabilis
Species Authority: (Günther, 1858)
Synonym/s:
Ixalus variabilis Günther, 1858
Philautus variabilis Roux, 1928
Taxonomic Notes: Specimens formerly attributed to Philautus variabilis from the Western Ghats of India are misidentified P. wynaadensis. P. variabilis is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is now considered to be extinct (K. Manamendra-Arachchi and S.D. Biju pers. comm.).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Extinct     ver 3.1
Year Published: 2004
Assessor/s: S.D. Biju, Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, Anslem de Silva, Sushil Dutta
Reviewer/s: Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson and Neil Cox)
Justification:
Listed as Extinct because it has not been recorded for over 100 years, and extensive searches over the last ten years have failed to locate this species.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description: This species is known only from the general type locality of "Ceylon" (= Sri Lanka). It is not possible to produce a distribution map for this species because the exact location of the type collection is not known (Manamendra-Arachchi and Pethiyagoda 2005).
Countries:
Regionally extinct:
Sri Lanka
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: This species is known only from the lectotype. Recent, extensive field surveys of the amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka have not relocated this species and it is now believed to be extinct.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology: The habitat requirements of this frog are not known. It presumably bred by direct development.
Systems: Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s): The cause of the species' extinction is not known, but habitat loss seeems likely to have been a contributing factor.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions: It has not been recorded from any protected areas.

Bibliography [top]

Biju, S.D. 2001. A synopsis to the frog fauna of the Western Ghats, India. Occasional Publication 1. ISCB: 1-24.

Bossuyt, F. and Dubois, A. 2001. A review of the frog genus Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae, Rhacophorinae). Zeylanica: 1-112.

Dutta, S.K. 1997. Amphibians of India and Sri Lanka. Odyssey Publishing House, Bhubaneswar.

IUCN. 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 23 November 2004.

Manamendra-Arachchi, K. and Pethiyagoda, R. 2005. The Sri Lankan shrub-frogs of the genus Philautus Laurent, 1943 (Ranidae, Rhacophorinae), with description of 27 new species. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement: 163-303.

Ravichandran, M.S. 1996. Amphibia of the Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India. Cobra: 15-31.

Ravishankar, D., Kanamadi, G., Kadadevaru, G. and Schneider, H. 2001. Calling behaviour, bioacoustics and distribution of a rhacophorid frog, Philautus variabilis (Gunther, 1858). Amphibia-Reptilia: 275-386.

Vasudevan, K., Kumar, A. and Chellam, R. 2001. Structure and composition of rainforest floor amphibian communities in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. Current Science: 406-412.

Citation: S.D. Biju, Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, Anslem de Silva, Sushil Dutta 2004. Pseudophilautus variabilis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 25 May 2012.
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