Wildlifeof India
Nyctibatrachus webilla
True Frogs, Night Frogs & Allies
Photo: Garg S, Suyesh R, Sukesan S, Biju S. · CC BY-SA 4.0 (May be cropped or resized)
Nyctibatrachus webilla
Basic stats
Habitat
Under leaf litter or vegetation on marshy ground near a shallow rivulet, in a disturbed forest patch beside a tea estate
Range
Kadalar, Idukki district, Kerala, India (1,429 m; only known site)
Size
18.7-20.7 mm (adult males, snout-vent length)
The Kadalar night frog, Nyctibatrachus webilla, is one of seven new night frogs described in 2017 in PeerJ by Sonali Garg, Robin Suyesh, Sandeep Sukesan and S. D. Biju. The holotype was collected on 8 June 2016 at Kadalar in Kerala's Idukki district, at 1,429 m, south of the Palghat gap. The name joins English 'web' with the Malayalam 'illa' (no), for its much-reduced foot webbing compared with N. deccanensis, its sister species. Adult males measure 18.7 to 20.7 mm. The back and sides of the head are bright reddish-orange with scattered tiny black spots, the limbs are dark reddish-brown with dark crossbands, and the belly is reddish-orange. (PeerJ 2017, open access).
It has one kind of call, a pulsed note of about 200 milliseconds with around 20 pulses and a dominant frequency near 3.4 kHz, given at steady intervals rather than in groups. Males called both by day (about 10:00 to 12:00) and at night (19:00 to 22:00) from leaf litter or vegetation on marshy ground. It is known only from its type locality. (PeerJ 2017, open access).
Quick answers
- What habitat does the Nyctibatrachus webilla live in?
- Under leaf litter or vegetation on marshy ground near a shallow rivulet, in a disturbed forest patch beside a tea estate
- Where is the Nyctibatrachus webilla found?
- Kadalar, Idukki district, Kerala, India (1,429 m; only known site)
- How big is the Nyctibatrachus webilla?
- 18.7-20.7 mm (adult males, snout-vent length)