AmphibiaWeb - Micrixalus herrei


Micrixalus herrei Myers, 1942 Kallar Dancing Frog	family: Micrixalidae genus: Micrixalus
Species Description: Revalidation of Myers GS 1942 A new frog of the genus Micrixalus from Travancore. Proc Biol Soc Wash 55: 71-74, by Biju SD, Garg S, Gururaja KV, Shouche Y, Walujkar SA 2014 DNA barcoding reveals unprecedented diversity in Dancing Frogs of India (Micrixalidae, Micrixalus): a taxonomic revision with description of 14 new species. Ceylon J Sci (Bio. Sci.)43: 1-87.

Conservation Status (definitions)

IUCN Red List Status Account	Near Threatened (NT)
CITES	No CITES Listing
National Status	None
Regional Status	None
	Access Conservation Needs Assessment Report .

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (1 records).

Description

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Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: India

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

View Bd and Bsal data (1 records).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
This species was featured as News of the Week on December 11, 2017:

Until 2016, the tadpoles of the frog family Micrixalidae had not been described. In their study, Senevirathne et al. (2016) provide the first in-depth description of tadpoles from Micrixalidae, a family endemic to the Western Ghats of India and known for their elaborate foot flagging courtship. Females bury their eggs in the sand of streams where tadpoles live a fossorial lifestyle, using their eel-like bodies to maneuver through the substrate. Finding food while buried can be difficult but Micrixalus herrei tadpoles thrive as "sand-eaters" that ingest sand and then feed on organic matter found among the sand grains. Tadpoles of M. herrei have a number of rare morphological traits that show convergence with other fossorial tadpoles known globally. However, M. herrei show distinction from other described fossorial tadpoles by having ankylosed ribs. We do not yet know why M. herrei tadpoles live underground but the authors propose rapid fluctuations of surface water in streams during the pre-and post- monsoon periods of the Western Ghats, extreme within-stream predator pressure, and the abundance of sub-surface food as potential selection pressures (Written by Molly Womack).

Edited by: Michelle S. Koo, Ann T. Chang (2021-08-10)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Micrixalus herrei: Kallar Dancing Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/8171> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Apr 30, 2025.

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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 30 Apr 2025.

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