Description
Pseudophilautus bambaradeniyai is a small frog with snout vent length of 17.3 – 20.2 mm in males. It can be distinguished from known congeners by the following combination of characters: small size frog (SVL 17.3–20.2 mm); head dorsally convex; canthus rostralis rounded; interorbital space convex; internarial space flat; vomerine teeth, lingual papilla, fringe on fingers, calcar and nuptial pad absent; snout, interorbital area, side of head, upper and lower flank smooth; anterior dorsum prominent tubercles and horny spinules, posterior dorsum horny spinules. Distinguishing characters provided in comparison tables (Wickramasinghe et al., 2013).

Colour in life: Dorsum dark brown with blackish blotches, large dark brown marking covering much of the anterior, blackish cross band between eyes, a prominent off-white vertebral stripe from the tip of snout to anus, and continuing down the hind limbs symmetrically, lateral body lighter; limbs dark brown, fore limbs, hind limbs, fingers and toes with blackish-brown cross bands; ventral side off white with light brown blotches, hands, feet and webbing lighter (Wickramasinghe et al., 2013).

Colour in alcohol: Colour pattern remains with a little fading, off-white vertebral stripe prominent on dark brown, ventral side off-white all over (Wickramasinghe et al., 2013).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Sri Lanka

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Pseudophilautus bambaradeniyai is found in Sripada (Peak Wilderness), Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka at elevations of 750–1400 m (Wickramasinghe et al., 2013; Batuwita et al., 2019).

This frog was found from the forest floor to about 1.5 m high shrubs in lowland rain forests to lower montane rain forests (Wickramasinghe et al., 2013).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
All frogs of this genus are terrestrial direct developers (Bahir et al., 2005).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities
Intensified agriculture or grazing
Habitat fragmentation

Comments
Pseudophilautus bambaradeniyai is named after Channa Bambaradeniya, a leading wetland scientist who has been working immensely to protect the wetlands and its ecosystems in Sri Lanka, in great appreciation of his dedicated efforts towards the conservation of the biodiversity at large in the country (Wickramasinghe et al., 2013).

Molecular phylogenetic evidence suggests that P. bambaradeniyai is genetically closely related to P. frankenbergi (Wickramasinghe et al., 2015).

References

Bahir, M. M., Meegaskumbura, M., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Schneider, C. J., and Pethiyagoda, R. (2005). ''Reproduction and terrestrial direct development in Sri Lankan shrub frogs (Ranidae: Rhacophorinae: Philautus).'' The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 12, 339-350. [link]

Batuwita S, Udugampala S, DeSilva M, Diao J and Edirisinghe U. (2019). "A review of amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka: distribution, recent taxonomic changes and conservation." Journal of Animal Diversity, 1(2), 44-82. [link]

Wickramasinghe, L.J.M., D.R. Vidanapathirana, M.D.G. Rajeev, S.C. Ariyarathne, A.W.A. Chanaka, L.L.D. Priyantha, I.N. Bandara & N. Wickramasinghe (2013). Eight new species of Pseudophilautus (Amphibia, Anura, Rhacophoridae) from Sripada World Heritage Site (Peak Wilderness), a local amphibian hotspot in Sri Lanka. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(4): 3789–3920 [link]

Wickramasinghe, LJM, Bandara IN, Vidanapathirana DR, Tennakoon KH, Samarakoon SR and Wickramasinghe N. (2015). "Pseudophilautus dilmah, a new species of shrub frog (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from a threatened habitat Loolkandura in Sri Lanka." Journal of Threatened Taxa, 7(5), 7089–7110. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Pseudophilautus bambaradeniyai: Bambaradeniya's Shrub Frog; Bambaradeniyage panduru madiya <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7985> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 21, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 21 Nov 2024.

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