Description
Pseudophilautus viridis is a small to medium sized frog ranging in snout-vent length 26.1–36.5 mm. Its head is dorsally convex without cephalic ridges and indistinct tympanum but has a supratympanic fold. Males have "horn-like spinules" on the snout, interorbital area, side of head, dorsum and upper flank (absent in females and immature males). Legs have granular skin. Dorsal skin of forelimb, thigh, shank and foot is smooth. Calcar absent. Supernumerary tubercles present on palm. Lateral dermal fringe present on fingers (rarely absent in some individuals). No webbing on fingers but some on toes. Males lack nuptial pads. (Wijayathilaka et al 2023)

Coloration in life: generally a light green to brown frog with a high degree of variation including pattern variations. Wijayathilaka et al 2023 shows several of these color and pattern variations in this species (see Figure 2). Some of the distinct patterns include having a a yellow or white medial line on dorsum or venter, or having yellow or black patches throughout its dorsum, or having light blue patches on flanks. Generally abdomen has white spots and sides are lighter colored.

The darkly patched or spotted coloration pattern is rare and initially was the basis of the species Pseudophilautus pardus (Meegaskumbura et al 2007). The spotted species had not been encountered after being described from a single specimen even after intensive surveys; this resulted in the species being listed as Extinct. However, Wijayathilaka et al (2023) found another spotted individual and included it in an analysis of Pseudophilautus pardus using mtDNA, morphology and geography to conclude that the spotted individual was Pseudophilautus viridis.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Sri Lanka

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Restricted to Sri Lanka's central range, from elevations of 1,400–1,950 m. The species occurs in protected areas: Horton Plains National Park, Samanala Nature Reserve, Agra-Bopath Forest Reserve; also known from other sites and human areas such Loolkandura (tea estate), Ambewela, Maliboda, Thalawakele, Moray Estate, Maskeliya (Fishing Hut).

References

Meegaskumbura, M., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Schneider, C. J., and Pethiyagoda, R. (2007). ''New species amongst Sri Lanka's extinct shrub frogs (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae: Philautus).'' Zootaxa, 1397, 1-15.

Wijayathilaka, N., U. Perera, K. Manamendra-Arachchi, G. Ellepola, H. Adhikari, S. Wijayasekara, L. J. M. Wickramasinghe, V. Prathap, and M. Meegaskumbura (2023). "Pseudophilautus pardus, a junior synonym of P. viridis (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae)." Zootaxa, 5224, 459–472 . [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2023 Pseudophilautus viridis: Green Shrub Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/6487> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Oct 11, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 11 Oct 2024.

AmphibiaWeb's policy on data use.