Description
Duttaphrynus kotagamai is a moderate sized frog with snout vent length of 33.1 – 40.3mm in males and 55.5 - 62.7 mm in females. It is distinguished from all other of the same genus known from Sri Lanka and southern India by the combination of following characters: prominent parietal ridges on head, first finger slightly longer than the second and long, narrow, unlobulated parotoid glands (Fernando et al., 1994).

Colour in life: orange brown on dorsal surface, mottled with dark brown. A light cross band between the eyes. A distinct dark cross band on forearm, forefoot, tarsus and tibia. A less distinct cross bar on upper arm and femur. Lower jaw with alternate dark and light markings. Ventral surface whitish, mottled with dark brown, the mottling present as a median dark band especially evident over the sternum. Supraorbital and parietal ridges, tips of digits and tips of spinous warts black. Colour in alcohol: the dorsal colour tends to become duller and take on a greyish hue (Fernando et al., 1994).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Sri Lanka

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Duttaphrynus kotagamai is known from the Sinharaja Forest Reserve and the Makandawa Forest Reserve which are of the lowland rain forest type (Fernando et al., 1994; Batuwita et al., 2019).

It is also known from Massena, Erathna, and Delwala forest areas of the Samanala Nature Reserve. It favors a few primary lowland rain forests in the wet zone with elevations below 1,070 m (Peabotuwage et al.,2012).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Duttaphrynus kotagamai is observed during the night and in close proximity to streams. In Sinharaja, it is usually seen on collections of leaf debris, sand banks and rocks on the side of the streams. In Makandawa, it was observed on rocky stream banks (Fernando et al., 1994). In Samanala Nature Reserve it was observed close to streams (Peabotuwage et al.,2012).

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
Duttaphrynus kotagamai is named after Prof. Sarath W. Kotagama of the University of Colombo for the distinguished service he has rendered in the fields of natural history, ecology and conservation in Sri Lanka, and as Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka (1989-1992) (Fernando et al., 1994).

As of yet, no molecular phylogenetic analysis has been done on this species to determine its relation to other representatives of the same genus.

References

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]

Fernando P, Dayawansa N and Siriwardhane M. (1994). " Bufo kotagamai, a new toad (Bufonidae) from Sri Lanka." Journal of South Asian Natural History, 1(1), 119-124.

Peabotuwage, I., Bandara, I. N., Samarasinghe, D., Perera, N., Madawala, M., Amarasinghe, C., Kandambi, H. K. D., and Karunarathna, D. M. S. S. (2012). ''). Range extension for Duttaphrynus kotagamai (Amphibia: Bufonidae) and a preliminary checklist of herpetofauna from the Uda Mäliboda Trail in Samanala Nature Reserve, Sri Lanka.'' Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, 5(2), 52–64.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Duttaphrynus kotagamai: Kotagama's Dwarf Toad <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/215> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Feb 2, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 2 Feb 2025.

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