Description

Pseudophilautus mooreorum is a moderate-sized frog with snout vent length of 29.4 – 31.3 mm in males and 33.8 – 35.0 mm in females. The body is stout with a flat head in the dorsal view. The snout-angle falls within a category from 7 – 9 (angle of snout 108º –115º). Laterally, the snout appears round. The canthal edge is round, while the loreal region is concave. The interorbital space is flat and the internasal space is concave. The tympanic membrane and rim are absent, Similarly, the supratympanic fold appears almost indistinct or absent. The following features are absent on P. mooreorum: pineal ocellus, vomerine ridge, cephalic ridges, calcar, lingual papilla and co-ossified skin on skull. The fingers have lateral dermal fringe and the toes are webbed. The tarsal folds are absent. Males have horny spinules on the following features: snout, interorbital space, side of head and dorsum, and upper part of flank. The lower flank is smooth. The forelimb, thigh, shank and pes are shagreened in the dorsal aspect. The throat, chest, belly, and underside of the thigh are granular. Males have inner vocal slits and absent nuptial pads; however finger I has yellow subdermal glands present. Females have a finely granular and shagreened dorsum. (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 2005).

In life, the head is a luminous, bright green color in both the dorsal and lateral views. The upper flank is yellow and white and the lower flank is solely white. Both lips have white margins. In the dorsal view, the limbs are green. The pes and outer edge of the lower arm are both white. The dorsal region of the upper arm is white. Dorsally, both the fingers and toes are a pale green or white color. The disks and venter are white (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 2005).

In preservative, the dorsal and lateral views of the dorsum are brownish dark pink and have white pigments sporadically around. The lower flank, venter, inguinal zone, and upper lip are all yellow in color (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 2005).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Sri Lanka

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Pseudophilautus mooreorum is found in Corbett’s Gap and from Hunnasgiriya, both located in Knuckles Hills, Sri Lanka at elevations between 1400 – 1700 m (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 2005; Batuwita et al. 2019).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors

Pseudophilautus mooreorum is found exclusively to the forest sub-canopy and shrubs in the understory of closed-canopy cloud forest. The species may also be found in under-planted areas with cardamom. Pseudophilautus mooreorum is strictly arboreal, meaning it is found primarily in trees (Bahir et al. 2005).

All frogs of this genus are direct developers (Bahir et al. 2005).

Males perched on leaves 1 – 3 m above ground can vocalize (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 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 mooreorum is named after Dr. Gordon and Betty Moore because of their admirable work and established support of the Global Amphibian Assessment and amphibian conservation efforts (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 2005).

A 12S and 16S sequence divergence of 2.56 – 3.15% and a cytochrome-b sequence divergence of 7.7 – 8.9% helps to differentiate Pseudophilautus mooreorum from to closely related species, P. femoralis and P. poppiae (Meegaskumbura & Manamendra-Arachchi 2005).

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]

Meegaskumbura M. & Manamendra-Arachchi K. (2005). ''Description of eight new species of shrub frogs (Ranidae: Rhacophorinae: Philautus) from Sri Lanka.'' Raffles Bulletin Zoology Supplemental, 12, 305-338. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Pseudophilautus mooreorum <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/6512> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Dec 28, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 28 Dec 2024.

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