''Ansonia jeetsukumarani'' (common name: Jeet Sukumaran's torrent-dwelling toad) is a species of

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

s in the family

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

and known from its type locality,

Fraser's Hill Fraser's Hill (Malay language, Malay: ) is a hill resort in Raub District, Pahang, Malaysia, on the Pahangese and Selangor, Selangorean sections of the Titiwangsa Mountains. It is about north of Kuala Lumpur. In 1890, Louis James Fraser estab ...

(

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

state), and from Sungai Pergau (

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

state). It is named in honour of Jeet Sukumaran, a biologist who has worked with Malaysian amphibians.

Description

''Ansonia jeetsukumarani'' is a relatively small species: two males measured and three females about in snout–vent length. The body is stout but relatively flat; the head and limbs are slender. The tympanum is large. There is a small, white wart at angle of jaw. The dorsum is smooth with scattered, small tubercles. The tubercles are more prominent on flanks. The ventral surface is finely granular. The dorsum is nearly uniform brown but has an orangish-yellow interscapular spot and a thin, faint vertebral stripe. The tubercles on dorsum and flanks are reddish-orange. The arms and legs are orangish and slightly barred. The hands and feet bear orange and brown bars. The venter is dark, with whitish-yellow spots towards the flanks and extending from hind limb insertions to cover gular region and mandible. The undersides of hind limbs are brownish-red in females but brown in males. The iris is reddish-orange and has a black, reticulated pattern.

Habitat and conservation

The species inhabits hilly, closed canopy forests at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Individuals have been found at night on rocks and small leaves about 0.5–1.5 m above the ground near small streams, its presumed breeding habitat (no tadpoles or calling males are known). Possible threats are

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological proces ...

and warming of the climate.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2852518 jeetsukumarani Endemic fauna of Malaysia Amphibians of Malaysia Amphibians described in 2008