''Taruga fastigo'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s in the family

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly known as ...

. 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 ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and only known from its type locality, Morningside Estate near

Rakwana Rakwana is a town in the Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka, a notable centre of Ceylon tea plantations and industry. Additionally, Rakwana is said to have gem resources.Rakwana is locally administered by Godakawela Pradeshiya ...

. Prior to its

description Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity. It is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...

in 2001, it was confused with ''Polypedates eques'' (now '' Taruga eques'').

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''fastigo'' is Latin for "sharpened" and refers to the pointed snout of the species.

Description

Adult males measure and females in snout–vent length. The snout is pointed. The

canthus rostralis In snakes and amphibians, the canthus, canthal ridge or ''canthus rostralis''Spawls S, Branch B. 1995. ''The Dangerous Snakes of Africa''. Ralph Curtis Books. Dubai: Oriental Press. 192 pp. . is the angle between the flat crown of the head and the ...

is angular, and the canthal ridges are sharp. The tympanum is visible and the supratympanic fold is distinct. The fingers and toes have well-developed discs; the fingers are free from webbing whereas the toes are webbed. Skin is mostly smooth but granular on the abdomen and underside of the

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

. There are prominent white tubercles around the vent and lower surfaces of the thighs. Dorsal colouration is brown or olive green, and the dorsum bears an incomplete, dark-brown hourglass-shaped marking. There is a black line on the lower flank that connects the axilla and groin. The canthal ridge and supratympanic fold are red. The lips have black edges. The venter is white or pale yellow. A late-stage

tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

( Gosner stage 44) measures in total length, with body length of .

Habitat and conservation

The only known population inhabits montane tropical moist forest at about

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 ...

. ''Taruga fastigo'' is an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

species, and adults are typically are found on twigs and leaves in bushes up to above the ground. They typically occur close to shallow, stagnant pools where breeding takes place (based on the presence of tadpoles—breeding has not been observed, but is presumed to involve a foam nest). ''Taruga fastigo'' is a rare species that is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and degradation. It is present in the Morningside Forest Reserve, although pressure from land use is also present in the reserve.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28007370 fastigo Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Frogs of Sri Lanka Amphibians described in 2001 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Rohan Pethiyagoda