''Walkerana'' is a genus 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

Ranixalidae Ranixalidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the leaping frogs or Indian frogs. They are endemic to central and southern India, specifically in the Western Ghat mountain range. This mountain range encompasses the Indian states of Gujarat, ...

. The genus 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 ...

to the Western Ghats in the states of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. It was erected in 2016 to host three species of ''

Indirana ''Indirana'' is a genus of frogs in the family Ranixalidae. These frogs are endemic to the Western Ghats of India. They are sometimes known under the common name Indian frogs, whereas members of their parent family are named "leaping frogs". ...

'' that represented a genetically and morphologically distinct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

within the then broadly defined ''Indirana''. Until ''

Walkerana muduga ''Walkerana muduga'', also known as the Muduga mountain leaping frog or Muduga leaping frog, is a species of frog in the family Ranixalidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the Western Ghats of India and known from the Elivai Malai range, north of t ...

'' was described in 2020, the genus was only known from the southernmost part of the Western Ghats south of the

Palghat Gap Palakkad Gap or Palghat Gap is a low mountain pass in the Western Ghats between Coimbatore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Palakkad in the state of Kerala. It has an average elevation of with a width of . The pass is located between th ...

Etymology

This genus is named for Sally Walker, conservationist from the

Zoo Outreach Organisation Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO), India started off as an NGO primarily focusing on training zoo staff and bettering the circumstances of captive animals in Indian zoos. It has since evolved into an overall nature and wildlife conservation NGO, a ...

. The genus was then renamed into ''Sallywalkerana'' because of

homonymy In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; ''homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or ''homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciatio ...

with the

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

genus ''Walkerana'' Otte and Perez-Gelabert, 2009, but the latter may be ''

nomen nudum In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published ...

''.

Description

''Walkerana'' is genetically distant clade within the family Ranixalidae. It differs from its

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

''Indirana'' in having extremely reduced webbing, with one

phalange The phalanges (: phalanx ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. Structure ...

free of webbing on first and second toes (none in ''Indirana''), and three phalanges free on the fourth toe (2–2½ in ''Indirana''). Furthermore, the first finger is shorter than the second one in ''Walkerana'', while in ''Indirana'' (with the exception of '' I. leithii'') they are of equal length or the first finger is longer than the second.

Species

There are four recognized species: * ''

Walkerana diplosticta ''Walkerana diplosticta'', also known as the spotted leaping frog,Daniels, Ranjit 2005, Amphibians of Peninsular India. Universities Press. p. 195 Malabar Indian frog, rufous leaf-hopper frog, and Günther's frog, is a species of frog in the fa ...

'' (Günther, 1876) * ''

Walkerana leptodactyla ''Walkerana leptodactyla'' is a species of frog endemic to the southern Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of southern India. Precise reports are from Anaimalai hills, Palni hills, Meghamalai, Travancore hills and Agasthyamalai. De ...

'' (Boulenger, 1882) * ''

'' Dinesh, Vijayakumar, Ramesh, Jayarajan, Chandramouli, and Shanker, 2020 * ''

Walkerana phrynoderma ''Walkerana phrynoderma'' is a species of frog endemic to the Anaimalai Hills, of the Western Ghats of Kerala and Tamil nadu states in southern India. This species is known from Munnar, Eravikulam National Park, Valparai tea gardens, Anamalai ...

'' (Boulenger, 1882) Dinesh and colleagues have identified one additional species based on one specimen from north of the Palghat Gap, but did not describe it because of the poor preservation of the specimen in question. Indirana phrynoderma - Davidraju IIMG 2484 a

Indirana phrynoderma - Davidraju IIMG 2484 a

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q84591618, from2=Q27916648 Ranixalidae Amphibian genera Amphibians of Asia Frogs of India Taxa named by Neelesh Dahanukar Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats