Giant wrinkled frog

Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Nyctibatrachidae
Genus: Nyctibatrachus
Species: N. karnatakaensis
Binomial name
Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis
Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Reddy & Gururaja, 2007[2]
Synonyms

Nyctibatrachus hussaini Krishnamurthy, Reddy & Gururaja, 2001[3]

Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis (arguably a junior synonym of N. hussaini;[4] commonly known as the giant wrinkled frog) is a species of frog in the Nyctibatrachidae family endemic to the Western Ghats of India in the Kudremukh region. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.[1]

Taxonomic controversy

This "species" was named after the Indian ornithologist S. A. Hussain as Nyctibatrachus hussaini.[3] In 2001, Biju questioned the validity of this species due to lack of type specimens in the museum.[5]

In 2007, some of the same authors suggested the alternative name of Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis,[2] stating that Nyctibatrachus hussaini was invalid due to the lack of a traceable holotype, though two of the authors claiming this were responsible for the original description.[4] A holotype (more correctly a neotype) was designated and vouchered at the Zoological Survey of India in Kozhikode with the alternate name. This became the subject of considerable controversy, as problems were noted in peer-review practices and adherence to the ICZN code.[4][6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 Biju, S.D., Dutta, S. & Ravichandran, M.S. 2004. Nyctibatrachus hussaini. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 July 2007.
  2. 1 2 Dinesh, K.P., C. Radhakrishnan, A.H. Manjunatha Reddy and K.V. Gururaja. 2007. Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis nom. nov., a replacement name for the Giant Wrinkled Frog from the Western Ghats. Current Science. 93 (2): 246-250. PDF
  3. 1 2 Krishnamurthy, SV and Manjunatha, Reddy AH and Gururaja, KV (2001) A new species of frog in the genus Nyctibatrachus (Anura: Ranidae) from Western Ghats, India. Current Science 80(7):887-891. PDF
  4. 1 2 3 Daniels, R. J. R. (2008) Taxonomic vandalism: The case of the giant wrinkled frog. Current Science 94(2):158-159 PDF
  5. ↑ Biju, S. D. (2001) A synopsis of frog fauna of Western Ghats of India. Indian Soc. Conserv. Biol. Occas. Publ. 1:1–24
  6. ↑ Koshy, J. P. Frog species soar in India - so do battles over who found them. Hindustan Times, February 12, 2008 online
  7. ↑ Dinesh KP, Radhakrishnan C, Manjunatha Reddy AH and Gururaja KV. 2008. Taxonomic reasoning: The case of giant wrinkled frog. Current Science 94(8):965-966 PDF
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