Subba, Barkha and Gudasalamani, Ravikanth and NA, Aravind (2015) Scaling new heights: first record of Boulenger’s Lazy ToadScutiger boulengeri (Amphibia: Anura: Megophryidae)from high altitude lake in Sikkim Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 7 (10). pp. 7655-7663.

[thumbnail of 2226-Full article text WITHOUT author details (WORD, 10MB max)-2508-5479-10-20150826.pdf] Text
2226-Full article text WITHOUT author details (WORD, 10MB max)-2508-5479-10-20150826.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (5MB)

Abstract

Frogs in the genus Scutiger of the family Megophryidae are the highest altitude frogs in the world, and are endemic to eastern Himalaya. Here, we report the occurrence of Scutiger boulengeri (Bedriaga, 1898) in one of the highest altitude lakes in the world, Lake Gurudongmar. This is the first report of Scutiger boulengeri from India and the first record of any amphibian species to be found at an altitude as high as 5270m, thus setting a world record for the highest altitude frog. Scutiger sikimmensis (Blyth, 1855) is another species of the genus Scutiger found in this region. This species is often confused with Scutiger boulengeri due to similar morphology and habitat overlap. We provide a detailed account of both S. boulengeri and S. sikimmensis based on morphology and molecular identification techniques.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright of this article belongs to the Subba et al. 2015. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Amphibian, Sikkim, glacier, lake Gurudongmar, Scutiger boulengeri, Scutiger sikimmensis.
Subjects: A ATREE Publications > G Journal Papers
Divisions: SM Sehgal Foundation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation > Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation Planning
Depositing User: Ms Suchithra R
Date Deposited: 24 Nov 2025 08:31
Last Modified: 24 Nov 2025 08:31
URI: http://archives.atree.org/id/eprint/1050

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item