First Record of the Nepal Cricket Frog, Fejervarya nepalensis (Dubois, 1975) from Meghalaya, North East India

Abstract

Anuran frogs of the genus Fejervarya Bolkay, 1915 are, perhaps, the most widely distributed Asian amphibians in the world. Presently, the genus Fejervarya includes around 45 species worldwide, of which 29 species are found to occur in India, mostly in the Western Ghats (Frost, 2017). Of these 29 species, only 5 species are known to occur in North-East India. They are F. nepalensis (Dubois, 1975), F. pierrei (Dubois, 1975), F. syhadrensis (Annandale, 1919), F. teraiensis (Dubois, 1984) and F. sengupti Purkayastha & Matsui, 2012 [Ao et. al., 2003; Borthakur et. al., 2007; Ningombam and Bordoloi, 2007; Ahmed et al., 2009; Mathew and Sen, 2010; Purkayastha and Matsui, 2012]. So far, only 4 species of Fejervarya viz. F. syhadrensis (Annandale, 1919), F. teraiensis (Dubois, 1984), F. pierrei (Dubois, 1975) and F. sengupti Purkayastha & Matsui, 2012, have been reported to occur in Meghalaya. Recently, during joint field surveys to the Sacred Groves of East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, undertaken by one of the authors (IJK) along with staff of the Forest Resources Division, Forest Department, Government of Meghalaya; several specimens of Fejervarya, among other anurans species, were collected. Taxonomic studies on this collection revealed some of these frogs to be Fejervarya nepalensis (Dubois, 1975). The species has never been recorded from Meghalaya, though it has been hypothesised to occur in areas in between its reported range of distribution. So this present paper, besides proving this hypothesis also forms the first record of the species from the State.