First record of Chilapata rain-pool frog Minervarya chilapata Ohler, Deuti, Grosjean, Paul, Ayyaswamy, Ahmed & Dutta, 2009 (Anura, Dicroglossidae) from Nepal

Abstract

Chilapata rain-pool frog (Minervarya chilapata) was described in 2009 from the Chilapata Reserve Forest of West Bengal, India. Here, we report the occurrence of M. chilapata for the first time from Morang district, Nepal, based on acoustic and morphological characters such as the presence of a distinct white line in the upper lip, small size (snout-vent length 18 to 26 mm), pointed snout and presence of dorso-lateral black patch. The nearest record of Chilapata rain-pool frog in Nepal from Pathari-Kanepokhari forest, Morang district, Nepal is ca.182 km west of its type locality Chilapata Reserve Forest, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India. We also report the occurrence of M. chilapata from Barandabhar Biological Corridor, Chitwan National Park, Nepal based on a photographic record. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the species as Data Deficient. Therefore, this record from Nepal will add new presence data for future status assessment for the species.