Amphibians are vertebrates that can live both on land and in water. They go through a metamorphosis from an aquatic tadpole stage to a terrestrial adult stage. Amphibians are important for ecosystems and human welfare. They indicate environmental changes and provide benefits like controlling pests, serving as traditional medicine, and acting as biological indicators. India is home to 309 amphibian species across 14 families and 55 genera. Ongoing research in India includes studies on reproduction, taxonomy, ecology, and impacts of skin extracts. Conservation efforts aim to protect amphibian habitats and diversity in the Western Ghats.

1. Amphibians:
What do we know about them?
Gururaja KV, Ph.D.,
Research Scientist, IISc, Bangalore
gururajakv@gmail.com

2. Flow of the talk
 Introduction to Amphibians
 Uniqueness
 Systematics
 Research on them
 As Bioresources

3. Common sight in and around
your house!
Duttaphrynus melanostictus Common Indian Toad

4. And near a lake!

5. Whom do you call amphibians?
 Those vertebrates that live both in water as well as
land
 That means ...we too?
Photo credit:
http://divebarbados.net/Current%20Photos/Pictures/Green%20Turtle%201.jpg
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/IMAGES/hippoaggro_s.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/reptile/gharial/gharial03tfk.jpg

6. In fact, amphibians are ...
 Dual lifers ...
◦ Two stages in life – a tadpole stage and an adult
stage
◦ From Greek, Amphi – dual, bian – life forms

7. What’s unique in them?
 Generally, aquatic and terrestrial inhabitants,
Some are arboreal, and some fussorial too

8. Metamorphosis
They metamorphose from
tadpole to adult
Life span: from 10 months
to 55 years

9. Ectotherms
 Body temperature externally maintained
Hiding away from Sun
Basking in Sun

10. Skin breathers

11. Anamniotes
Eggs of a bird Eggs of a frog

12. Ecosystem function
 prey and predator

13. So also for US ...
 Human Welfare
◦ Biocontroller of Pests
◦ Skin extract – pain killer: Bufotonin, Epibatidine, Anti
microbial peptides
◦ Freeze tolerance
Freezing North American Wood Frogs.flv
◦ Media for microbial culture
◦ Delicacy!!!
◦ Indicators of change in environment
◦ Culture, Rig Veda, verse 7, shloka103,
◦ Earthquake early warning system!!
◦ Biogeographic linkage ...

14. Amphibians indicate …
Factors Process(es )
Climate change Temperature and precipitation patterns are altered
so as to cause dis ruptions in micro or macro -
climatic co nditions
Habitat Deforestation and agric ulture; drained a nd filled
modification wetlands, land filling
Habitat Roads, introduced species, and low pH dissect
fragmentation habitats, crea ting barriers to dispersal.
Introduced Introduc ed predators, prey on/or compete with
species native amphibians.
UV-B radiation UV-B damages and/or kills cells , causing egg
morta lity, lesions, malformations and increased
susceptibility to dis ease and low pH.
Chemical Toxins cause direct mortality of eggs and a dults,
contamination mimic endocrine harmones, reduce the prey bas e,
pesticidal effect; fluoranthene.
Acid Toxins c reate barriers to dis persal and caus e high
precipitatio n and egg and larval mortality.
soil
Disease Disease often causes death in amphibians
(Chytridiomycosis)

15. Common Indian toad, Duttaphrynus melanostictus
up to 16cm, noctornal, terrestrial, human habitation, water bodies

16. Ferguson’s toad, Duttaphrynus scaber
up to 5cm, noctornal, terrestrial, human habitation, water bodies

17. Malabar tree toad, Pedostibes tuberculosus, Endemic
up to 6cm, noctornal, arboreal, forest streams

18. Indian burrowing frog, Sphearotheca breviceps
up to 6cm, noctornal, fussorial, human habitation, water bodies

19. Ornate narrow mouthed frog, Microhyla ornata
up to 3cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, human habitation, water bodies

20. Red narrow mouthed frog, Microhyla rubra
up to 3cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, human habitation, water bodies

21. Karnataka night frog, Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis Endemic
up to 9cm, noctornal, aquatic, forest streams

22. Castlerock night frog, Nyctibatrachus petraeus Endemic
up to 5cm, noctornal, aquatic and arboreal, forest streams

23. Aloysius skittering frog, Euphlyctis aloysii
up to 5cm, noctornal, aquatic, human habitation, water bodies

24. Common skittering frog, Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis
up to 6cm, noctornal, aquatic, human habitation, water bodies

25. Golden frog, Hylarana aurantiaca Endemic
up to 5cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, streams, paddy fields, ponds

26. Bronzed frog, Hylarana temporalis Endemic
up to 6cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, river, streams

27. Wrinkled cricket frog, Fejervarya caperata
up to 4cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, paddy fields, pools

28. Kudremukh cricket frog, Fejervarya kudremukhensis
up to 5cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, ponds, pools, water bodies

29. Reddish cricket frog, Fejervarya rufescens Endemic
up to 5cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, laterite rocks, ponds, pools

30. Indian bull frog, Hoplobatrachus tigerinus
up to 25cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, ponds, streams, paddy fields

31. Small torrent frog, Micrixalus saxicola Endemic
up to 4cm, diurnal, semi-aquatic, stream/river falls

32. Amboli bush frog, Pseudophilautus amboli Endemic
up to 3.5cm, noctornal, arboreal, shrubs, bushes, tree bark

33. Common tree frog, Polypedates maculatus
up to 6cm, noctornal, arboreal, tree trunks, bushes, walls

34. Malabar gliding frog, Rhacophorus malabaricus Endemic
up to 7cm, noctornal, tree trunks, shrubs, bushes

35. Bicolored frog, Clinotarsus curtipes Endemic south India
up to 6cm, nocturnal, semi-aquatic, reservoirs, streams, river

36. Fungoid frog, Hylarana malabarica Endemic
up to 7cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, ponds, pools, water bodies

37. Sahyadri minervarya frog, Minervarya sahyadris Endemic
up to 3cm, noctornal, semi-aquatic, paddy fields, ponds, pools

38. Small leaping frog, Indirana semipalmata Endemic
up to 4cm, diurnal, semi-aquatic, stream beds, leaf litter, crevices

39. Know a few frog friends

40. Know a few frog friends …

41. Few more …

42. Gems from the Western Ghats

43. Few more…

44. Bamboo bush frog!

45. Evolution
About 360 million years ago, late Devonian period
Early amphibian!!!
Triadobatrachus Beelzebufo ampinga

46. Systematics
• Globally: 6639 species
3 orders – Apoda (183species)
Caudata (597)
Anura (5859)
• India: 3 orders – 309 species; Apoda (33)
Caudata (1), Anura (275)
caudata
apoda
anura

47. Batrachology in India
 As of today 309 species, belonging to 14 families,
55 genera (4.64% of 6638 species in the world),
249 Species described from India (80.5%)
 1254 authors, single species description to as
many as 43 species
 Since 2000, 82 new species (33%) with 47 papers
on Taxonomy and taxonomy related issues, 12 on
ecology, 6 on reproduction, 10 on others
 So Taxonomy ‘rules’ at present Indian
Batrachology!!!

48. Habitat occupancy!
Peak Frequency (kHz)
Snout vent length (mm)

49. Research in Batrachology
 Viviparity in caecilians
Geneophis seshachari
Gower et al., 2008. J Evol Biol. 21(5):1220-6

50. Other issues…
 Frog skipping tadpole stage
Gururaja and Ramachandra, 2006. Curr. Sci. 90(3):450-454

51. Other issues…
Biju and Bossyut, 2003. Nature. 425: 711–714

52. India’s smallest frog
Biju et al., 2007. Current Science 93(6): 854-858.

53. Skin extracts and pesticidal
impacts…
1. Giri et al., 2006. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2006.06.011
2. Sai et al., 2001. doi:10.1074/jbc.M006615200
3. Gurushankara et al., 2007. doi:10.1007/s00244-006-0015-5

54. Conservation and Management
Das, A., Krishnaswamy, J., Bawa, K. S., Kiran, M. C., Srinivas, V., Kumar, N. S., et al.
2006. Prioritization of conservation areas in the Western Ghats, India. Biological
Conservation, 133, 16−31.
Gururaja KV, Sameer Ali and Ramachandra TV. 2008. Influence of land-use
changes in river basins on diversity and distribution of amphibians. In:
Environment Education for Ecosystem Conservation

55. Advance wishes for
SAVE THE FROG DAY
(APRIL 30TH 2010)
Thank you