Pseudophilautus regius is a bush frog originally described from the dry zones of Sri Lanka. In the present study, P. regius is being reported from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India as a new record for the country. The Indian population of P. regius being polytypic, identity confirmation was aided by genetic data. Earlier data for the genus Pseudophilautus indicated that three endemic species were known from the Western Ghats, India and 75 endemic species occurred in Sri Lanka. This report forms the first report of a bush frog exhibiting distribution in both India and Sri Lanka across the saltwater barrier of the Palk Strait in the Indian ocean. Discussions are made regarding other lineages which have distributions across both India and Sri Lanka.

Seventeen nominal species of the ranid frog genus Amolops, some of which are based on unverified historical records, are reported from India. Herein, we describe a new species of Amolops of the marmoratus group from a cave ecosystem. This is an uncommon habitat for this group offrogs, which is commonly found around ...

The genus Olepa is distributed in Palearctic and Oriental regions with more species in India and Sri Lanka. In the recent studies, morphological variations within the group were well established, with couple of first set of mt COI DNA barcodes for at least three species. In the present account, three new species and a new subspecies are described from the northern Western Ghats region of Maharashtra based on mt COI DNA barcode studies. Due to high morphological divergence and complete genetic homogeneity on the mt COI DNA, four morphotypes under two species are reported. Morphological and genital characters of male and female are provided along with their respective species morphotypes for the first time under this genus from India. The genitalia and the habitus of male and female are illustrated. Preliminary phylogenetic tree based on the mt COI DNA sequences available in the GenBank for the genus with the sequences for the new species also provided and discussed. Key words: new taxa, morphotype, Maharashtra, DNA barcoding, mt COI gene

The present study was taken up to report a new record of the tiger moth genus, Olepa Watson, 1980 from India along with the discovery of a new subspecies. Earlier the genus was thought to have restricted distribution range in South and South-East Asia until the report of O. schleini Witt, Müller, Kravchenko, Miller, Hausmann & Speidel from the Mediterranean Coastal Plain of Israel in 2005. The species identification and the new subspecies is proposed based on the combination of morphological studies, available literature comparisons, geographical distribution, DNA barcoding and its phylogeny. Morphological character crypticity and genital structure variations are well documented in the genus with ‘bio-species’ groups. DNA Barcoding data of mt COI has provided some resolution in sorting the problems of ‘bio-species’ groups of the genus in the past studies. In the present study, with the available mt DNA COI barcodes and newly generated barcodes genetic identity is confirmed for the species O. ricini, O. schleini, O. toulgoeti and Olepa schleini chandrai ssp. nov., with their phylogenetic relationships. Morphological variations within the O. schleini species complex are discussed with a new record of the species for India and a new subspecies description. With the first mt COI barcode phylogeny for the genus, comments are made on the taxonomic identity of the mt COI DNA barcodes available in the GenBank for the Olepa species from India.

Frogs of the genus Minervarva are cryptic and widely distributed in South Asia. However, many of them lack information about the precise type locality, genetic data, and distribution range. The present study aimed to examine the genetic affinities of a widely distributed species Minervarva syhadrensis around its type locality in the northern Western Ghats (Pune, Maharashtra). We studied the type specimen of M. syhadrensis and collected similar sized Minervarya frogs from Pune district. In the field, we observed two different calls from morphologically similar (M. syhadrensis like) males suggesting the sympatric occurrence of two cryptic species (that we initially named Minervarva species A and Minervarva species B). We analyzed morphology, call pattern, and mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequence of both species. Minervarva species A has a long call with a low pulse repetition rate and higher dominant frequency compared to that of the Minervarva species B. These species cannot be differentiated based on morphometric data. However, they can be sorted out using morphological characters such as the presence of longitudinal skin folds on the dorsal side (Minervarya species A) and differences in foot webbing. DNA sequences of Minervarya species A and Minervarya species B are matching with those of M. caperata and M. agricola respectively. After studying the type specimens of M. syhadrensis and M. caperata, we found morphological similarities (longitudinal skin folds) with the samples of Minervarya species A collected during the present study. Based on the results of our study (morphology and genetic) and available literature, we propose to redefine M. syhadrensis as applying to the lineage initially named Minervarva species A, and to treat the species M. caperata as a junior synonym of M. syhadrensis. Our study will be helpful in further taxonomic revision of the genus. and provides natural history information for M. syhadrensis and M. agricola.