92 



Current Herpetol. 20(2) 2001 



Table 3. Acoustic characteristics of the advertisement calls of Philautus cf. travancoricus 

 (mean+SD, with range in parentheses). 







Call duration 



Fast ph 



ase 



Slow phase 



Frequency 



Locality 















(Temp.) 



N 



(sec) 



Duration (sec) 



N of pulses 



Duration (sec) 



N of pulses 



(kHz) 



Madikeri 



12 



12.3±17.5 



0.34±0.05 



8.3±1.1 



11.7±17.4 



44.8+75.4 



2.70+0.08 



(22-23 °C) 





(3.0-65.0) 



(0.28-0.45) 



(6-10) 



(2.3-64.2) 



(4-275) 



(2.57-2.83) 



Madikeri 



17 



9.5+14.8 



0.36+0.04 



10.5+1.1 



8.9+14.9 



31.2+59.2 



2.74±0.05 



(2rC) 





(1.9-62.4) 



(0.28-0.44) 



(9-13) 



(1.3-62.3) 



(4-249) 



(2.61-2.86) 



Kudremukh 



22 



4.1±1.5 



0.37±0.06 



10.4±1.8 



3.5±1.55 



10.9±4.4 



2.68±0.12 



(21°C) 





(1.3-8.1) 



(0.30-0.50) 



(8-16) 



(0.8-7.5) 



(3-23) 



(2.45-2.87) 



our height, whereas males of P. leucorhi- 

 nus were easily found below our eyes. 

 This type of call with a specialized first 

 note is rather common in the genera 

 Afrixalus and Hyperolius of the African 

 tree frogs (Hyperoliidae) (Schiotz, 1999). 



9. Philautus cf. bombayensis 



This very small frog with a mean SVL of 

 18.1 mm (17.4-18.8 mm, N=6) in males is 

 dark brown in dorsal color (Fig. 3C). The 

 tympanum is inconspicuous, webbing 

 between toes is not developed, and large 

 pale markings (yellow in life) are evident 

 on the anterior side of the thigh. The com- 

 bination of these characteristics fits the 

 original description of P. bombayensis 

 (Annandale, 1919; as Ixalus bombayensis). 

 However, P. bombayensis was reported to 

 be 30 mm in SVL and to have a papilla on 

 the tongue (Annandale, 1919; Ahl, 1931). 

 We found that the male frogs (females 

 were not available) have a large process in 

 the middle portion of the humerus, extend- 

 ing antero-ventrally. This bony process is 

 easily recognizable by stroking the under- 

 side of the upper arm with forceps. 



Recordings were made in Kudremukh on 

 3 July 1999 (22°C) and 14 June 2000 

 (24°C). Males were calling from among 

 low vegetation, often less than 50 cm 

 above ground. The advertisement call was 

 a series of short notes, 0.034 sec in dura- 

 tion and 3.95 kHz in dominant frequency 

 (Fig. 9). No harmonic structures were 



observed. The note was repeated rather 

 irregularly, at about 1-2 sec intervals. 

 Occasionally two notes were emitted 

 successively at about a 0.26 sec interval 

 (Fig. 9). 



This call was very sharp and loud. 

 Daniels (1998) described the call of P. 

 variabilis as "a loud metallic 'tink; tink- 

 tink'". Although this description of the 

 call agrees completely with the call of the 

 present species, the smaller body size and 

 rudimentary webbing clearly discriminate 

 this species from P. variabilis. Giinther 

 (1858) examined osteological characters in 

 the original description of P. variabilis (as 

 Ixalus variabilis), but did not mention the 

 peculiar process on humerus, so it is 

 evident that P. variabilis lacks this process. 



0.5 



TIME (SEC) 



Fig. 9. An advertisement call of Philautus cf. 

 bombayensis recorded in Kudremukh at 24°C. 

 This call is composed of two successive notes. 

 The sound with dominant band slightly less 

 than 3 kHz is that of an insect. 



