Pseudophilautus simba

Pseudophilautus simba (Sinharaja shrub frog)[3] is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to Sri Lanka. It is only known from its type locality in the Morningside Forest Reserve, adjacent to the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, near Rakwana, southern Sri Lanka.[1][4]

Pseudophilautus simba

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Rhacophoridae
Genus: Pseudophilautus
Species:
P. simba
Binomial name
Pseudophilautus simba
(Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda, 2005)
Synonyms

Philautus simba Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda, 2005[2]

Description

The holotype, a mature male, measures 12.6 mm (0.50 in) in snout–vent length, and the paratypes, three mature females, 14.5–15.6 mm (0.57–0.61 in) SVL. Body is elongate. Head is dorsally convex. Snout is truncate in lateral aspect, snout angle category 5 (angle of snout ~ 97°). Canthal edges are rounded. Loreal region is flat. Interorbital space is convex. Internarial space is flat. Tympanum is distinct, oval, vertical. Pineal ocellus, vomerine ridge, and lingual papilla are all absent. Supratympanic fold is distinct. Cephalic ridges are absent. Skin on head is not co-ossified with skull. Lateral dermal fringe is absent on fingers. Rudimentary webbing is present on fingers. Prepollex is prominent. Toes have rudimentary webbing. Tarsal fold is absent. Calcar is absent. Snout, interorbital area and posterior dorsum are smooth. Dorsum and lateral side of head have glandular warts. Lower flank is granular. Dorsal part of forelimb, thigh, shank, and foot are smooth. Throat and chest are granular, smooth. Belly and underside of thigh are granular, rough. Males have inner vocal slits, but nuptial pad is absent.[2]

Habitat and conservation

It inhabits closed-canopy montane forest and forest fragments within cardamom plantations at about 1,060 m (3,480 ft) asl. It is a ground-dwelling, leaf-litter species. It is a rare species threatened by habitat loss caused by agricultural encroachment, fires, illegal gemstone mining and logging, and human settlement.[1]

gollark: How would you manage to do that, anyway?
gollark: Also, *unpolluted* air is hard to get some places.
gollark: And it's not free if you're in space.
gollark: Not so much that you could get, say, 10^18kg of air if you really wanted it for some reason.
gollark: Sure, that's probably possible *eventually*, I guess?

References
  1. IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2014). "Pseudophilautus simba". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T58905A60796615. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T58905A60796615.en.
  2. Manamendra-Arachchi, Kelum; Pethiyagoda, Rohan (2005). "The Sri Lankan shrub-frogs of the genus Philautus Gistel, 1848 (Ranidae: Rhacophorinae), with description of 27 new species" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Suppl. 12: 163–303.
  3. "27 new Pseudophilautus (firstly: Philautus) • Sri Lankan Shrub Frogs (Rhacophorinae)". Novataxa. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  4. Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Pseudophilautus simba (Manamendra-Arachchi and Pethiyagoda, 2005)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
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