The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from the northern Odisha through Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka as well as Telangana. They are eroded and cut through by four major rivers of peninsular India, viz. Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna, and Kaveri. The cradle of Eastern Ghats is Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu.
The Biligirirangana Hills, commonly called BR Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranganatha Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a protected reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Being at the starting point of the Eastern Ghats and very close to Western Ghats, the sanctuary is home to eco-systems that are unique to both the mountain ranges. The site was declared a tiger reserve in January 2011 by the Karnataka government, a few months after approval from India's National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Microhyla sholigari is a species of microhylid frog endemic to southern India. It was described from the Biligirirangan Hills in Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka and is named after the Soliga tribal people living in the forests in and around these hills. The frog was thought to be endemic to the Western Ghats and known only from the type locality and another location in Kerala and was listed as an Endangered species. A recent study reported the species from 15 localities in the central Western Ghats with individuals sighted near the Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore, Karnataka. The study supplemented the original species description with color photographs, call recordings and provided a re-assessment of the threat status as per the IUCN Red List and suggest the status as Least-concern species because the criteria for classifying it as an endangered species are no longer fulfilled.
Microhyla, commonly known as the rice frogs or narrow-mouthed frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It consists of at least 50 species of diminutive frogs. Members of this genus are widespread from Ryukyu Is. in Japan, and throughout South-east Asia,.
Microhyla ornata. commonly known as the ornate narrow-mouthed frog, ornate narrow-mouthed toad, or ornamented pygmy frog, is a species of microhylid frog found in South Asia. This amphibian is distributed in Kashmir, Nepal, peninsular India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was previously considered to be the same species as Microhyla fissipes; therefore, the aforementioned common names can refer to either species.
Indirana semipalmata is a species of frog endemic to the Western Ghats region of southern India. They are small frogs, reaching lengths of about 36 mm (1.4 in) from snout to vent. The species breeds during the monsoons, laying their eggs on moist rocks and tree bark. Their tadpoles are terrestrial - hatching, feeding, and undergoing metamorphosis without ever entering any standing bodies of water.
Microhyla rubra is a species of narrow-mouthed frog endemic to India. Earlier thought to exist also in Sri Lanka, new studies suggested that Sri Lankan population is a different species, now elevated to species level as Microhyla mihintalei.
Walkerana diplosticta, also known as the spotted leaping frog, Malabar Indian frog, rufous leaf-hopper frog, and Günther's frog, is a species of frog in the family Ranixalidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats south of the Palghat Gap and only known with certainty from the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India. Localities with confirmed records include the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.
Indosylvirana aurantiaca, commonly known as the golden frog, is a species of frog endemic to the Western Ghats of India. The species is also known as the Trivandrum frog, the common wood frog, or the small wood frog.
The painted chorus frog is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is found in northeast India, Myanmar, southern China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, swamps, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, plantations, rural gardens, ponds, open excavations, and irrigated land. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
Microhyla karunaratnei is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to southern Sri Lanka. It is also known as the Karunaratne's narrow-mouth frog or Karunaratne's narrow-mouthed frog. The specific name karunaratnei honours G. Punchi Banda Karunaratne, a Sri Lankan naturalist.
Microhyla petrigena is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is found in northern and central Borneo and in the Sulu Archipelago of the Philippines. Common names pothole narrow-mouthed frog and Kapit rice frog have been coined for it.
Micrixalus elegans is a species of frog in the family Micrixalidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats, India, and occurs between the Palakkad Gap and Goa Gap in the states of Kerala and Karnataka. Micrixalus elegans is one of the Micrixalus species showing "foot-flagging" behaviour, hence the common name elegant dancing frog has been proposed. Other common names include elegant torrent frog and elegant bush frog.
Raorchestes tinniens, also known as the spotted bush frog, black bush frog, and Rao's bubble-nest frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to the Nilgiri Hills, a part of the Western Ghats, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, southern India. It has a rather complicated taxonomic history, and there is still an open issue whether Ixalus montanusGünther, 1876 from Kudremukh (Karnataka), now in synonymy with Raorchestes tinniens, is indeed a valid species.
The Kalakad gliding frog or Langbian flying frog is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to the southern Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, India. Its name refers to its type locality, the town of Kalakkad in Tamil Nadu.
Pseudophilautus amboli, the Amboli bush frog, is a rare shrub frog species endemic to the Western Ghats (India). It is found in Amboli and Amba in Maharashtra and in Castle Rock, Londa, Jog Falls-Mavingundi, and Kudremukh-Malleshwaram in Karnataka.
Mercurana is a genus of arboreal frogs belonging to the family Rhacophoridae. The genus was named from the only known species Mercurana myristicapalustris, which was described in 2013 from the Western Ghats of Kerala, India. The generic name was derived from and given as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, the late vocalist of the British rock band Queen, in combination with the Latin name for "frog". The frog is different from other related frogs in that it has extensively webbed toes, lives only in swampy lowlands, and lays its eggs on mud with which it carefully mixes leaf litter.
Indirana chiravasi is a species of frog endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It is only known from its type locality, the laterite plateaus by the hill-station of Amboli, Maharashtra. It was described in 2014 by a team of three scientists from IISER, Pune and MES Abasaheb Garware College.
Euphlyctis karaavali is a species of frog in the family Dicroglossidae. It is endemic to the southwestern coast of India in Karnataka.
Ichthyophis kodaguensis, also known as the Kodagu striped Ichthyophis, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. It is endemic to the southern Western Ghats, India. All confirmed records are from southern Karnataka state, although it is also reported from adjacent Kerala.
