Leptobrachella kajangensis

Leptobrachella kajangensis, also known as the Kajang slender litter frog, is a species of amphibian in the family Megophryidae. It is endemic to Malaysia and only known from its type locality, a small cave near the top of Gunung Kajang (=Mount Kajang), on Tioman Island,[1][2] a small island located 32 km off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Leptobrachella kajangensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Megophryidae
Genus: Leptobrachella
Species:
L. kajangensis
Binomial name
Leptobrachella kajangensis
(Grismer, Grismer, and Youmans, 2004)
Tioman Island off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia
Tioman Island off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia
Leptobrachella kajangensis is only known from Tioman Island, Malaysia
Synonyms[2]

Leptolalax kajangensis Grismer, Grismer, and Youmans, 2004[3]

Description

The type series consists of two adult males measuring 35–36 mm (1.4–1.4 in) in snout–vent length—a relatively large size for the genus Leptolalax (now Leptobrachella). The type locality is a cave, and the type specimens were observed calling near the edge of a pond in the cave. Some tadpoles were collected from the same pond and assumed to represent the same species. There is also an earlier collection of tadpoles from a lower altitude on the same mountain that are morphologically similar to the ones at the type locality but that differ in colouration; they might represent another species.[3]

Biogeography

Tioman Island was connected with Peninsular Malaysia as late as the Pleistocene. However, Grismer et al. considered it unlikely that Leptolalax kajangensis could have dispersed over flat, low-lying landscape to Gunung Kajang; instead, they suggest that the presence of this species on Tioman Island represents much older vicariance, that is, the species (or its ancestors) would have reached Tioman Island when it was still part of a larger mountainous landscape.[3]

References
  1. IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2018). "Leptobrachella kajangensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T61840A90985016. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T61840A90985016.en. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. Frost, Darrel R. (2020). "Leptobrachella kajangensis (Grismer, Grismer, and Youmans, 2004)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  3. Grismer, L. Lee; Jesse M. Grismer & Timothy M. Youmans (2004). "A new species of Leptolalax (Anura: Megophryidae) from Pulau Tioman, West Malaysia". Asiatic Herpetological Research. 10: 8–11.
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