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An inventory of the Amphibian fauna of Gandhamardan Hills Range of

Western Orissa, India

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International Journal of Research in Zoology

Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved

ISSN 2278 –1358

Original Article
An inventory of the Amphibian fauna of Gandhamardan Hills Range of Western
Orissa, India.
K. R. Sahu, Devraj Mishra and *Soubhagya Pradhan
Asst.Prof (Zoology), Govt. E.R.R.Sc. College, Bilaspur (C.G), India.
Reader & Head.(Zoology), Jawaharlal College, Patnagarh, Orissa, India.
*Dept. of Zoology, Sohela College, Sohela, Orissa, India-768033.
Phone: +91 9425535328,:+91 9437240805 and * +91 9937100822 .
krsahuseri@gmail.com, drdevrajmsr@gmail.com, & *soubhagya.zoology@gmail.com
Received 12 February 2014; accepted 03 March 2014
Abstract
In this article, the description is about a survey made to prepare an inventory of Amphibians in the Gandhmardan Hills
Range (GHR) of Western part of Orissa which remained uncovered till now. During the last monsoon I tried to assess the
Amphibian diversity of this area with the help of local people and fishermen. I prepared a checklist of these animals with
their scientific names and in which habitats these are available. The amphibians are only anurans belonging to 14 species,
10 genera and of 4 families. The local residents argued that the number of these animals is decreasing very sharply .So it’s
our primary duty to give protection to these animals insitu and conserve them for our posterity to cherish.
© 2013 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved
Key words: Amphibia, Inventory, Gandhamardan Hills Range (GHR), Anthropogenic factors, Insitu Conservation.
Introduction It was a preliminary assessment of the biodiversity of GHR.
Depletion of amphibians throughout the globe and their In the last monsoon of 2013, We carried an expedition to
extinction is causing a conscientious and diligent task to the assess the amphibian diversity of this hills range and
people of all spheres of the society to conserve them. The prepared a checklist of these animals from our direct
amphibians probably originated 300 million years ago observation and from some second hand information of the
during Devonian period and flourished through local residents.
Carboniferous and Permian periods (1). From that time Materials and Methods: The Study Area (Gandhamardan
they became an inseparable part in all the ecosystems of the Hills Range or GHR) lies between 200 42’-210 00’ North
biosphere. They help to maintain the balance of nature and Latitude and 820 41’-830 05’East Longitude. The total area
serve a lot to mankind. But unfortunately due to of GHR as reserve forest calculated from recent survey of
anthropogenic factors they are depleting very speedily from Indian topomap comes to 251 square kilometres (7). The
the earth. In most of the parts of the earth, herpetologists hills range is a part of Eastern Ghats of India (8).This hill
are trying to provide the actual inventory of these animals. forms a natural boundary on the North western side of
In India also the work was done accurately and many new Bolangir district and the Southern boundary of Bargarh
species were discovered by them. Many herpetologists in district of Orissa. A range of GHR runs East ward and
Orissa and Chhattisgarh also did some inventory and touches the boundary of Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. The
assessment of these animals in an excellent way. Dutta, richness of GHR is due to its’ water resources with 840
Dash & Mohanata, Chandra & Gajbe, Sanyal & Dasgupta springs perennial in nature, which feed water into 54 small
and Sanyal, Chandra & Ray did some inventory of streams and 14 larger streams joining two rivers the Ong
amphibian fauna in the state of Orissa & Chhattisgarh (2, 3, and the Suktel. These two rivers join the Mahanadi of
4, 5&6). We found that some areas in the state of Orissa is Orissa (9). This forest ecosystem is rich in Biodiversity (10
remaining uncovered in this field and most of these species & 11). (Fig-1: Gandhamardan Hills Range of Western
are becoming extinct before they come to human Orissa) (10).
knowledge. We did some wildlife study during 1986-87 in The field survey of the amphibians was done in the forest
the GHR (Gandhamardan Hills Range of Western Orissa). of GHR during the post monsoon and monsoon of 2012

6 International Journal of Research in Zoology 2014; 4(1): 6-9

 Both night and day survey was carried out depending on
the nocturnal and diurnal nature of amphibia. In this survey
we used multiple sampling methods which are broadly
divided into two categories. i.e. direct sampling method and
indirect sampling method given in Table-1 (12, 13, & 14).
The damp skin, larval stage and communal behaviour of
amphibians made them different from other herpetofauna,
which was discussed by Heyer and Olson (17 & 18). The
fishermen used rubber gloves, different nets and hooks to
catch the amphibians. These specimens after photographed
and studied were released into the forest. The visual
encounter method was used to detect the taxa and their
identity. All animals after their physical diagnosis and
photographed were released insitu (19).
Data analysis and discussion: From the survey work in
different parts of forest areas of GHR, it is evident that in
the reserve forest 14 species of amphibians are present in
which belong 10 genera and 4 families. All are Anurans
(tailless amphibians). The four families are Bufonidae,
and 2013 respectively. This survey was based according the Dicroglossidae, Microhylidae and Rhacophoridae. Their
methods of some herpetologists (12, 13, & 14). These percentage is shown in a pie chart (Fig-2). The families,
animals were studied by visual observations and their calls Scientific name of the Species, their Vernacular and local
(15). Traditionally amphibians are neglected subjects for names and IUCN status (23) is given in Table-3. All these
expedition studies. Our knowledge of the behavioural animals present different habitats and microhabitats given
ecology of most species of tropical amphibians is so slight in Table-2.This is prepared accordingly Mahapatra etal
that a carefully conducted study can make a very (20). The habitats of these animals are classified into 4
significant contribution to the pool of scientific knowledge types such as HH=Human Habitation, AG=Agricultural
for most species (16). The local people were taken in the Fields, SC=Scrub Forest and DF=Deep Forest. The Scrub
survey work. Some of them were fishermen, they knew forest includes the areas where small bushes grow densely.
about the animals but others were without any knowledge Some are available in the Deep forest near the hill streams.
of these animals. They all helped to collect the different Their adaptive habits is classified into A=Arboreal,
species of amphibians. The different parameters were T=Terrestrial, AQ=Aquatic, aq= semi aquatic and
recorded and the animals were left into their habitats insitu. F=Fossorial.
These parameters are the sex, weight and snout-vent length.
Table-1: Different methods used for identification and documentation of amphibian species (+ indicate the method applied
for particular group during present study).
Direct method Sampling methods Anurans Urodela Apoda Comments.
Hand Capturing + + + Simple and most reliable method and
Extensive Search in
+ + + Applied in all habitats.
microhabitats
Spotted accidentally, Best result
Indirect
Opportunistic spotting + + + obtained during early hours after day
method.
break.
Call Survey + Mostly used at night.
Acquiring information Useful for chronological comparison
+ + +
from local people. of amphibian diversity.
Table-2 : Name of the species and their Microhabitats
Sl.No. Name of the Species Micro Habitat in Which it is present
01. Duttaphrynus melanostictus Human habitation (HH) /(T)
02. Duttaphrynus stomasticus Agricultural fields (AG), (T/F)
03. Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis Agricultural fields, swamps, ditches and near hill stream(AG/DF); (AQ)
Swamps, agricultural fields near aquatics margins ditches and near hill
04. Fejervarya orissaensis
streams (AG/DF), (AQ/aq)
Swamps, agricultural fields near aquatics margins ditches and near hill
05. Fejervarya limnocharis
streams (AG/DF), (AQ/aq)
Swamps, agricultural fields near aquatics margins, ditches and near hill
06. Hoplobatrachus tigerinus
streams (AG/DF), (aq)
07. Hoplobatrachus crassus Agricultural fields, swamps, ditches and near hill streams(AG/DF); (aq)

7 International Journal of Research in Zoology 2014; 4(1): 6-9

 08. Sperotheca breviceps Scrub forest, below rock boulders (SC/DF), (F)
09. Sperotheca rolandae Scrub forest, below rock boulders (SC/DF), (F)
Agricultural fields, swamps, ditches and near hill streams, during winter
10. Microhyla ornata
season (AG/DF); (F/aq)
11. Kaloula taprobanica On tree holes in scrub land, near human habitation (SC, HH), (A)
12. Ramanella veriagata Agricultural fields (AG), (F/A)
Swamps, ditches, agricultural field near human habitation (AG/ HH/DF);
13. Uperodon systoma
(F)
14. Polypedates maculatus Scrub forest, on trees, near human habitation (HH/ SC/DF), (A)
Table-3: Name of the species, vernacular names, local names and their IUCN Report
IUCN
Family Scientific Names Vernacular Names Local Names
status(23)
Duttaphrynus Indian Common
Bufonidae Sinduria Benga LC
melanostictus(Schneider,1799) Toad
Duttaphrynus
Bufonidae Marbelled Toad Katha Benga LC
stomasticus(Lutken,1864)
Euphlyctis
Dicroglossidae Indian Skipper Frog Pani Benga LC
cyanophlyctis(Schneider,1799)
Dicroglossidae Fejervarya orissaensis(Dutta,1997) Dutta’s Cricket Frog Pani Benga LC
Fejervarya
Dicroglossidae Paddy field Frog Kheta Benga LC
limnocharis(Gravenhorst,1829)
Hoplobatrachus
Dicroglossidae Indian Bullfrog Brahmani Benga LC
tigerinus(Daudin,1802)
Dicroglossidae Hoplobatrachus crassus(Jerdon,1853) Jerdon’s Bull Frog Cheli Benga LC
Short Headed
Dicroglossidae Sperotheca breviceps(Schneider,1799) Matipota Benga LC
Burrowing Frog
Indian Burrowing Chhota Matipota
Dicroglossidae Sperotheca rolandae(Dubois,1983) LC
Frog Benga
Microhyla ornata(Dumeril & Ornate narrow
Microhylidae Chuin Benga LC
Bibron,1841) mouthed Frog
Sinduria Phutka
Microhylidae Kaloula taprobanica(Parker,1934) Painted Balloon Frog LC
Benga
Marbelled
Microhylidae Ramanella veriagata(Stoliczka,1872) Suneli Benga LC
Narrowmouth Frog
Marbelled Balloon
Microhylidae Uperodon systoma(Schneider,1799) Chitra Benga LC
Frog
Common Indian tree
Rhacophoridae Polypedates maculatus(Gray,1834) Dian Benga LC
Frog

protection for their breeding and survival. Once split and

Fig 2: Percentage of different families of Amphibia.
Conclusion: Significant attention has been paid to the role
of habitat loss and fragmentation in amphibian population
decline and additional attention has been paid to land use
pattern and subsequent fragmentation. It is necessary to
check habitat fragmentation and split and provide sufficient
fragmentation occurs only extensive restoration
programmes will be able to reverse the negative impacts
(22). Hence it is essential to check habitat degradation and
loss. An intensive long-term study on amphibian population
and ecology of their habitat is necessary in GHR. Loss of
habitat due to anthropogenic activities must be checked to
ensure reproductive and survival success of these neglected
animals. Biologists must be pragmatic to assess which
causes of population decline can be obviated directly. The
impact of habitat degradation, introduced invasive species
and unsustainable use can be controlled immediately.
Current evidence suggests the amphibian decline, which is
exacerbated by burgeoning human population, constitute a
worldwide crisis (23). This case study is a preliminary step
in the inventory field to prepare a checklist of amphibian
diversity in a particular area. But there are immense
possibilities to do such type of works in other areas to give
proper protection to the depleting fauna by decreasing the

8 International Journal of Research in Zoology 2014; 4(1): 6-9

anthropogenic pressure on them.
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