A new species of Bufoides Pillai and Yazdani 1973 (Amphibia: Bufonidae) from Mizoram (India) and the delimitation of the distribution range of Bufoides meghalayanus (Yazdani & Chanda 1971) to the Khasi hills, Meghalaya (India)

R.S. NAVEEN (Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India)
BENJAMIN TAPLEY (EDGE of Existence Programme, Conservation and Policy, Zoological Society of London, London, NW1 4RY, UK)
S.R. CHANDRAMOULI (Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India)
PHILLIP A. JERVIS (Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY, United Kingdom)
S. BABU (Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India)
A.B. MEETEI (North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Risa Colony, Shillong, Meghalaya 793003, India)
P.V. KARUNAKARAN (Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India)

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity
Vol. 24 No. 9 (2023)

Abstract. Naveen RS, Tapley B, Chandramouli SR, Jervis PA, Babu S, Meetei AB, Karunakaran PV. 2023. A new species of Bufoides Pillai and Yazdani 1973 (Amphibia: Bufonidae) from Mizoram (India) and the delimitation of the distribution range of Bufoides meghalayanus (Yazdani & Chanda 1971) to the Khasi hills, Meghalaya (India). Biodiversitas 24: 4617-4627. The Oriental toad genus Bufoides currently comprises two species: Bufoides meghalayanus and B. kempi. Populations of Bufoides from Mizoram were previously considered to be conspecific with Bufoides meghalayanus, although it has been hypothesized that these populations could represent an undescribed species. An uncorrected p-distance at the 16S rDNA gene between the Mizoram population and each of the two congeneric species was 2.74-3.0% and 3.5% for B. meghalayanus and B. kempi respectively. We describe the population from Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, as new based on molecular from two specimens and morphological data from two adult males and one adult female. We confirm that B. meghalayanus is endemic to the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya and it does not occur in Mizoram. The new species from Mizoram differs from congeneric species by differences in interdigital webbing, coloration, skin tuberculation and the presence of ovoid, tuberculated and depressed parotoid glands. Like other Bufoides species, it is a microhabitat specialist and utilizes streamside rock crevices as refugia, which might make it vulnerable to changes in habitat. The new species is currently only known to occur in Dampa Tiger Reserve and it is probably range-restricted and likely meets the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s criteria for being assessed as Critically Endangered.