identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
CE268957FFC4FFDAFF57EC679237F88B.text	CE268957FFC4FFDAFF57EC679237F88B.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Minervarya andamanensis (Stoliczka 1870)	<div><p>Minervarya andamanensis (Stoliczka)</p> <p>Breeding and early development (Fig. 1). As a prolonged breeder, Minervarya andamanensis continues breeding activities for nearly three months. The most active breeding period is during the first half of the monsoon season, usually between the months from May to June. Males usually vocalise in a chorus from the edges of water bodies or shallow waters (rarely on the deeper side), from 17:00 hrs until 01:00 hrs. Males inflate a pair of externally visible subgular vocal sacs while emitting advertisement calls (Fig. 1A). Vocal sacs are yellowish to dark grey in colour. Female approaches a calling male and the male mounts the female in axillary amplexus (Fig. 1B). Oviposition sites vary from temporary water collection sites (such as roadside puddles and water-filled abandoned boats) to small permanent water bodies (such as ponds, fountain areas, and ditches). Spawning takes place mostly during the early morning hours, between 02:00–04:00 hrs. In the spawning sequence, the breeding pair spends more than two to three hours in amplexus before initiation of spawning. During this time, the amplectant pair usually remains in shallow waters or on ground close to the water bodies. The pair often moves towards the vegetated zone of the water bodies, where the female lays eggs on the water surface.</p> <p>Female produces eggs in bouts, and after each bout of egg extrusion the male pushes the eggs close to his cloaca with noticeable arching of the body. The entire process of egg-laying can be divided into a series of bouts of egg release, followed by fertilisation. In each bout female releases between 8– 30 eggs, and while doing so the female raises her cloaca towards the water surface by submerging her head down into the water. The egg-laying process completes in 5–10 minutes (Fig. 1C). The egg clutch size varies from 80– 120 eggs, and the freshly laid eggs are half creamy-white and half light brown to black. Individual eggs with jelly cover measure 3.3 ± 0.5 mm in diameter (Fig. 1D–F). Embryonic development was not studied in detail; however, cleavage was observed to initiate within an hour of spawning (Fig. 1G–I), and further cell division was found to complete in three days (Fig. 1J,K). At this stage, the developing embryos sunk in water, where they underwent further larval development (Fig. 1L).</p> <p>Larval morphology (Gosner Stage 35, n = 1; Fig. 2). In dorsal view, body is broader than tail (TMW 30% of BW), elliptical-shaped, and has maximum body width at the gill region. The body is depressed with body height 83% of body width. Body length constitutes 37% of total length. Snout shape in the lateral view is roughly rounded from plane of the eye to the base of upper labium. The narial opening is moderately sized, dorsolaterally oriented, and has a marginal rim. The nares are closer to snout than the eyes. The eyes are of moderate size and dorsolaterally positioned. Internarial distance is 50% of the interorbital distance. The spiracle opens sinistrally at the level of the hindlimbs and is located near the mid-point of the body (SS 69% of BL). The spiracular aperture is of moderate size and opens in the dorsoposterior direction. The inner wall of the spiracular aperture is fused with the body wall through a small ridge. The vent tube is tubular and opens dextrally at the base of the lower tail fin. The dorsal wall of vent tube is medially attached to the lower fin. Tail is of moderate size (TAL 63% of TL). Tail musculature is well developed (TMH 54% of MTH and 46% of BH, and TMW 30% of BW). Upper fin originates before the body-tail junction, and lower fin starts near the ventral terminus of body. The upper and lower fins gradually increase in height, reach maximum height at the mid-region of the tail, and taper into a tail tip. The tail muscle shows maximum height at the body-tail junction, gradually tapering and ending before the tail tip. Upper fin is higher than the lower fin (UFH 35% of MTH and LFH 12% of MTH). The tail tip is acutely pointed (Fig. 2A–D).</p> <p>The oral disc is anteroventrally positioned, elliptical in shape horizontally, and relatively small in size (ODW 37% of BW). Lower labium is larger than the upper labium and lateral emarginations are present. The margin of upper labium is demarcated by a single irregular row of small, elongated marginal papillae laterally, with a wide dorsal gap in the middle. The lower labium has two irregular rows of small, elongated marginal papillae with a moderate-sized ventral gap. A few submarginal papillae are present inside the marginal papillae on the lower labium, near the lateral emarginations, and a few on the lateral side of upper labium. The labial tooth row formula is 2(2)/3. The tooth rows are uniserial. Labial teeth are well keratinised and have a curved spatulate apical tip with four to five marginal cusps. The jaw sheaths are moderately keratinised and nearly similar sized. The upper sheath is broadly arched, with the medial portion nearly straight, while the lateral tips end with a sigmoid curvature. The lower sheath is V-shaped. Sheaths possess short and broad-based serrations (Fig. 2E,F).</p> <p>Colour in life. The overall colour of the tadpole is beige with a darker shade on the body. Dark melanocytes are distributed on the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the body, especially accumulating on the cheeks (posteroventral to the eyes), otic region, and dorsal half of the abdominal region. In the tail region, dark melanocytes are dusted on the tail muscle and more scarcely on both the fins. Dark melanocytes are faintly present on the lateral surfaces of the developing limb buds and the spiracle. The ventral surface of the body is pigmented only by golden iridocytes that partially cover the gut coil. The gills are visible through the cheeks and ventral surface of the body. The dorsal and lateral surfaces of the body are studded with golden iridocytes. Laterally, the golden pigmentation is mostly concentrated on the cheeks, abdominal region, and the lateral surfaces of the limb bud. A few golden iridocytes are speckled throughout the tail. Myosepta are evident in the tail musculature. The eyes are black in colour with golden iridocytes scattered in the sclera, which get denser towards the pupil forming a golden ring around it. The oral disc is unpigmented.</p> <p>Measurements (in mm). TL 25.26, BL 9.23, SU 9.13, BH 4.99, BW 5.96, IOD 2.92, NE 1.69, SN 0.96, IND 1.47, SS 6.45, TAL 16.03, MTH 4.19, TMH 2.28, TMW 1.79, ODW 2.19, LFH 0.49, UFH 1.48. Additional morphometric measurements for different stages of tadpoles are provided in Table 1.</p> <p>Ontogenetic variation. The jaw sheaths remain well keratinised from Stage 25 to 42. The keratinised structures are well developed at Stage 25 even though A2 and P3 are more feebly keratinised than in the later stages. The LTRF remain unchanged until Stage 42, but the labial teeth in P2 and P3 are feebly keratinised in comparison to the previous stages. Occasionally, small tooth rows are seen on the lateral side of A2.</p></div> 	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/CE268957FFC4FFDAFF57EC679237F88B	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Gopika, C.;Garg, Sonali;Sivaperuman, Chandrakasan;Gokulakrishnan, G.;Biju, S. D.	Gopika, C., Garg, Sonali, Sivaperuman, Chandrakasan, Gokulakrishnan, G., Biju, S. D. (2023): Larval morphology and natural history in two Minervarya species from Andaman Islands, with comments on a new phytotelmonous larval morphotype for the genus. Zootaxa 5353 (6): 567-581, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5353.6.4, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5353.6.4
CE268957FFC3FFD5FF57EE4B9769FC93.text	CE268957FFC3FFD5FF57EE4B9769FC93.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Minervarya charlesdarwini (Das 1998) Garg, Chandrakasan, Gokulakrishnan, Gopika, Das & S.D.Biju 2022	<div><p>Minervarya charlesdarwini (Das)</p> <p>Breeding and early development (Fig. 3). As a prolonged breeder, Minervarya charlesdarwini continues breeding activities for nearly two months during the monsoon season (June to July). Males emit advertisement calls from water-filled tree holes up to four feet high or rarely from the ground close to tree holes. Calling activity takes place from 18:00 hrs until 02:00 hrs. Calling males inflate a single externally visible subgular vocal sac (Fig. 3A). The vocal sac is greyish-white in colour. Female approaches a calling male, and male mounts the female in axillary amplexus (Fig. 3B).</p> <p>Eggs are laid on inner walls of tree holes, just above the surface of the water column. Clutch size varies from 30– 60 eggs. Freshly laid eggs are half creamy-white and half light-brown to black. Individual eggs are covered with a jelly cover and measure 3.4 ± 0.3 mm in diameter (Fig. 3C,D). Embryonic development was not studied in detail; however, cleavage started within an hour of spawning (Fig. 3D). Further organogenesis was completed within two days (Fig. 3E). Subsequently, in about 20 hours the jelly layers of individual eggs dissolved to form a single jelly mass containing the developing embryos (Fig. 3F). Within two to three days, young hatchlings dropped into the water below and completed further development (Fig. 3G–J).</p> <p>Larval morphology (Gosner Stage 36, n = 1; Fig. 4). In dorsal view, body is broader than tail (TMW 42% of BW), elliptical-shaped, and has maximum body width at the gill region. The body is depressed with body height 85% of body width. Body length constitutes 29% of total length. Snout shape in the lateral view is roughly rounded from plane of the eyes to the base of upper labium; a slight bulge is present on the dorsal surface of nares. A steep slope runs along the upper labium that ends in the dorsal gap of the oral disc. The narial opening is dorsolaterally oriented, moderately sized, round in shape, and the margin has a prominent ridge on the dorsal surface. The nares are closer to snout than the eyes. The eyes are of moderate size and dorsolaterally positioned. Internarial distance is 61% of the interorbital distance. The spiracle opens sinistrally at the level of the hindlimbs and is located near the mid-point of the body (SS 70% of BL). The spiracular aperture is of moderate size and opens in the dorsoposterior direction. The inner wall of spiracular aperture is fused with the body wall through a small ridge. The vent tube is tubular and opens dextrally at the base of the lower tail fin. The dorsal wall of vent tube is medially attached to the lower fin. Tail is long (TAL 71% of TL). Tail musculature is well developed (TMH 74% of MTH and 68% of BH and TMW 42% of BW). Upper fin originates before the body-tail junction, and lower fin starts near the ventral terminus of body. The upper and lower fins gradually increase in height, reach maximum height at the anterior one-third of the tail, and narrow into the tail tip. The tail muscle shows maximum height at the body-tail junction, gradually tapering and ending before the tail tip. Upper fin is nearly twice the height of lower fin (UFH 25% of MTH and LFH 13% of MTH). The fins terminate into a broadly rounded tail tip (Fig. 4A–L).</p> <p>The oral disc is positioned terminally on the anterior tip of the body, frontally oriented, and completely visible only in the frontal view. The oral disc is elliptical in shape horizontally, and relatively small in size (ODW 36% BW). The upper and lower labia are of similar size, and lateral emarginations are not evident. The margin of upper labium is demarcated by one to two irregular rows of medium-sized, blunt marginal papillae laterally, with a wide dorsal gap in the middle. The lower labium has an irregular row of medium-sized, short marginal papillae without gap. A few submarginal papillae are present near the commissures. The labial tooth row formula is 1/1. P1 is longer than A1 and labial tooth ridges are indistinct. Labial teeth are feebly keratinised and have a curved spatulate apical tip with three to four marginal cusps. Jaw sheaths are well keratinised and the lower sheath is larger than upper sheath. The medial portion of the upper sheath is broadly arched, while that of the lower sheath is U-shaped. Sheaths have long, acutely pointed, and narrow-based serrations. Serrations on the medial portion of the lower sheath are longer than those on the lateral ends, and also longer than those on the upper sheath (Fig. 4M–P).</p> <p>Colour in life. The overall colour of the tadpole is beige with a darker shade throughout the body and tail muscle. Dark melanocytes are dusted throughout the body, except on the posterior half of the ventral body surface that is mostly unpigmented. In the tail region, dark melanocytes cover the tail muscle and adjacent parts of the tail fin. Dark pigments are also present on lateral surfaces of the limb buds. The gills are visible through the cheeks (posteroventral to the eyes) and ventral surface of the body. The gut coil is visible in the ventral view. The dorsal and lateral body surfaces are studded with golden iridocytes, especially concentrated on the lateral abdominal regions. A few golden iridocytes are dusted on the anterior part of the tail, and the lateral surfaces of the limb buds and spiracle. Myosepta are not distinct in the tail musculature. Eyes are black in colour with a few golden iridocytes scattered in the sclera. The oral disc is unpigmented.</p> <p>Measurements (in mm). TL 21.15, BL 6.15, SU 5.72, BH 3.35, BW 3.94, IOD 1.85, NE 0.92, SN 0.53, IND 1.12, SS 4.29, TAL 15.0, MTH 3.58, TMH 2.2, TMW 1.64, ODW 1.41, LFH 0.48, UFH 0.88. Additional morphometric measurements for different stages of tadpoles are provided in Table 2.</p> <p>Ontogenetic variation. At Stage 24, keratinised structures are already formed, jaw sheath are well developed, while only a few labial teeth are randomly formed. At Stage 26, both the tooth rows and the jaw sheaths are well developed and remain intact until Stage 40. At Stage 41, the tooth rows start degenerating. All the keratinised structures are lost by Stage 43; however, the margin of the mouth is still partially outlined by the degenerating papillae. Occasionally, two to three scattered labial teeth are seen laterally on the upper jaw sheath.</p> <p>Comparative larval morphology. The tadpoles of Minervarya andamanensis closely resemble those of other previously studied congeners, such as M. keralensis (Annandale 1918), M. nicobariensis (Chandramouli &amp; Prasad 2020), and M. syhadrensis (Khan 1996; 2003), that also have pond-dwelling tadpoles. Their morphological similarities include an elliptical body shape, dorsoventrally depressed body, dorsolaterally positioned eyes, sinistral spiracle, anteroventrally positioned oral disc, wide medial gaps in the marginal papillae along the upper labium, keratinised labial teeth, serrated jaw sheaths with upper sheath broadly arched and lower sheath V-shaped, and LTRF 2(1-2)/2-3(1-2). In addition, we find the labial teeth of M. andamanensis to have a curved and cusped apical tip that was earlier reported in M. syhadrensis tadpoles (Khan 1996). A further comparison of larval characters with other minervaryan species tadpoles was not possible due to the availability of limited information in previous literature.</p> <p>The phytotelmonous tadpoles of Minervarya charlesdarwini share some morphological similarities with the pond-dwelling tadpoles of other congeners, such as an elliptical-shaped and dorsoventrally depressed body, dorsolaterally positioned eyes, and sinistral spiracle. In comparison to M. andamanensis, M. charlesdarwini tadpoles have additional similarities such as moderately high upper and lower fins, moderately developed tail musculature, and labial teeth with a curved and cusped apical tip. However, the phytotelmonous tadpoles of M. charlesdarwini also differ considerably from the pond-dwelling tadpoles of M. andamanensis and the three previously studied species. The most obvious differences are in the placement and morphology of the oral disc. In M. charlesdarwini, the oral disc is terminal (vs. anteroventral in all others), and the tooth rows are reduced to a single, undivided row (vs. LTRF 2(1-2)/2-3(1-2) in others). The jaw sheaths in M. charlesdarwini are also unique in possessing long, acutely pointed, and narrow-based serrations (vs. short and broad-based serrations in all others), and the medial region of the upper jaw sheath arched and that of the lower jaw sheath broadly U-shaped (vs. arched upper sheath and V-shaped lower sheath, in all others). The tadpoles of M. charlesdarwini further differ from those of M. andamanensis in having a higher tail-to-body ratio and more feebly keratinised labial teeth. In terms of the marginal papillae, although M. charlesdarwini tadpoles possess the wide dorsal gap present in M. andamanensis tadpoles, the narrow ventral gap, as observed in M. andamanensis is absent. Further, M. andamanensis tadpoles possess smaller-sized marginal and submarginal papillae in the oral disc, and in greater numbers, while those of M. charlesdarwini have comparatively larger-sized papillae in lesser numbers. In conclusion, our study found the larval morphology of pond-dwelling M. andamanensis to be more congruent with previously published pond-dwelling tadpoles of M. nicobariensis, M. keralensis, and M. syhadrensis. At the same time it is evident from our study that the phytotelm-inhabiting tadpoles of M. charlesdarwini are morphologically distinct from those of all other previously known congeneric species, as well as from the tadpoles of M. andamanensis despite the two being sister species, owing to their strikingly different habitat associations.</p> </div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/CE268957FFC3FFD5FF57EE4B9769FC93	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Gopika, C.;Garg, Sonali;Sivaperuman, Chandrakasan;Gokulakrishnan, G.;Biju, S. D.	Gopika, C., Garg, Sonali, Sivaperuman, Chandrakasan, Gokulakrishnan, G., Biju, S. D. (2023): Larval morphology and natural history in two Minervarya species from Andaman Islands, with comments on a new phytotelmonous larval morphotype for the genus. Zootaxa 5353 (6): 567-581, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5353.6.4, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5353.6.4
