First record of the Arunachal Cascade Frog, Nanorana arunachalensis (Saikia et al., 2017), from the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan

Abstract

<p>To manage various wildlife species and their ecosystem, understanding specifically where the species are found is important. Monitoring, evaluation, and habitat manipulation to suit target species is possible only when occurrence data are available. Since species occupy different habitats, depending on their ecological needs, distributional data can help understand these requirements from a conservation standpoint. Globally, an important, yet data-deficient taxa group are Anura, of which over 30% are threatened with extinction (Stuart et al., 2004) making amphibian research critical. Rugged mountain terrains, deep valleys, and numerous streams in Bhutan serve as vibrant biogeographic barriers separating physically close species. Herpetological surveys in remote forested eastern Bhutan, including the Trashigang and Trashiyangtse Districts, remain scarce but recent field research has turned up new and unexpected records (Wangyal et al., 2020, 2022). Here we present the first record of the Arunachal Cascade Frog, in the genus <i>Nanorana</i>, Günther, 1896 from eastern Bhutan. Currently, we refer to this individual as <i>Nanorana arunachalensis</i> (Saikia, Sinha, and Kharkongor, 2017) although future studies of anuran populations in this region might reveal different results.</p>