Jeet Sukumaran’s Torrent Dwelling Toad

Ansonia jeetsukumarani males grow up to 19.9 mm snout vent length and females up to 25.3 mm. The snout of A. jeetsukumarani is truncate, wide and square. The limbs are slender. The body is stout and flat, and the head is narrower than the body. The tympanum is visible, circular and large. The snout extends past the lower jaw, and a white wart is present at the angle of the jaw. The tips of the fingers and toes are rounded but lack circummarginal discs. The toes are webbed but the fingers are not, and the first finger is longer than the second. The texture of the abdomen is coarsely granular in male individuals and finely granular in females. The dorsal surface has tubercles, which are more prominent in males. Males possess nuptual pads on the first finger and vocal slits on the right side of the buccal cavity (Wood et al. 2008). Ansonia jeetsukumarani is most visibly similar to A. malayana, but can be distinguished by its lack of a large yellow wart at the angle of the jaw and of a white patch below the eye, which are both present in A. malayana. They also differ in the color of the iris, which is reddish brown in A. jeetsukmarani and golden in A. malayana (Wood et al. 2008). In live individuals the dorsum is brown except for an orangish-yellow spot between the scapulae and a thin, faint vertebral stripe. The limbs are orangish with light crossbars. The hands and feet have brown and orange bars. The iris is reddish brown with black reticulation. The ventral surface is dark. Whitish spots are present on the ventral side from the gular region to the hind limbs. The ventral side of the hind limbs is brownish-red in females and brown in males. In preserved specimens the dorsum is black and the lateral surfaces are faintly yellowish-orange. The limbs are black with yellowish-orange crossbars. The vental surface is cream to brown with dark blotches, and lighter spots remain present in the gular region (Wood et al. 2008).Originally described by Perry L. Wood Jr., L Lee Grismer, Norhayati Ahmad, and Juliana Senawi in 2008.The genus Ansonia is composed of two distinct and well-supported clades. Ansonia jeetsukumarani is a member of a clade containing 17 species from Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and Borneo (Matsui et al. 2010). Ansonia jeetsukumarani is named in honor of contributions made by Jeet Sukumaran to the understanding of biology of Malaysian amphibians (Wood et al. 2008).

Populations of Ansonia jeetsukumarani can be found at Fraser's Hill, Pahang, and Sungai Pergau, Kelantan, in Peninsular Malaysia. Individuals were collected at elevations ranging from 1059 - 1125 m. Ansonia jeetsukumarani was found generally on leaves and rocks about 0.5 - 1.5 m above the forest floor and in close proximity to streams (Wood et al. 2008).

All specimens used to describe Ansonia jeetsukumarani were collected at night from rocks and leaves near streams 0.5 - 1.5 m above the ground in closed canopy forests (Wood et al. 2008).

Because of the recent discovery of this species, it is difficult to tell if the species is in decline. However major threats could include habitat fragmentation and global warming (Wood 2009).