Beddome’s Indian Frog

I found this Juvenile Beddome’s Indian Frog or Beddome’s Leaping frog (Indirana beddomei) at Bisile. It is named after the naturalist Colonel Richard Henry Beddome, the first conservator of the newly formed forest department of the Madras presidency.

This medium-size frog whose dorsal skin is covered with short longitudinal glandular folds. The coloration varies; it can be yellowish, pinkish, or brownish, with irregular speckling. The hind limbs are long, the webbing is incomplete, and the tips of the digits are dilated into discs. Adult males have large tympana, vocal sacs, nuptial pads, and femoral glands. It has a big bladder and invariably squirts when handled.

It is endemic to Western Ghats. The frogs inhabit the forest floor or rocky soil in evergreen forest at 330–2,950 ft (100–900 m). Pigmented eggs presumably are deposited outside water under shelters, such as stones, rotten vegetation, or the bark of dead trees. Tadpoles are peculiar, with an elongated body form, extremely large eyes, and a slender and pointed tail. The hind limbs develop early, and they have 4–5/4 tooth rows. From the beginning they can use their tails, and later their hind limbs, to skitter on the rocks or ground, which allows them to go from one humid terrestrial shelter or shallow pool to another.