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Pakistan is generally an amphibian-poorcountry because of its prevailing arid environ-mental conditions. However, with the humidriparian conditions in the Indus Valley, tor-rents and streams in the northern Himalayan

sub-mountainous region, and the subterranean waterchannels in the western Balochistan highland, there are 25amphibian species known from Pakistan (KHAN, 2002,2004,2006). They belong to four families: Bufonidae,Megophryidae, Microhylidae, and Ranidae.

This article is an overview of the amphibian fauna ofPakistan, with notes on their morphology, distdbution,and habits.

Family BufonidaeToads in Pakistan are represented by eight species of

the genus Bufo. Toads ale essentially nocturnal, butalso become active in the daytime during breeding sea-son. They usually emerge at sunset from holes andcrevices between stones, in brick walls, and in theground. They roam widely through vegetation, feedingon insects and their larvae, earthworms, juvenile toads,worm snakes. etc. The toads are attracted to lit areasunder lampposts to feed on photophilic arthropods.They also venture freely into inhabited houses whereusually hide under household articles, occasionallyemerging to catch houseflies, cockroaches, and spiders.

Under drought conditions toads aggregate in remain-ing damp spots, and especially around hand pumpswhere water can splash on their bodies. The toads squatagainst the moist soil by pushing their hind legs out tothe sides and pressing their hindquarters down.

Evening temperatures of 13"C (55'F), a downpour,and flow of rainwater are enough to trigger breedingactivity. Toads are the first amphibians to arrive atflooded areas, where males soon begin very noisy cho-ruses. Breeding usually takes place in the watersbrought with July and August monsoon rains, but if therains are late, the water in irrigation channels andrecently watered tields is readily used for the purpose.

The call of Bufo s/omalrcus consists mainly of repeat-ed guttural notes, "cree, cree, cree, cree, cree," Thecalls of other species are similar, with different tones -

e.9., Bufo melanostictus rs a "curr, curr, curr." Severalgroups of calling males become established in differentareas of the water body. The females, which are fewerin number than the males, move in the vegetationaround the calling males. When a female comes close toa male, he at once jumps onto her to secure a firm nup-tial hold. But other nales in the group try to do thesame, zealously jump over each other in their attemptsto mate, and there is much kicking and tugging to dis-lodge rivals. The embracing pair is grabbed from allsides by aggressive males, and the tussling group mayroll on the ground or float in the water for a long timeuntil, perhaps due to fatigue, the males thin out. Thefirst male's ability to hold on tightly, together with theability of the female to move quickly away to a quieter

Burrowing frog, Sphderotheca brevjceps

awe load, Eufo olNaceus

the \ndus taad, Bufa stonaticus

S ph a e rc te c d b r e v ic e p s sp a\\ 1

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Key to the toads of the family Bufonidae in Pakistan'1 a . Cran ia l c res ts p resent . . . , . , , , , . , ,9

b . C r a n i a l c r e s t s a b s e n t , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . , . . , , . , , . . . 3I a. Supraorbital crest only is presenq

tympanum indistinct .....,.,... Bufo himalayanusb. Supraorbital, canthal, postorbital, and orlcitotympanic

crests pres€nt, tympdnum distinct , , . , , . . . . . . , . . . . , . . Bufo melanostictus3 a. Tympanum distinct . . . . . . . . . , . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . 4

b. Tympanum indistinct . . . . . , . . . . . . .. Bufo surdus4 a. Tibial gland absent . . . , . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . 5

b. Tibial gland present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . , o5 a. Dorsum with gr€€n pattern , . , . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . , , . . . . . . . . 7

b. Dorsum uniformly olive ., ,....... . Bufo olivaceus6 a. Tarsal fold a weak spiny line . . .. . Bufo stomaticus

b, Tarsa l fo ld p resent , . . . . . . . . , . . . , . , Bu fo la tas t i i7 a . Body w i th g reen spots . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bu fo v i r id is zugmaye

b. Body with zigzag green blotches Eufo pseudoraddei

spot with the male on her back, helpsto ensure their successful mating.The female deposits eggs in a doublegelatinous string, which she windsaround submerged vegetation.

During summer large numbers oftoads are crushed by cars whilecrossing roads to reach potentialbreeding sites. Crows and otherbirds feed on the exposed viscera ofthe roadkill, leaving the skins of thedead toads behind. Toads arealso preyed on by a number ofanimals that share the same habi-tat e.g., the Indus Valley bullfrog,Hoplobatrachus tigerinu\ IheBengal monitor. Varan us be n ga le n sis'.the desert monitor, Varanus grrseuEthe Indian rat snake, Ptyas mucosusi.t h e b u f l s t r i p e d k e e l b a c k .Amphiesma stolatum; the commonkrait, Bungarus caeruleus; and thesaw-scaled viper, Eclris carinatus.To avoid predators, the toad escapesinto a burrow or crevice. If no suchhid ing p lace is ara i lab le. i t bur iesitself in the loose soil.

Schools of dark Bufo tadpoles are acommon sight in ponds and poolsduring monsoons. Typically the Bufotadpole has an ovrl bulging body.

weak tail, high dorsal fin, and narrow-er ventral fin. The anteroventral oraldisc has a 2(2)/3 labial tooth row for-mula; the beak is finely serrated withlateral oral papillae.

The Indus toad' Bufo stomaticus,is the most widely distributed toad inthe Indo-Pakis tan subcon r inen l ,occurring from Bangladesh throughthe Ganges Plain, peninsular India,the upper and lower Indus Valleys,Balochistan, and across Afghanistan,Iran, and Muscat.

The Southeast Asian toad, Bufomelanostictus, is common and wide-l i d is l r ibuted in sourheaslern Asia,extending throughout northern andpeninsular India. The populations rnnorthern Pakistan have been distin-guished as a new subspecies, Bufomelanostictus hararensis (KHAN,2000).

The Himalayan toad, Bufohimalayanus, is a Highland Himala-yan species found at elevations of2,000 3,500 meters above sea level.In Pakistan it has been recordedfrom Azad Kashmir, HazaraDivision.

The lranian toad. Bulo surdus, is aI i t t le known species repor ted in

Pakistan along westem Balochistanand around Quetta, but widely dis-tributed in Iran.

The olive toad, Bufo olivaceus,hasbeen recorded in the extreme west-ern par ts of Balochis tan and adjo in-ing Iran.

The highland road. Bufo larastii.jsextensively distributed in Nepal,Ladakh, Kashmir, and northernIndian Punjab. In Pakistan it isrecorded in Ladakh in Baltistanbetween elevations of 2,600 and3,000 meters.

The Balochistan toad, Bufo viridiszugmayeri. occ],fis around Quetta, andsouthward to Chagai, Balochistan.

The Swat toad, Bufo pseudoraddei,is a highland toad found in Passu,Swat, Karakoram Range, GilgitAgency, and Baltistan, Pakistan.

Family MegophryidaeThe representative of this family

in Pakistan is distinguished fromthe rest of the amphibians in thecountry by its spiny, heavily tuber-culated body. Sexual ly d imorphic .the male has st rong [ore l imbs. darkbrown nuptial spines on the firstthree fi gers, a pair of dark brownspiny chest g lands. a large spinyauxiliary gland, and spines on thecloacal region. Snout-vent length is50-57 millimeters.

Dorsal co lorat ion is gray-o l ivewith indistinct dark brown triangularspots; the flanks are light yellowish;the limbs are spotted; the chest andabdomen are greenish yellow.

The Tibetan lazl toad. Scutrgernyingchiensis, is known from theHimalayas at elevations between3,000 and 3,500 meters. It has beencol lected f rom Azad Kashmir . Gi lg i t .and the Dosai Plains in the north-western Himalayas.

Family MicrohylidaeThis is the family of narrow-

mouthed frogs, also commonlyknown as ant frogs. They are repre-sented in Pakis tan by two species.

The common ant frog. Microhylao-rrata, is tiny. It stays close towater, hiding under leaf litter dur-ing day, and emerging to hunt atnight. It feeds on small insects such

K€y to the species of the family Microhylida€ in Pakistan

1 a. Tinr 30 mm in body length; dorsum with al a r g € b r a n c h € d b l o t c h , . . . . . . . . . . . . .

b. Medium sized, 50-60 mm in body length;dorsum with brown reticulation LJperodon systoma

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Fejeryarya nnocharis

as termites. The calling male sitsaway from the edge ofthe water, con-cealed in grass. and calls in a charac-teristic rasping voice, "bbratt, bbntLbbratt" - very loud considering the

FejeNarya syhadrensis

t iny size of the frog. The femaledeposits groups of t iny eggs. eachmcasuring only 0.5 0.8 mill imeters rndiameter, embedded in a thick gelat-inous ma:s lha t l lo r t \ a t the surhce

Hoplobatrachu s tiserinus

of water. The delicate, transpare ttadpoles lorm mid-stream swimmingschools. Having no oral disc withchitinous structures, they filter plank-ton suspended in the water.

Bufo viridis zugnayeri Scutige r nyinschie nsi s

Sphderoteca breviceps E u p h I yc t k cf a n o p h lrc ti s

(EEP'lL|A;')

Key to the species of th€ family Ranidae in Pakistan

1 a. Toes half webbed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ib . T o e s e x t e n s i y e l y w e b b e d . , . . , . . . . , . . . . . . , . , , , . , , . . . , . . , 4

9 d. Body toadlike/ inner metatarsal tubercle stpvel-shaped . . . Sphd erotheca brevicepsb, Body froglik€, inner metatarsal tubercle long . .., . . ,. . 3

3 a. First finger hardly extending beyond second .. . ... , . , , Fejervarya syhadrensisb. First finger longer than s€cond .. Fejeryarya limnocharis

4 a . B o d y w i t h s p i n e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 5b. Body wjth folds HoplobatrachLts tigeinus

5 a. Nuptial spines on at least f irst two fingers ., .,, . .. . . .. . 6b . Nupt ia l sp ines absent . . . . , . . . . . . . . . , . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Euph lyc t i s cyanophtyc t is

6a. Pustules large, multispinulate; belly spiny , . , . . . . . , , . . , , paa sternosignatab, Pustules small, unispinulate; belly spineless . .. ... , .. , , , paa hazarensis

The marbled balloon frog,Uperodon systoma is a largerspecies. It lives underground in ter-mite and ant tunnels, feeding on theinsects and their larvae. Theyemerge only during heavy rains forreproduction, when the males callfrom the surrounding grass. The callof this frog is described as soundinglike the bleating of a goat.

The common ant frog, Microhylaonata, has a wide range in northernand central Pakistan. It also occursthroughout India and most of south-eastern Asra.

The marbled balloon frog,Upercdon systoma, has a wide rangein Bangladesh and northern peninsu-lar India, but only a single specimenhas been repor led in ls lamabad.Pakistan.

Family RanidaeA heterogeneous array of ranid

frogs are common in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent and south-eastern Asia. Classification of thesefrogs has long posed problems fortaxonomists.

Unlike frogs of the familyMicrohylidae, ranid frogs have wide-gaping mouths and feed on a varietyof larger food i lems - inc ludingearthworms, other frogs, smallsnakes, small birds and nestlings, andeven small mammals, in addition toinsects. The tadpoles of ranids arelarge and macrophagus, with elabo-rately armed oral disc.

Ranid frogs are mostly aquatic orIitto{al (e.9., Euph lyctis cyanophlyctis).They frequent a variety of habitatswith pooled water in the plains and

Mis-amplexus: male Eufo olivaceus and femaLSphaaroteca bteviceps

sub-mountainous regions of Paki-stan. Some species (Euphlyctiscyanophlyctis and Sphaerothecabreviceps) are remarkably capableof adjusting to uncertain aquaticconditions in temperate arid parts ofPakistan. The species inhabiting theplains can tolerate wide ranges of pHand water quality, from freshwaterto considerably brackish and evenpolluted refuse water.

Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis spendsmost of its time floating in the water,and skitters at the water sudace.Other species remain h idden inaquatic vegetation in marginalwaters. Euphlyctrs cyanophlyctis is acommon species, and remains activealmost throughout the year, whereasother species are active onll duringsummer, from March to September.Solitary Euphlyctis cyanophlyctisindividuals call from permanentwater bodies almost year round,a l though actual breeding act iv i ty isinitiated in early summer whenwater temperatures rise to 10-15'C(s0-59'F).

The calling males of a species usu-ally gather in groups at the edges ofponds wi th marginal vegetat ion.Some sit on the wet ground; othersfloat in the water. The calls of thedifferent species are quite distinct.The call of Euphlyctis cyanophlyctisis " chuutt, chuutt, chuutt," repeatedseveral times; the call ofHoplobatrachus tigertnus is " kang,kang, kangi'; the call of Fejemaryalimnocharis and. Fejervarya syha-drensls is " tak, tak, tak"; the call ofSphaerotheca breviceps is - kong-vong, kong-vong, kong-vongi'; andthe call of mountain frogs of thegenus Paa is a lbud trill, occasionallyrepeated.

When calling, the males are veryactive - calling and squeaking andcontinuously jumping over eachother, causing quite a commotion lnthe water. They actively assault eachother in thefu reproductive frenzy.When a male and female mate, theydo not leave the site - the femalemay pair with several males, deposit-ing eggs with each. The sizes of eggsvary: those of the genus Paa are large(2-3 millimeters in diameter) and

E uph lyctk cya n o p h lyc ti s v entt al side

Bufo stonaticus in *eeding pool

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Hoplobatachus tlgelnus in defensiv€ posture

attached to blades of grass or stonesand rocks in the water.

Ranid tadpoles are large, with astrong muscular tail, and very welldeveloped oral disc with variablenumber of rows of denticles.

The Karez Balochistan frog, Paastemosignata, has a snout-ventlength of 88-90 millimeters. Thisspecies abounds around Quetta andMastung in Karez, where under-ground streams come to the surfacein pools. It has also been reportedfrom Afghanistan.

'Ihe Hazara torrenticole frog, Paahazarensis, has a snout-vent lengthof 5542 millimeters. It is knownfrom fast-flowing streams in theRush Valley in Hazara Division,NWFP, Pakistan.

The burrowing frog, Sphaerothecabrevrceps, has a snout-vent length of49-52 millimeters. It is distributedthroughout India, Nepal, Bangladesh,Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. InPakistan it is reported from theHimalayan foothills, and extendsinto the Potwar Tableland, with aspotty distribution in the ripananPunjab. This species has been col-lected ftom the Hab and Malir RiverValleys around Karachi.

The southern cricket frog,Fejervarya syhadrensis, has a snout-vent length of 32-34 millimeters. Itis common in the lower Indus Valley,and is widely distributed throughoutsouthern India.

The alpine cricket frog, Fejervaryalimnochais, has a snout-vent lengthof 39-43 millimeters. It is distributedin the sub-Himalayan parts ofPakistan, descending into the watersof Potwar Tableland, most of thePunjab plains and some of the lowerIndus Valley where it is scarcer. Itranges from Japan to Pakistan.

The Indus Valley bullfrog,Hoplobatrachus figerinus, has asnout-vent length of 130-145 mil-limeters. It is the most common frogof the Indo-Gangetic plains. It fre-quents mostly cultivated areas andswampy wastelands. In Pakistan thisspecies does not extend intoBalochistan, but it has been reportedin Afghanistan close to Khyber Pass.

The skittering frog, Euphlyctiscyanophlyctis, has a snout-ventlength of 23-67 millimeters. It is oneof the most widely distdbuted frogso[ southern and soutbeastern Asia,ranging from Thailand to Nepal,throughout India and Sri Lanka,almost tbroughout Pakistan at eleva-tions below 1,800 meters, andextending westward into Iran andAfghanistan. Its several races havebeen described from Pakistan. ItsSaudi Arabian population has beendescribed as a disrinct species.Eup h Iy ct i s e hr e nb e r gii.

Threats and conservation ofPakistan's amphibians

The causes ot global amphibiandeclines are quite complex and varylrom place lo place. The usual cul-prits reckoned are depletion of theozone layer, global warming, agricul-tural chemicals, and chytrid fungi aswell as other implicated phenomena.

In Pakislan. amphibians are local-ized in areas that have more water.

Sphaeroteca breiceps male, dorsal vi€w

The annual monsoon rainy season isthe boom per iod oI amphib ianactivity. wben they feed. reproduce.and move about . However, th is isalso the season when pests attackcrops, and the consequential spray-ing of pesticides and agri-boostchemicals is most detdmental to theamphibians. In addition, consider-able numbers of breeding amphib-ians are crushed by traffic as theycross roads to reach their potentialbreeding sites.

The widespread use of lhe speciesHoplobatraChus tigerinus as modelanimal for demonstration of verte-brate anatomy has depleted naturalpopulation of this largest and beautiful

Sphae rcteca brevkeps male

(arez Balochistdn froS, Pad sternoslqnata

Hoplo ba trac hu s u ge lnu s

( R E P T I L I A 6 5 )

paa ste nosignata, Karez

amphibian of the Indus Plains. Noamphib ian is used as lood inPakistani culture.

To ensure and maintain healthyand prosperous amphibian commu-nities, it is necessary to establishlarge swampy areas as wetlands andamphibian reserves free of roadsthroughout the plains of Pakistan.Where roads current l ) pass throughpotenl ia l a mph ib ian breeding s i res.construction of underpass "frog-ways" will considerably reduceamphibian road "slaughter."

Affinities of Pakistan's amphibianfauna

The Himalayan massif that over-looks the Indo-Gangetic plains cre-ates a barometric vacuum in thelndo-Pakistan subcontinent in sum-mer - attracting moist winds fromthe Arabian Sea. and rhus in i t iar ingthe monsoons cycle, the main impor-tant annual environmental feature ofthe subcontinent.

In geological history, the IndianPlate broke away from the vastSouthern Hemisphere continent ofGondwanaland and carried with itspecies of Cretaceous fauna (proba-bly similar to that of Africa) to theEurasian mainland. This faunasoon became extinct without leav-ing a trace, probably because ofnew dr ier condi t ions. The tami lyMicrohylidae (narrow-mouth frogs)most probably had aheady separat-ed from the family Ranidae whenthe Indian Plate broke off, andmicrohylid frogs are believed to bethe only animals transported on theI n d i a n P l a t e r h a l h a v e s u r r i r e d i nthe subcontinent.

The diversity of amphibian faunaof the subcontinent dates back to thePliocene, when the physiographic

chann.l natural habitat

conditions in the Indo-Gangeticplains became conducive to animalcolonization. During this period thesubcontinent experienced extenstvelnvasions of animals from thePalearctic and Oriental zoogeo-graphic regions.

The cosmopolitan family Bufonidaehas two major evolutionary lines.One is a South American broad- orthick-skulled group that evolvedfrom a Bufo melanostictus-likeancestor in t rop ica l South Amer icaduring the Upper Cretaceous, andradiated out to North Amerrca.This line is represented in Pakistanby Bufo melanostictus and Bufohimalayanus. The other evolutionarJline is of naffow- or thin-skulledtoads evolved from a Bufo calamita-like ancestor in northern subtropicalAmerica. Thls line is represented inPakistan by Bufo stomaticus andBufo viridis. Toads of both groupscrossed the Bering land bridge dur-ing the Oligocene and became estab-lished in temperate Eurasia, fromwhere they radiated out into the sub-continent.

The Tibeto-Himalayan toads arerepresented in northern Pakistan byScutiger nyingchiensrs, and two sub-species of the Bufo vrridrs-speciesgroup, Bufo pseudoruddei baturae,and Bufo pseudoraddei pseudoraddei.

Views d i l fer regard ing the or ig inof the heterogeneous frog familyRanidae. Sone believe it has a trop-ical African origin, and othersbelieve it has a tropical southeasternAsian or ig in. Ev idence is s t ronger infavor of the former view, whichholds that the ftogs radiated north-wards during the Cenozoic, and bythe Oligocene had established a sec-ondary evolutionary center in south-eastern tropical Asia, where they

Pda hazarensis (tadpoles in brook wate,

underwent extensive radiation. Bythe mid Tertiary the physiographicconditions in the subtropical northbecame habitable and the ranidsi n r a d e d P e n i n s u l a r I n d o - C h i n a ,nearby islands, and the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. I

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DUBOIS, A., and M. S. KHAN. 1979. Anew species of liog (genus Rana, subgenusPaa) ftom northern Pakistan (Amphibia,Anura). J. FJerpetol 13:403-.410.

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