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A fairly common frog with brown lateral sides bordered with cream, and dorsal side light brown to dark brown |
Until this rediscovery, there were no reports of this frog presumably due to its small adult size (up to only 25 mm) which some researchers misinterpreted for a juvenile specimen |
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The Elegant Torrent Frog was known only from the original description based on a collection from “Kempholey, Hassan” in 1937. The type specimen was subsequently lost and this species has evaded detection until its rediscovery by KV Gururaja, KP Dinesh
and SD Biju from the original collection area in “Kempholey” (Kempholey Ghats of Hassan).
The Elegant Torrent Frog, seemingly afairly common frog within this area, lives in forest streams and calls from the edge of riverbeds where it probably breeds. The area is a hotspot of amphibian diversity, containing another 20 species. Currently there is a hydroelectric project proposal in this area and the site is urgently in need of protection, particularly because it represents the only known site for several highly threatened species.
Listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Data Deficient (DD).
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