Raorchestes munnarensis

The frog

Raorchestes munnarensis is a frog in the family Rhacophoridae (order Anura).

Range and habitat

It is known only from a small area (less than 20 km2) of secondary vegetation, adjoining the forest along the Ghat road. Specimens were found close to a tea plantation, but not inside the plantation. Its natural habitat is heavily degraded former forest.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Breeding

Calling males and egg sites define most frog field work. A species known from one ridge is as narrow as it sounds.

Eggs and damp skin make amphibians quick to vanish from a drained wetland or a forest stripped of litter.

In crisis

The species is threatened by anthropogenic habitat loss. Among them habitat clearance for tea and eucalyptus plantations, all the more concerning since there are no other areas of suitable habitat known in the surrounding region. Scientists also cite climate change and the fungal disease chytridiomycosis as threats to this frog. The range of the species is not within any protected area, and protection of the remaining habitat at the species' only known locality is an urgent priority.

Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.

Raorchestes munnarensis is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Raorchestes munnarensis, Wikidata item Q3282034. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.