Indian Bullfrog


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Hoplobatrachus tigerinus

Common Names:

Indian Bullfrog, Bull Frog, Golden Frog, Tiger Frog, Tiger Peters Frog.

Indian Bullfrog

Taxonomy:

Kingdom   :   Animalia
Phylum
  :   Chordata
Class :
   Amphibia
Order :   Anura
Family :   Dicroglossidae
Genus :   Hoplobatrachus
Species :  tigerinus

Conservation Status:

IUCN:   Least Concern
IWPA :  Schedule IV
CITES :   Appendix II
U.S ESA :   Not listed

Distribution:

This species is found throughout most wetland areas of India, Bangladesh and much of northern Pakistan, and is recorded from the southern parts of Nepal, and from upper and northern central Myanmar (Zug et al., 1998). A principally lowland species, it is found at elevations between 25 and 800m asl, over much of its range, although it might occur up to 2,000m asl in Nepal (Dubois, 1976).

Distribution Map of Indian Bullfrog

Distribution map of Indian Bullfrog (Source: iucnredlist.org)

Characteristics, Habitat and Behaviour:

It is mainly aquatic, inhabiting mostly freshwater wetlands, both natural and artificial (especially paddy fields). It is absent or uncommon in forested areas and coastal regions (Fugler, 1983). It is mostly solitary and nocturnal, inhabiting holes and bushes near permanent water courses and pools (Dutta, 1990). Its diet include invertebrates, small mammals and birds. Breeding takes place during the monsoon season, when adults congregate at ephemeral rainwater pools. It produces large numbers of eggs (and so has potentially high levels of recruitment), but there are high mortality rates among tadpoles, froglets and adult frogs.

Major Threats:

  • It was once heavily collected due to demand of its legs internationally.
  • Loss of wetland habitats through infrastructure development, prolonged drought and water pollution by pesticides and other agrochemicals are now the main threats to the species.

References:

Dubois, A. (1976). Les grenouilles du sous-genre Paa du Népal, famille Ranidae, genre Rana. Cahiers Nepalais 6. Editions de Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

Dutta, S.K. (1990). Ecology, natural history and conservation of herpetofauna of Orissa, India. Tigerpaper: 20-28.

Fugler, C.M. (1983). The status of population of Rana tigrina Daudin in Bangladesh. Fisheries Information Bulletin: 1-51.

Padhye, A., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., de Silva, A., Dutta, S., Kumar Shrestha, T., Bordoloi, S., Papenfuss, T., Anderson, S., Kuzmin, S., Khan, M.S., & Nussbaum, R. (2008). Hoplobatrachus tigerinus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T58301A11760496. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T58301A11760496.en.

"Zug, G.R., Win, H., Thin T., Min, T.Z., Lhon, W.Z., & Kyaw, K. (1998). Herpetofauna of the Chatthin W.S., North-central Myanmar with preliminary observations of their natural history. Hamadryad: 111-120."