Kingdom Animalia Order Anura Genus Leptolalax Higher classification Leptolalax | Phylum Chordata Family Megophryidae Scientific name Leptolalax kajangensis Rank Species | |
Similar Leptolalax, Frog, Megophryidae | ||
Leptolalax kajangensis (Kajang slender litter frog) is a species of amphibian in the Megophryidae family. It is endemic to Malaysia and only known from its type locality, a small cave near the top of Gunung Kajang (=Mount Kajang), on Tioman Island, a small island located 32 km off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
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Description
The type series consists of two adult males, 35–36 mm (1.4–1.4 in) in snout-vent length—which is relatively large within the genus Leptolalax. The type locality is a cave, and the type specimens were observed calling near the edge of a pond in the cave. Some tadpoles were collected from the same pond and assumed to represent the same species. There is also an earlier collection of tadpoles from a lower altitude on the same mountain that are morphologically similar to the ones at the type locality but that differ in colouration; they might represent another species.
Biogeography
Tioman Island was connected with Peninsular Malaysia as late as the Pleistocene. However, Grismer et al. considered it unlikely that Leptolalax kajangensis could have dispersed over flat, low-lying landscape to Gunung Kajang; instead, they suggest that the presence of this species on Tioman Island represents much older vicariance, that is, the species (or its ancestors) would have reached Tioman Island when it was still part of a larger mountainous landscape.