Habitat Choice and Arboreal Behaviour of Sri Lankan Narrow-Mouthed Frog Uperodon taprobanicus (Parker, 1934) in Mangroves of Bhitarkanika, Odisha, East Coast of India

The Sri Lankan narrow-mouthed frog Uperodon taprobanicus (Parker, 1934) is a common, semi-fossorial, semi-arboreal, nocturnal insectivorous species of microhylid frog distributed in South Asia, including peninsular India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The species have been recorded from a wide variety of habitat types including dry forests, plantations, wetlands and areas close to human habitations. In the present study, the habitat choice and arboreal behaviour of the U. taprobanicus was investigated in Bhitarkanika mangrove wetland of Odisha in east coast of India. The species was recorded from holes of the trees, roads, grasslands, near the basin of ponds, inside leaf litters, shrubs (fence) and branches of tree at different heights in the forest close to human habitation. The arboreal distribution pattern of the species in trees ranged from ground level to 9.0 m. Although recorded from mangrove habitat, the habitat choice was restricted to 14 numbers of non-mangrove plants, which includes 13 numbers of planted species like mango (Mangifera indica), jhaun (Casuarina sp.), cocoanut (Cocos nucifera) etc. and one mangrove associate jagula (Tamarix dioica). Among the planted trees, mango and Casuarina sp. of plants were found to be more preferred trees as maximum number of frogs were found in clusters in these two types of trees.