Nyctibatrachus humayuni

Nyctibatrachus humayuni is a plump frog with bulging, forward-looking eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, a broad head and a rounded snout. The forelegs are short and plump, and their fingers are flattened, have large discs on the tips. The hind limbs are rather long, there are also discs at their fingertips, and there are membranes in the entire length of the fingers on their hind legs. The body length is up to 48 mm, the back is spotty dark gray or brown, the belly is pale gray, and sometimes there are dark stripes on the limbs. Males have orange glands on their thighs and no vocal sac ^[4] .

It lives in the Indian state of Maharashtra, in the Western Ghats, and in the states of Goa and Karnataka at elevations from 200 to 1200 m above sea level. Part of the range is in the reserves Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary ^[4] . It dwells in fast-flowing rocky mountain streams or along their banks, where it hides under stones and in the crevices of rocks. It prefers woodland with dense vegetation hanging over the water, and sometimes occurs near the edge of the forest far from streams ^[1] . It was found in a large cave near the city of Mahabaleshwar, where it lives together with the frog Indirana beddomii . A stream flows through the cave, and there also lives a large colony of Rousettus leschenaulti bats, which have formed a large guano deposit, inhabited by many invertebrates that feed the frogs ^[5] .

Breeding takes place during the monsoon season from May to September. The male protects the territory, sitting on a branch or sheet, hanging over the stream, and shouting to encourage the female. The female comes in response to these calls and makes a small laying of eggs at the very place where the male's call comes from. Then she returns to the creek, and the male stands above the eggs and fertilizes them. After that, the male moves a few centimeters from the clutch and begins to call on another female. Thus, the male decides where the eggs should be laid. This is the only known species of frogs in the Old World, which has no amplexus between the male and the female ^[4] . After 12–15 days, developing tadpoles emerge from eggs and fall into a stream, where they continue to develop ^[4] .

Although in some places it is a numerous species, the total number of frogs of Nyctibatrachus humayuni is gradually decreasing. In the IUCN Red Book, this species is assigned the status of " Vulnerable ", since its range is fragmented and occupies a total area of ​​less than 20 thousand km². Its habitats are degraded due to deforestation, agricultural activities, pollution and destruction of the environment by people ^[1] .