Truly Absent or Sampling Gaps? Insights on the Potential Distribution of Duttaphrynus hololius (Günther, 1876) from Peninsular India

Abstract

Duttaphrynus hololius is an uncommon species of toad presumably endemic to peninsular India. Since the original description, no records originated from the type locality “Malabar” or the Western Ghats. At the same time, several authors reported it from the other parts of peninsular India and the Eastern Ghats. This led to confusion and made previous workers question the true origin of the type locality of D. hololius. Some works also predict the distribution of this species based on niche modelling techniques. This work provides new records from the Western Ghats and vicinity for the first time after its description with new molecular data. We also discuss pre-colonial and colonial “Malabar” and predict the suitable range of D. hololius under different climatic scenarios based on the further analysis carried out herein using the species distribution modelling approach.