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Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Rhacophoridae
Genus:	Ghatixalus
Species:	G. magnus
Binomial name
Ghatixalus magnus (Abraham, Mathew, Cyriac, Zachariah, Raju, and Zachariah, 2015)

Ghatixalus magnus is the largest species of frog of its genus in the family Rhacophoridae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India. A semi-arboreal frog, it occupies both low vegetation and ground substrate such as boulders and tree stumps.

Description

Ghatixalus magnus is the largest tree frog of the family Rhacophoridae in peninsular India. The snout-vent lengths of the males average 76 mm and the large females over 120 mm. The tadpole are also very large with a labial tooth row formula is 10(6 -10)/10(10), which is the greatest number of labial toothrows on both jaws in the family Rhacophoridae, and which it shares with no other known frog in India. Within its genus, G. magnus has a labial tooth formula of 10(6 -10)/10(10), while both G. variabilis and G. asterops have formulas of 7(3 – 7)/6(1).

Ghatixalus magnus can be differentiated from other Ghatixalus species of Western Ghats (G. variabilis and G. asterops) by its much larger size and colour pattern. The coloration of adults in life is a pale rusty-yellow on the dorsal side that has a reticulation of many small, irregular bright-yellow blotches. The lateral side is chocolate brown with cream-colored reticulations and purple-turquoise blotches on the groin. The iris of the eye is a purple-grey color with many black venations, and the limbs are rusty-yellow with dark brown cross-bands on the dorsal sides of thigh, forelimbs, and digits. The feet and hands are a light turquoise blue with bluish-brown webbing and yellow disks.

Biologically, G. variabilis and G. asterops are adapted to rocky, montane streams and thus have a moderate oral sucker to help them attach to substrate, whereas G. magnus is found in stream pools within the rainforest during relatively dry months of the year, making it presumably unlikely that the oral appendage is used for adhering to substrates, but for feeding.

Habitat and distribution

Ghatixalus magnus occurs in the highlands of the southern Western Ghats, India, between the Palakkad Gap and Shencottah Gap in the forested hill streams of Valparai and Parambikulam, Kadalar, Upper Manalar, Pandianthodu and Devarmala. This species is known to occupy mid-montane rainforests at elevations between 1350 and 1800 meters ASL.