Amphibian Biodiversity of Gunung Inas Forest Reserve, Kedah, Malaysia

A study on the biodiversity of frogs and toads from Compartment 15 of Gunung Inas Forest Reserve, Kedah, was carried out for a 6 month period, beginning August 2008 till end of January 2009. Samplings were conducted once a month comprising a total catch effort of about 85 man-hours. Positive identification of specimens follows that of Berry (1975), Sukumaran (2006) and Norhayati et al., (2009). Twenty-eight species of anurans from six families were found to inhabit the site. The two most abundant species were Amolops larutensis and Phrynoidis aspera. Thirteen species namely Megophrys nasuta, Leptobrachium hendricksoni Duttaphrynus melanostictus, Limnonectes malesianus, Limnonectes laticeps, Limnonectes plicatellus, Hylarana doriae, Hylarana erythraea, Hylarana luctuosa, Humerana miopus, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, Rhacophorus tunkui, and Nyctixalus pictus were considered rare. The Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H’) was low at 0.745, while the Evenness Index (J) was low with the value of 0.149. The presence of clean water species, such as Hylarana luctuosa, Hylarana labialis, Odorrana hosii, and Phrynoidis aspera showed that the habitat at Compartment 15 of Gunung Inas Forest Reserve was largely undisturbed and pristine. It is hoped that future development of the site into a recreational facility does not degrade the uncontaminated riparian ecosystem that is essential for amphibian survival