During my M.Sc. thesis fieldwork at the Mussoorie Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttarakhand, Sanul and I witnessed a 'quite different' amplexus. A male Himalayan toad and a Himalayan paa frog (of unknown sex) were in amplexus, that too underwater in the stream.
Why the male toad is doing this? Interesting question, right?
Well, this is just an amplexus between two families (Bufonidae and Dicroglossidae).
But don't get surprised when you hear about 'inter-order' amplexus!
See: Simović, Aleksandar, Nils Anderson, M. Andelković, Slađana Gvozdenović, and S. Dorđević. "Unusual amplexuses between anurans and caudates." Herpetology Notes 7(5) (2014).
Interesting?
Read on our natural history note on the first record of interspecific amplexus between Himalayan Paa Frog (Nanorana vicina) and Himalayan Toad (Duttaphrynus himalayanus), where we discuss more on this!
Nanorana vicina, a mysterious stream dwelling frog from the Western Himalaya with a secretive life. The species remains poorly understood, especially the reproductive mode and Ecology.
Happy reading!
V, Jithin, Sanul Kumar, and Abhijit Das. 2021. “First Record of Interspecific Amplexus Between a Himalayan Toad, Duttaphrynus Himalayanus (Bufonidae), and a Himalayan Paa Frog, Nanorana Vicina (Dicroglossidae), from the Western Himalaya, India”. Reptiles & Amphibians 28(2): 270-73. https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v28i2.15579
For more, see this Wikipedia article on reproductive interference