Abstract
The Western Ghats of peninsular India is one of the world's eight recognised biodiversity hotspots and constitutes the
most amphibian-diverse region in Asia, supporting over 190 endemic species across multiple family-level lineages found
nowhere else on Earth. Despite intensive taxonomic activity over the past two decades, the cumulative species checklist
for Western Ghats amphibians remains scattered across numerous publications with inconsistent nomenclature and
incomplete distributional data. This study presents a comprehensive, critically annotated checklist of amphibians of the
Western Ghats based on systematic review of all published literature to December 2021, supplemented by original field
data from 124 survey localities collected between 2017 and 2021. We recognise 268 valid amphibian species from the
Western Ghats, comprising 242 anurans across 14 families, 20 caecilians across 2 families, and 6 salamanders of the
family Hynobiidae. The checklist incorporates 18 new species described since the most recent prior synthesis (Frost
2020), resolves 24 nomenclatural issues, and provides updated distributional data for 84 species. Endemism is
exceptionally high at 78.4% (210 species). Molecular phylogenetic analysis of 48 selected species using 16S rRNA and
cytochrome b confirms the distinctiveness of 6 candidate new species identified during field surveys. IUCN conservation
status is assessed for all species, with 112 (41.8%) classified as Threatened. The checklist provides the most current and
comprehensive taxonomic inventory of Western Ghats amphibians available and serves as an essential reference for
conservation planning and future systematic research.