9 New Species of Bush Frogs Found In Western Ghats
A Leap Forward for Amphibian Diversity: 9 New Species of Bush Frogs Found In Western Ghats
Inventory of amphibian diversity has just gotten wider with the discovery of 9 new species of bush frogs found in India’s top biodiversity spot, the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. Some of these frogs are as small as a thumbnail.
Evolutionary Insights from New Discovery
Amphibian diversity in the Western Ghats has expanded with the discovery of 9 new species of bush frogs in the Western Ghats. While some are as small as thumbnails, others are brightly coloured to slimy. Each of these creatures provide important insights for the evolutionary diversity of the Western Ghats according to Kartik Shankar, who was co-author of the paper published in global journal Zootaxa. Shankar is from the Indian Institute of Science.
Researchers have been trekking through the Western Ghats at the time of the rainy season when bush frogs are most commonly spotted. The calls of the bush frogs are also extremely distinctive.
About Bush Frogs
Bush frogs are miniature ones which can be found in different parts of Asia including the south and the southeast. Terms such as acoustics, morphology, geography and genetics are used for separating frogs into lineages. Lineages reflect the common ancestors that were once shared by what is now a diverse species more than a million or so years ago. Shankar has remarked that there could be at least 15 new species of bush frogs as of yet undiscovered. There are currently over 50 species present in the Western Ghats, ecologists say.
The Significance of the Discovery
“What is really exciting for us is taking this forward to understand the ecological, evolutionary and biogeographic processes of diversification that have led to this spectacular diversity and endemism,” lead author and post doc fellow at national Centre for Biological Sciences S.P. Vijayakumar shared in a press release.
Belonging to the genus Raorchestes, the bush frogs live mostly in the Western Ghats in India. The IISc team led by S. P. Vijaykumar and Kartik Shankar used a lot of different analytical tools such as frog morphology and geography to separate frogs into lineages and the team found as many as 9 species. These frogs have not been studied deeply so far. Some parts of TN, Kerala and Karnataka could also house similar species, scientists have opined.
The scientists have also estimated more than 20 potentially new lineages separated from each other in past years. Populations of two species known previously only from historical records were also located and posted in the journal Zootaxa. The year 2014 has experienced a remarkable revolution in the discovery of frogs. Around 41 species new to science have been found this year to date, which is a remarkable achievement considering the shrinkage of biodiversity hot spots due to uncontrolled unsustainable development. Another interesting aspect is that most of the discoveries have occurred outside protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries.
The latest to be discovered were the 9 species of bush frogs found and described in the research paper for zoological taxonomists. This adds to the discovery of 6 new species of golden backed frogs, 14 species of dancing frogs and 12 species of night frogs by S. D. Biju, Head of Systematics Lab at the University of Delhi. Western Ghats is one of the top biodiversity spots in the world and it is home to the highest number of endemic species in India. Such beauty deserves protection and much more effort is needed on the conservation front to protect the pristine charm of this ecological site.
