Western Ghats - New species of frogs found

Posted by webber | Sunday, August 07, 2011 | , , | 0 comments »



New species of frogs were discovered by a team of bio-diversity researchers led by Dr. Anil Zachariah, Veterinary Surgeon, Dept of Animal Husbandry, during their recent exploration in the Western Ghats.
2011-August-new-frog-species-Western-Ghats
A team headed by Dr Anil Zachariah, a renowned scientist, has discovered 10 new species of frogs from the hill ranges of Southern Western Ghats with the help of Zoological Survey of India.

The discovery has been published in the latest issue of Biosytamatica, an international journal on animal taxonomy, ecology and zoogeography. Of the 10 species, nine species of frogs belong to the Raorchestes genus.

The remaining one belongs to the Polypedates genus under the family Rhacophoridae. One species in the Raorchestes genus has been named Raorchestes agasthyaensis, after the Vedic sage Agastya, while Raorchestes manohari is named after principal chief conservator of forests T.M. Manoharan.

The distribution of frogs ranges from tropic to subarctic regions, but most species are found in tropical rainforests. Consisting of more than 5,000 species described, they are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. However, populations of certain frog species are declining significantly.

The discovery shows that the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot, still has many new species of amphibians waiting to be discovered.

The Western Ghats or Western Ghauts (Marathi/Konkani: सह्याद्री, Kannada/Tulu: ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿ, Malayalam: സഹ്യാദ്രി / സഹ്യപര്‍വതം, Tamil: மேற்குத் தொடர்ச்சி மலைகள்) also known as the Sahyadri Mountains, is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea.

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