Newly discovered finger-nail sized night frogs
- Published
Seven new species of these night frogs have been found by scientists from the University of Delhi. They are among the smallest species of frog in the world and were discovered after a five year search in a mountain range in India called, Western Ghats, which is known for its amazing variety of natural life. This is a Robinmoore's Night Frog and its so small it fits on this Indian coin.
The little frogs haven't got it easy though, Professor SD Biju from the University of Delhi, who led the study said "Out of the seven new species, five are facing considerable threats and require immediate conservation". All of the newly discovered species habitats are under threat from being destroyed and or disturbed by human activity.
The team were surprised at the amount of frogs they found at the location and you may wonder why no-one had found them before. But Sonali Garg, a researcher on the team said she thought the frogs had been "overlooked because of their small size, secretive habitats and insect-like calls"
With the added new species, the total number of known night frog species is now 35, 7 of these are the miniature variety. There are lots of these little guys in Western Ghats and are thought to be descended from an ancient group of frogs which lived there 70-80 million years ago.
The area of Western Ghats is know to be an amphibian hotspot and the newly discovered species can provide useful insight into how frogs in that area evolved. 103 new species of amphibians have been found in the Western Ghats region in the last 7 years.
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