Wildlife lovers now have even more reasons to visit India after four new species of burrowing frog were discovered in the country.
The new species, belonging to Indian frog group Fejervarya, were found in a mountain range in southern India by Sonali Garg, a PhD student at Delhi University.
Previously, only one species of burrowing frog, the rufescent burrowing frog, was known in the group, according to biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju, who supervised Garg’s study.
“The new finding will have a significant implication on the conservation status of these frogs because now it is clear that instead of a single species there are five different species with different conservation requirements,” Biju said.
“We need to be concerned about the existence of these newly discovered frogs and conduct further studies to reassess their conservation status,” he added.
India is a popular destination for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers, with an incredible variety of terrain including 7,000 kilometres of beaches, 89 National Parks and 488 wildlife sanctuaries.
The country has over 240 different frog species, half of which have been discovered in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot.
In February, Garg and Biju, also known as India’s Frog Man, announced the discovery of a new species of miniature frogs that can comfortably sit on a thumbnail or small coin.
In another extraordinary find, a tree frog thought to have gone extinct over than a century ago was rediscovered by Biju’s team last year. — dpa
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