News Link: Sphaerotheca-Bengaluru Newly Discovered Frog Species Named After Bengaluru City – By MK (Editor)
Newly discovered frog species were part of a research team’s efforts in documenting ‘Amphibians in the Deccan Plateau parts of Karnataka.’
Their findings published in the international journal Zootaxa.
Discovered in 2018 by Deepak P, an Assistant Professor at Mount Carmel College in the city. The amateur herpetologist had sent images of the frog to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). A phylogenetic study followed to confirm the discovery.
The team of researchers who named the frog species ‘Sphaerotheca Bengaluru’. They want to highlight the gap in the documentation of amphibians from non-forested areas. Which is in the need for restoring frog habitats in Karnataka’s capital. The frog was found in a barren tract of land near Rajankunte, on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
“Amphibian discoveries in India have been rising in the past with most findings concentrated on the biodiversity hotspots of the country. Or at least forested landscapes with green cover. The new species descriptions are based on the morphological differences and molecular approach with the existing species of the burrowing frogs.
Researchers are now hopeful that species of frogs can be found outside forests, even in cities that are highly populous.
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News Link: Sphaerotheca-Bengaluru Newly Discovered Frog Species Named After Bengaluru City – By MK (Editor)
