SHILLONG, Nov 28: Scientists have discovered 13 new species of amphibians in Northeast India, researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) said.
Of the 13 newly described species, six were found in Arunachal Pradesh, three in Meghalaya, and one each in Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur, officials said.
The study was carried out between 2019 and 2024 with support from the National Geographic Society and the Meghalaya Biodiversity Board.
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The species belong to the genus Raorchestes and include R lawngtalaiensis (Mizoram), R barakensis (Assam), R narpuhensis and R.boulengeri (Meghalaya), R monolithus (Manipur), R khonoma (Nagaland), and several others from Arunachal Pradesh, such as R eaglenestensis, R magnus and R nasuta.
The findings are the result of a major taxonomic study spanning several years, led by Bitupan Boruah, a PhD scholar at WII, along with herpetologist Dr Abhijit Das of WII and Dr Deepak Veerappan of the Natural History Museum, London, and Newcastle University, UK.
The study is seen as a major step in documenting the hidden biodiversity of the Northeast, which forms part of two global biodiversity hotspots.
It used acoustics, genetics and morphology to identify the new species, they said.
According to the researchers, the century-old museum specimens from the India-Burma region that are kept in natural history institutions abroad are also examined, helping clarify long-standing classification gaps.
Based on sampling across 81 localities in eight states, including 25 protected areas, the researchers also revised species distributions and synonymised four previously described species. With the latest discoveries, the number of known bush frog species in India has risen from 82 to 95.
Published in the latest volume of the journal Vertebrate Zoology, the work helps resolve longstanding taxonomic gaps surrounding the tiny “tik-tik” bush frogs of the region and opens new avenues for understanding their conservation status and ecology, officials said. (PTI)
