New frog, insect species found

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has reported the discovery of 12 new species of amphibians and 14 species of insects — not known to science — from 13 states in the last few years, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Jun 8, 2009, 24:53:21 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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India’s Bio-diversity just got richer.

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has reported the discovery of 12 new species of amphibians and 14 species of insects — not known to science — from 13 states in the last few years.

“It shows the richness of our bio-diversity,” Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh said while releasing the ZSI’s report ‘Animal Discoveries’ on Thursday — World Environment Day.

“We will strengthen the National Bio-Diversity Authority to protect our natural heritage.”

Although India has just two per cent of the world’s land, it houses 7.44 per cent (or 91,364) of its animal species. About 60 per cent of these are insects.

"Two times the number of species recorded still remains to be discovered in India," said Dr Ramakrishna, director, ZSI

— a body constituted in 1916 by the British to record animal groups in India.

The report was compiled by three scientists from ZSI whose search for new species took them to the far corners of the country.

Most of the discoveries were made in the Northeast. Scientists Rosamma Mathew and Nibedita Sen found several new species of frogs in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Two new species of water frogs were found in the rivers of Manipur. Unlike conventional frogs, these have smooth skin and an ability to swim a distance. One of them looks like a big bee.

The most startling discovery was in Subansiri district of Arunachal, where a longish frog showing colouration and spots was discovered. The frog — found in different colour combinations — with the scientific name rhacophorus subansiriensis uses its tail to swim in shallow water and also stay on land.

In Karnataka’s Bhadra sanctuary, they discovered a male species of frogs with “distinct folds in its skin and swollen hands and feet that makes it different from others in the family”.

Kerala’s Chinnar and Thattekkad sanctuaries produced four new species of inspects. Discoveries were also made in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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