Guwahati: Thirteen new bush frogs species were discovered based on samples collected between 2016 and 2024, the latest edition of Vertebrate Zoology, a scientific journal by the Museum of Zoology in Dresden, Germany, published on Thursday.
The new species were discovered by Bitupan Boruah and Abhijit Das of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), and V. Deepak of the UK-based Natural History Museum and Newcastle University, based on 204 specimens collected from 81 locations across eight northeastern states.
“This is the highest number of vertebrate species described in a single publication in over a decade in India. Before this study, there were 82 species of bush frogs known from India, of which 15 are from the northeast,” Das said.
Of the 13 new species, six were discovered in Arunachal Pradesh, three in Meghalaya, and one species each in Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur.
In Arunachal Pradesh, two new species were recorded from Namdapha Tiger Reserve, and one each from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary and Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary.
The three species from Meghalaya were named the Narphu Bush Frog, discovered in Narphu Wildlife Sanctuary; the Mawsynram Bush Frog, from Mawsynram; and the Boulenger Bush Frog, named after G. A. Boulenger, an authority on amphibians during the British era. In Assam, the Barak Valley Bush Frog was discovered in the Barail Wildlife Sanctuary.
{{/usCountry}}The three species from Meghalaya were named the Narphu Bush Frog, discovered in Narphu Wildlife Sanctuary; the Mawsynram Bush Frog, from Mawsynram; and the Boulenger Bush Frog, named after G. A. Boulenger, an authority on amphibians during the British era. In Assam, the Barak Valley Bush Frog was discovered in the Barail Wildlife Sanctuary.
{{/usCountry}}“Such a series of discoveries of higher vertebrates from our protected areas shows the poorly explored biodiversity status, even in our protected areas such as tiger reserves,” Das said.
The study also revisits the status of century-old museum collections from the Indo-Burma region.
Based on a large sampling approach covering 81 localities in eight states, including 25 protected areas, the study also revises the distribution of known species and synonymises four previously described species.
“The study helps solve taxonomic conundrums surrounding frogs of northeast India, but also overcomes three conservation shortfalls, such as the Linnean shortfall (naming species before they are lost), the Wallacean shortfall (knowing distribution), and the Darwinian shortfall (providing evolutionary relationships),” a statement issued on Thursday said.
The study observed rapid deforestation in the region due to jhum cultivation (done by clearing an area by burning vegetation), cardamom cultivation, and linear infrastructure and mega dam projects, and stressed the need to protect these areas for the conservation of endemic amphibian diversity.