It's a
tiny Goan fejervaryan frog
In the lowland areas of the Western
Ghats parts of the Goa and in the hilly tracts of the Belgaum, it is quite
common to hear the tinkling 'trick, trick' 12 to 14 note chorus call from the mud
pools, paddy fields and local water bodies in the monsoon during the late
evening. Many of these are terrestrial frogs sitting next to water bodies
making calls to attract females for mating. Although most of these frogs are
terrestrial, they need water bodies to breed in. These terrestrial frogs belong
to the amphibian genus Fejervarya of
the family Dicroglossidae and are commonly known as either 'cricket frogs' or 'fejervaryan
frogs'. These frogs range in size from small (19 mm) to large (56 mm) are
distributed throughout Asia. Most
fejervaryan frogs are morphologically very similar and difficult to identify on
the basis of external characters alone, creating taxonomic uncertainty in terms
of names, identification and systematics.
A team led by K.P. Dinesh, S.P.
Vijayakumar, Varun Torsekar and Kartik
Shanker of Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore; B.H. Chennakeshavamurthy of Zoological Survey of India, Calicut and Nirmal
Kulkarni of Mhadei Research Centre, Goa have published their findings on a new
species of tiny fejervaryan frogs in the recent edition of the international
taxonomic journal Zootaxa. The new species is called 'Fejervarya gomantaki'
after the state of Goa where this species is found. Most fejervaryan species in
South and South-east Asia are cryptic and difficult to identify on the basis of
morphology alone. The authors have used a combination of morphology, geographic
distribution range and molecular methods to describe the new species. In addition, the authors provide an overview of
the systematics of the group and recommend additional sampling across the Asian
continent.
At
present, the new species is known to be found in low lying water logged areas
of Goa and the adjoining hill ranges of Belgaum where it is abundant locally. However,
more detailed studies of this species are necessary to map its distribution
range and understand its biology.
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